Wednesday July 21st, Endeavour Camp, Kenai, AK

110 Miles

The first stop of the day today gave us a real awakening into the dangers in this area. We had read about a short hike down to the Kenai River then following it along to an exellent viewpoint over the Kenai Gorge. Being very bear aware Ian carried his bear spray in a pouch over his shoulder. We walked down the track to the river and saw a fisherman just below us so stopped for a chat. Chris was from Texas but fishes in Alaska quite a bit, and he was so helpful giving Ian advice on different methods of fishing for salmon. He pointed out some kingfishers sitting on a dead tree over the other side of a small side river so I walked about 10 metres to take some photos.

In the meantime there was a lot of loud talking and 3 guys arrived. They had been in the same spot yesterday and had a big grizzly charge at them.

Although they are from Alaska, they said it was the scariest moment they had ever had with a bear. They were aware that there were 2 bears in the area and had been for years. He had spotted this one under the tree where I saw the kingfishers, but within seconds he was above them, 2 to 3 metres away, up on his back legs and roaring. The guy had a can of bear spray and was able to get a shot which sent the bear packing, but he said the bear had such a bad attitude, he had come back fishing today with the shotgun. I think Chris was pleased to see some other fishermen nearby…with a shotgun.

They were most concerned about us walking back to the vehicle and told Ian to keep the bear spray in his hand ready to go. There was no way we were going to continue on to the lookout, and they advised us not to. We made a lot of noise as we walked extremely fast back up the track, but thankfully no sightings. This was no place for two kiwis.

This is the danger fishermen have in these areas as the salmon is the food the bears want to fill them up for the winter.

We continued south to Soldatna and turned off to the town of Kenai to check out the river mouth. What an eye opener, this is in the middle of the two weeks that Alaskan citizens are allowed dips nets for subsistence fishing at the river mouth. Literally thousands were out harvesting fish, they are allowed 24 salmon and 10 more per family member. We couldn’t believe our eyes, people were camping in tents and vans everywhere as close as they could to these spots, and they were hauling back huge chilly bins laden with fish. We found it hard to get a parking place to get out and have a closer look,

Today the sun has come out, such a change and so appreciated. Across the Cook Arm is a range of mountains including an active volcano and we got a good view of it, a great sight.

We continued out through Nikiski to the Captain Cook State Recreation area….yes he had been here too!! Tonight we are camped in what would be one of the nicest camgrounds, plenty of space, and with the sea visible through the trees and the sound of waves on the beach…..and the sun is pouring in, recharging the batteries!

We found some NZ lamb shoulder shops in the supermarket in Anchorage, Ian cooked them on the barbecue, just yummy.

We were sitting around the fire when a couple from just out of Anchorage walked back from the beach. Art and Jane joined us and we had a great chat about life in Alaska. It was 10.30 and Ian and I walked down to the beach and for the first time since we have been in Alaska we saw a sunset. It had dropped down behind the snowy mountains on the other side of the arm, a really beautiful sight. It is now 4 weeks since the solstice and we are traveling south, and last night at 3am it was getting quite dark. Guess the nights will close in pretty quickly.