Jul 26, 2012 - Cooper Landing Toward Valdez

7-26 Cooper Landing Toward Valdez, 263 Miles Sunny ad 51 Degrees, Later 70 + Degrees! Stayed At Mendeltna Creek Lodge and Campground What a beautiful, beautiful day to travel! All of our travel days have not been this nice, and the weather has not done the scenery justice. Today couldn’t have been any more perfect. Tim said at the end of the day that it really was one of his most memorable drives. The mountains were gorgeous, and we were always either within sight of mountains or driving between near mountain ranges. They were most often...

Jul 25, 2012 - Soldotna To Cooper Landing

7-25 Soldotna To Cooper Landing, About 40 Miles Sunny And 62 Degrees, Afternoon Sunny and 72 Degrees! Stayed at Hidden Lake Campground Tim and Terri had a long hike they wanted to do today, so Mike and I did a little exploring on our own. We started out our afternoon by driving the 17 mile Skilkat Lake Road, a gravel road through the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. It was there before the Sterling Highway was built, and we thought we might see some wildlife on a less traveled road. All we saw were a pair of loons when we were checking out...

Jul 18, 2012 - Cooper Landing, AK

As you can see Wayne and I had a phenomenally picturesque drive down to the Kenai Peninsula on July 18th. I had Little Guy in the Jeep and Wayne was driving Betsy with the other three kids aka dogs. The drive to us along Turnagain Arm, which is an extension of Cook Inlet. Turnagain Arm is a good area for spotting beluga whales ( we didn't see any). It is also known for its huge tide swings that can be as much as 33 feet between high and low tide. It also has bore tides, which are abrupt rises if tidal water just after low tide. In speaking...

Jul 4, 2012 - Cooper Landing

When we checked into the lodge on the Kenai Peninsula, we were told not to miss the 4th of July parade. This is a big happening here in Cooper Landing. Well, it turned out to be the biggest they ever had. Never before had we witnessed sled dogs leading off a parade on July 4. And it got better after that as you can see from the photos. It doesn't take much to entertain Alaskans.

Jul 2, 2012 - Russian River and Falls

We stayed 3 nights at the Russian River campground near Cooper's Landing in the Kenai. We hiked 2.3 mile in to the Russian River falls and saw a grizzly sow catching fish for her 2 cubs. There is a platform above the falls for viewing the salmon jumping the falls and the bears catching the fish. Erosion of the bank is a big problem. Some of the area has special walkways and stairs to reduce any more damage from foot traffic.

Jul 2, 2012 - Cooper Landing, AK

Today we docked in Whittier, AK. Everyone who lives in Whittier lives in the same building. I don't think I need to say more. We boarded motor coaches that are taking us to our first land stop - Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge - where we will spend the next 3 nights. On the way we stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Preserve where we met some native reindeer, moose, bears, bison, and other associated Alaskan wildlife. Paul and a baby moose especially hit it off. As much as Paul wanted to pet him, a sign told us not to so as not to make him ill....

Jun 19, 2012 - June 19th Russian River

We ended up at a private campground as all the forest service ones were full and had no reservations left for anytime in the next 2 weeks. We are on the river at this typical RV park. We are packed in like sardines. Haven’t had this many campers this close the entire trip, not even in Canada at the parking lot RV parks. Since the park enforces the 10 PM quiet hours it wasn’t bad. Hiked yesterday and got caught in one of the very rare thunderstorms that Alaska has. I got completely soaked from the knees down. I had my rain hat and had thrown...

Sep 16, 2011 - From Homer to Cooper Landing, Alaska

We woke up to no rain.....well, for awhile!! Once we got back on the road, saying "good bye" to Homer, it started raining, again. I had my chai tea latte, so I was all set for our road trip to Cooper Landing. Since we had our shortest road trip today, we took a couple of side trips. Left the Sterling Highway and got onto the Kenai Spur Highway to go to another "end of the road" town, Nikiski. Bob wanted to go and see the off-shore drilling, but the overcast haze made the view unclear. Along this route, all the major petroleum...

Jul 27, 2011 - Kenai & Russian River's, Alaska

Fish on, I said fish on buddy! I spent the last few day's at Quartz Creek Camp Ground and on the Russian River as well as the Kenai River out on the Kenai Peninsula. I also spent a little time in the rain and wind out at Hidden Lake in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. At Quartz Creek the fishing was for Rainbow Trout and Dolly Varden Trout which is actually a char. It is here that I got the pictures of the spawning salmon and the Grizzly Bear tracks on the beach in front of my camp site. The Kayaking here is grand as you can see from...

Jul 26, 2011 - Hiking to Russian River Falls

We drove to Cooper Landing to redeem a two for one coupon for soft serve ice cream. Their soft serve machine was broken, but they honored it with Breyer's. Oh, what a treat. The server piled on the ice cream. It must have been a pint! While we were sitting on the porch enjoying every bite, we conversed with a young man who works at a nearby lodge. This was his day off, and he was looking for a ride to Russian Falls. We, too, wanted to do this hike; but after our previous encounter we were a bit hesitant to go into the woods. Plus, we had...

Jul 25, 2011 - Russian River and Bears

We departed Seward around noon, and it was still raining. There were no views along the Seward Highway as we headed north on the Kenai Peninsula. We stopped at Tern Lake again and viewed the lone swan. I was again assured by a local that it was indeed a Trumpeter Swan. Nonetheless, it was beautiful. We spent the next several days "dry camping" in the Chugach National Forest. We spent two days at Russian River Campground. The Russian River is a tributary of the infamous Kenai River and is heavily fished. What is dry camping? There are no...

Jul 8, 2011 - Mairzy Doats and Dozy Doats

The kids spent some time with the puppies this morning. Then we went on a 2.3 mile hike into the Russian River Falls. People that told us about the hike said there were lots of bears in the area, so we were prepared with a bell and pepper spray, and we practiced what to do if we encounter a bear: put your hands in the air to appear big and back away slowly while speaking calmly to the bear. If the bear comes up to you, play dead. We all agreed that would be the most difficult thing - not to run. But still we hoped to see bears, just not up...