Larry & Cheryl's 2009 Travels travel blog

Traveling along Hwy 1

Beautiful but very cloudy

All the moisture makes it all green

Crossing the isthmus

Clouds hug the ridges

Highs and lows on the highway

Stopping at a rest stop

No trees on these mountains

The highway curves around the mountains

Our RV park in Cooper Landing

View from the Lodge of Kenai River

Driving by, we thought these were real

Our hike to Russian Falls

Lush gree trail

The "Fish Ladder" in the Russian River

The salmon were just swimming around in circles below the falls

A close up of the salmon

Up-river a little way, strange red roots on the bank

Our trail and the mountains

Happy fisherman along the trail with his catch

As always Fireweed everywhere

. . . and more fern than you could count

Crossing the Kenai, we saw a fishing boat

Our friend, Bob, getting ready to fish in the rain

Wildlife in our RV park

This fern is called Horses Tail

The Kenai River next to our campgound, so turquoise

The Kenai flowing west away from us

A beautiful Eagle sculpture at the Lodge

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Salmon in Russian Falls


We left the rainforest of Portage going halfway across the isthmus to Coopers Landing, established in the Gold Rush days, now the center of fishing on the Kenai & Russian Rivers.

We recouped from the 3 days of rain and no hook-ups by doing laundry all day and catching up our Blogs & emails. The weather was sunnier but the clouds came in and it was misting by evening. The morning began barely misting, so we went on a hike along the Russian River with a promise of a viewing platform to see the salmon swimming upstream. It was an easy trail, and we encountered many families enjoying the nature walk. This area is also rain forest, with miles of fern and moisture loving plants.

When we reached the two viewing platforms, crowded with people, it was really too far to see the fish clearly. The salmon were circling around at the bottom of the “falls” and from photos I’ve see, I expected them to be bright red but they were dark and difficult to see. There was a man made “fish ladder” built along the far edge of the river, and as Salmon will try to take the least troublesome way up river, they didn’t seem like they were taking the fish ladder.

Once in a while we saw one trying to jump up the falls created by boulders in the river. They were far too quick for me to catch in action with my camera, but it was interesting to watch. On the walk back from the falls, the mist turned into a heavier sprinkle and the sky darkened, and continued the rest of the day.

We also had a nice trail to the river from our campsite down to a viewing platform and access for fishermen to the river. Bob tried his hand at fishing, but had no luck. There weren’t many along our river lately.

I think ALL the fishermen of Alaska (as well as travelers) are down here on the peninsula fishing the Salmon Run in Kenai & Soldotna as we’ve discovered the RV parks and campgrounds are full. Also there is a huge low pressure system over the whole state of Alaska that will last for a while. No escaping the rain or the crowds right now.

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