Anchorage to Kenai
July 13, 2023
When we got up on July 7, Larry said his arms were only a little sore from the ice climbing workout the day before, though well worth it! Our plan for the day was a short 80-mile drive to Eklutna Lake along the beautiful Glenn highway.
We snagged a campsite at Eklutna Lake Campground in Chugach State Park before the campground filled that Friday afternoon and walked down to the lake.
The weather was threatening to rain, but the lake was still beautiful.
We hiked the Lakeside Trail where we found real bear signs (not the silly ones we’ve been showing you).
The locals we met were carrying firearms confirming our general rule to bring bear spray on hikes in Alaska.
The next morning on our way to Anchorage we took a quick hike to Thunderbird Falls.
One of our friends in Fairbanks had recommended lunch at Tommy’s and they weren’t wrong. The hamburger and onion rings were huge and delicious, but the chocolate peanut butter milkshake was outstanding!
We hadn’t been to Anchorage for over a decade so we revisited some of our favorite spots including Title Wave Bookstore before going to Mass at the Holy Family Cathedral. This car parked next to us and Larry got some information about sluicing for gold next week!
We spent the next several nights camped overnight at the Lake Hood Seaplane Base. While Airplanes have the right of way on all the roads, Anchorage locals jog, bike, and walk their dogs through the area. Larry was absolutely in paradise with the view out our back door.
He took photos of planes, the little huts by each seaplane dock, and planes taking off by water and land.
This half-truck takes float planes out of the water.
Sunday morning was a glorious sunny day so we hiked up Flattop Mountain for a panoramic view of Anchorage!
The last part is an unmarked crab-walking rock scramble with down being decidedly more challenging than up.
It was worth it for the views, and the reward—pizza at Moose’s Tooth!
On Monday, July 10, Larry made reservations for gold sluicing with Prospector Johns on July 12! We ran some errands in town before heading down Turnigan Arm on the Seward Highway. This is the only route to the Kenai Peninsula, but unfortunately, a crash involving two RVs created a traffic delay of several hours.
Eventually, we arrived at our boondocking site at Bore Tide Viewing #3.
The tide comes up the Arm with such a surge that it causes a wave either from a few inches to several feet. For us, just seeing the silty quicksand bottom almost completely exposed and covered was incredible!
We spent a good part of Tuesday morning and afternoon at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center at the end of Turnigan Arm near the turn on the Seward Highway towards Homer. Injured and orphaned wildlife who cannot be released get a good home here. Animals at the Center include bears, wolves, moose, deer, caribou, musk oxen, an eagle, and other native wildlife. The volunteers and staff were enthusiastic and eager to share information. We arrived before morning feeding time and the wolves were especially active waiting for their meal. After taking the walkable loop trail to the larger pens, we were pleased to see the parking lot full. Visitors support the work of the conservation center caring for and feeding their animals all year.
We found a sweet boondocking spot for the night on a forest service road overlooking a series of ponds.
On Wednesday, July 12, we were in Cooper Landing in plenty of time to get Larry geared up for his gold sluicing. Prospector John has been featured in “Devil’s Canyon” on Discovery Channel and has a working claim on the Kenai Lake. Prospecting is about finding gold and is different from mining gold where clearing access to a claim site, setting up and provisioning a camp, then moving in all equipment and supplies are key components. Sluicing is a lot of work, so this time I joined the adventure as a photographer. John took us out to his claim in his boat, where the group split up to work on two different sluices.
After John gave us a tour of the mining camp where miners Steve and Mike live, Larry and a father-son team received instruction on how to use the sluice and sluice box.
They got to work and rotated the duties between them for two and a half hours.
In the end, Miner Mike cleaned out the sluice box and panned the pay dirt for gold.
Wow—and Larry got to keep 1/3 of it!
We camped that night at the Russian River campground before hiking to the Russian River Falls the next morning.
Twice on our hike, we surprised some grouse hens with their chicks beside the trail, and they stayed long enough for photos.
At the Falls, we were rewarded with views of migrating salmon! Larry took the top photo with the more athletic salmon.
We had a lovely day to drive into the town of Kenai and explore the Russian church and historic downtown.
From the bluff, we could see dip netters trying for salmon in the Cook Inlet below. We looked at those expensive $150 dip nets at WalMart and they are several feet in diameter so they must take some skill to use successfully.
It was such a pretty day that a local commented “Summer came on a Thursday this year!
There are five species of wild salmon in Alaska, and we’ve been told multiple times how to remember them by the fingers on your hand:
Thumb – Chum (or dog) salmon. This rhymes so it makes sense.
Index Finger – Sockeye (or red) salmon because you use this finger to poke someone in the eye and make it red.
Middle Finger – King (or Chinook) salmon. The tallest finger is the king, and this salmon is the best-tasting of them all.
Ring Finger – Silver (or Coho) salmon. You can wear silver on your ring finger.
Pinkie Finger – Pink (Humpy) salmon. These are the smallest salmon