Tuesday July 20th, Hidden Lake, Kenai Peninsula, AK
70 Miles
A really good start to the day, after breakfast we hiked for about 2 hours taking the Gull Rock Trail, didn’t make it to the end, but enjoyed. We carried our bear spray, Keith had warned us to do this, and didn’t see a bear, but saw some small footprints on the trail which left us in doubt that they were around. You realize that going for a walk is quite different than in New Zealand when there are things like this around.
Down the road to check out Hope, and what a find, one of the most interesting little towns we have been into, no one in any hurry and little old log cabins nestled into the trees, and a very relaxed atmosphere. And the pink salmon were running in the river. It was great entertainment watching, and we talked with a number of the fishermen. Ian realised he didn’t have the gear he needed, so will have to see what he can sort out in Soldatna
Had lunch at the Seaview Café, a great little place near the river, and met Marnie Wenn, a girl from Taumaranui who has married an Alaskan and now lives in the area. Her husband has a small plane and flies to Ancorage daily for work. Its only a 20 minute hop! It’s a small world. We wandered the streets just soaking up the atmosphere and found it hard to leave.
Back on the busy highway and reality after a brief respite. Everything is such a rich green and looks very lush. The Kenai river is just amazing, brilliant turquoise and flowing really fast. We stopped at the Russian River which is famous for its salmon, although parked on the side of the road and walked in. It costs to park in the carpark, then the fishermen take a short ferry ride across the Kenai to the best fishing. This really is a busy place.
Keith had recommended a campground on Hidden Lake, a 3mile trip up a side road…once again a great call and we are camping right beside the lake, although the grey clouds that had been with us all day finally broke and it poured with rain as soon as we stopped.
And sadly the leak under the drivers feet came back…it hadn’t been fixed, so back to the drawing board
A really good start to the day, after breakfast we hiked for about 2 hours taking the Gull Rock Trail, didn’t make it to the end, but enjoyed. We carried our bear spray, Keith had warned us to do this, and didn’t see a bear, but saw some small footprints on the trail which left us in doubt that they were around. You realize that going for a walk is quite different than in New Zealand when there are things like this around.
Down the road to check out Hope, and what a find, one of the most interesting little towns we have been into, no one in any hurry and little old log cabins nestled into the trees, and a very relaxed atmosphere. And the pink salmon were running in the river. It was great entertainment watching, and we talked with a number of the fishermen. Ian realised he didn’t have the gear he needed, so will have to see what he can sort out in Soldatna
Had lunch at the Seaview Café, a great little place near the river, and met Marnie Wenn, a girl from Taumaranui who has married an Alaskan and now lives in the area. Her husband has a small plane and flies to Ancorage daily for work. Its only a 20 minute hop! It’s a small world. We wandered the streets just soaking up the atmosphere and found it hard to leave.
Back on the busy highway and reality after a brief respite. Everything is such a rich green and looks very lush. The Kenai river is just amazing, brilliant turquoise and flowing really fast. We stopped at the Russian River which is famous for its salmon, although parked on the side of the road and walked in. It costs to park in the carpark, then the fishermen take a short ferry ride across the Kenai to the best fishing. This really is a busy place.
Keith had recommended a campground on Hidden Lake, a 3mile trip up a side road…once again a great call and we are camping right beside the lake, although the grey clouds that had been with us all day finally broke and it poured with rain as soon as we stopped.
And sadly the leak under the drivers feet came back…it hadn’t been fixed, so back to the drawing board
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