Home again

We left the Icefields highway and made one more stop in Canada.  The Moore's called to say that they would be in Lethbridge, Alberta, so the Poutney's and us went to Lethbridge and stayed at the casino with the Moore's for one night.  It was nice to get together for one last time before we all went our separate ways.

We made three stops on our way back to Prescott.  The first night in the good old USA was spent at Clark Canyon Reservoir near Dillon, Montana.  What a lovely spot.  This is a BOR camping area that has numerous campgrounds on the lake and they are all free.  I could have stayed longer but Dean was on a mission to get home.

The next day was a killer!  We drove thru Idaho, no problem, but driving through Salt Lake City we had a blowout on our toad on Interstate 15 in 6 lanes of traffic.  Thank goodness Dean did not panic and pulled the rig to the side as safely as he could.  We had do damage to the toad, just the tire.  And Discount Tire was 2 miles away.  Thankfully, Dean had bought the roadside warranty when he got the tires just before we left on this trip.  So we had a bit of a delay but finally made it to Nephi, Utah, where we stayed on the Nebo Scenic Loop road.  Another beautiful spot and I wanted to stay longer but we left early the next morning.  

The third day of our travels home and we had a few major hill climbs and Dean was worried about the transmission the entire time.  I had to drive the toad separate for about 50 miles.  We camped at Jacob Lake about 2 miles from the store on Forest Rd. 247.  Another great spot and this time Dean said lets stay for 2 nights.  I gladly agreed so we could have a nice resting day before we end this great trip.

Stewart/Hyder

We went to Stewart and Hyder with the Poutneys and stayed at the Rainey Creek Municipal Campground in Stewart.  Because we parked in the shade and wanted to keep our frozen fish at the correct temperature, we plugged into electricity and paid $24.15 per night for two nights.  Poutney's didn't plug in and paid $17 per night.  The purpose of our visit to this area was to see the bears at Fish Creek outside of Hyder.  This is a viewing area for salmon spawning and bears eating the salmon.  We went four different times.  One morning we did see some activity - 2 bears and 1 wolf.  But the other times we saw very little except lots of salmon (mainly chum) spawning and then dying.  Lots of people were at the viewing platforms, which have grown in size since we were here in 2003.  And the road to the viewing area is much improved.

We took a road trip to Salmon Glacier outside of Hyder.  This is a 20 mile gravel road to one of the largest glaciers we saw on the entire trip.  Salmon glacier is very large and very beautiful.  This trip was definitely the highlight of our stay in Stewart/Hyder.  

After leaving this area we drove to the Icefield Hwy.  This was again a disappointment - not because of the weather because the last time we were there it was very cloudy and cold - but because there were so many people in the park.  We had trouble with our transmission heating up so I drove separate through most of the park.  i stopped at a few viewing areas and took some pictures of the mountains.  After we parked in the overflow lot south of Lake Louise, I went back into Lake Louise to the beautiful hotel and lake.  This was very crowded but it is so beautiful that I didn't mind the crowds.

Soldotna to Hyder

So finally the fish came, and in abundance!  From very little to over 300,000 in one day.  The fish started pouring in to Soldotna on Tuesday July 16th.  Dean and I decided to take a half day Halibut charter out of Homer on that day.  We didn't regret it because we both came back with 2 nice Halibut for a total of 31 lbs of meat.  Added to our 20 from the previous charter we have how 51 lbs. of Halibut.  The half day charter is the way to go.  Half the price, half the time on the water, and everybody caught 2 fish!  The fish are not barndoor size - most under 20 lbs  - but everybody caught one and no one got seasick.  When we got back to Soldotna all of our group had limited out that day (for the first time in 3 weeks) with 3 each.  On Wednesday we went fishing and caught 5 and then Thursday we caught 6.  Friday I think we were both tired.  That day I caught a nice one and then fell into the water trying to land my second one.  I was ready to quit.  Dean caught a small one and said that was enough for him.  One of the pictures below is Dean cleaning the fish.  We fished twice more during the next week and only caught one.  So the excitement lasted for about 4 days and then the fish count went down.  But we filled our freezer and that was our goal.  One of the pictures is of the Kenai River - combat fishing at the  locals call it - on the weekend of the big run.

We meet some really nice folks - Jack and Robin Ross - who live in Soldotna fulltime.  Jack took us fishing and one day we all went over to their house and smoked salmon all day.  We played cards, worked on a zigsaw, and marveled over the quilts that Jack has made.  We thoroughly enjoyed our time with the Rosses. 

Dean and I went clamming a couple of more times and got our limit both times - 25 each.  They are razor clams and some of them were small but we froze about 15 sacks of clams to bring back.

The last weekend in Soldotna we attended a Hobo Jim show again at Hooligans and went to the Progress Day Parade (Soldotna's big event of the year) and sawfeast ( chainsaw carving competition).  That afternoon after being in Soldotna for 33 days we decided to move to Seward.  The Moore's and the Schindel's also left that day but the Poutney's stayed on to fish another day!  We caught 14 salmon between the two of us, Ron caught 39 fish by himself!

In Seward we stayed by the water in a great spot.  We could see the fishing boats leaving the dock in the morning and the cruise boats leaving in the afternoon.  We went to the Sealife Aquarium the first day and walked around the town.  We had a HH with the Schindel's, Moore's, Keith and Sandy the first night.  The second day we went on a Glacier cruise with the Moore's and Schindel's.  We saw lots of sealife - puffins, otters, sea lions, seals, porpoises, and humpback whales.  And we saw two glaciers one of which did a tremendous amount of calving while we were there.  It was a great tour.  The last day in Seward I did a short bike ride and looked at all the murals (Seward is the mural capitol of Alaska)  and hiked a little on Marathon Mountain.  What a killer hike!  I can't believe that people do this hike in under 45 minutes.  It is so steep that I just looked up one section - I would not even try to go up it!

We moved out to Exit Glacier and found a great boondocking spot looking up at the Glacier.  The next day the Moore's and Schindel's joined us for hiking on the glacier.  Then we said our goodbyes to these great friends we have spent so much time with this summer.

We started our drive home - going from Exit Glacier to the Junction of Hope the first night.  The second day was a long day going from South of Anchorage to Tok. The roads were not great!  We stopped at Canyon Creek bridge which was very pretty.  The worst day for roads was from Tok to Whitehorse - lots of gravel, frost heaves, roller coaster pavement.  This was undoubtedly the worst road in Alaska that we traveled!  We pulled into Whitehorse beat!  And who did we run into - the Poutney's!  Now we are traveling with our good friends and the couple we started this journey with.  The first night we stayed at a great camp spot on the Cassiar Hwy.  When we got there we could hear Loons (there was 2 adults and 1 chick) and elks bugling in the distance.  The weather has turned very warm and the water at this lake was so clear we decided to go swimming.  It was so refreshing!  The second night we stayed again by a lake on the Cassiar.  I picked raspberries.

Soldotna, Alaska waiting for fish

So in the last post I said that I would post again when we started catching salmon.  Well, we have been here almost three weeks and we have not caught a salmon yet.  Keith has caught one, Ron two, and Chuck two.   We are hoping that the fish will start coming in in the next few days.  So we have been waiting and waiting.  But we have done a few things besides waiting for salmon.
We are parked at a wonderful place near the airport in Soldotna.  It is free and we are with not only our group but about 30 other RVers.  We are within walking distance to shopping in Soldotna and the Kenai river.  With our group (Moore's, Poutney's, Schindel's, and Keith and Sandy) we have celebrated two birthdays (Gregg's and Jan's), the birthday of our nation (4th of July), and numerous happy hours.  It is great fun being with such wonderful friends.
The second day we were in Soldotna we tried our luck at fishing the Russian river.  I lost about 7 hooks to the river and finally gave up.  None of our group caught anything.  The only ones that were catching were the experienced fishermen who could actually see the salmon in the water.  During the first week we also went clamming at Clam Glutch.  The first day we got about 100 clams (there were 6 of us).  The second time we got about 36 ( there were only 3 of us).  We have had sauted clams and fried clams.  Very good.
The second week was mainly a rainy, cold week.  We did see a lot of moose in our campground.  We went to farmer's markets, took a set-netting tour, and attended a Hobo Jim (Alaska's balladeer).
This last week all of us went halibut fishing.  Moore's and us went on Monday the 8th.  We had rough seas, strong tides, and didn't catch as much as we wanted.  Dean caught 2 and I caught 1(which was the largest of our group).  We came home with 24 lbs of meat.  Ron, Keith, and Sandy went on Tuesday and caught a lot.  In fact Sandy caught a 60 pounder.  They came home with 49 lbs.  Schindels got up early on Friday (had to be at Ninilchik by 5).  They had beautiful weather and caught 2 each for 27 lbs. We went with Ninilchik charters and had a half price coupon through our toursaver book.
On Wednesday of this week, Dean and I did a day trip to Homer.  We had beautiful weather.  We had
a beer at the Salty Dog Saloon and ate at Captain Patti's.  I had a wonderful baked halibut.  Since we took Chica, we walked the beach and around the shops on the Spit.  Lovely day!
Today Moore's and us went to tthe Funny River Festival.  It was not much but the parade was kind of fun.
So the fish should be showing up in the next few days.  Hopefully i will have a good report soon.

Fairbanks to Soldotna

It is June 24 and we are now in Soldotna getting ready to do some fishing.  The guys are outside hooking up the rigs and I am trying to get caught up on this blogging.  So much has gone on for the last 2 weeks!

At Fairbanks we went to the University of Alaska museum.  This is a beautiful museum with great displays and some really cool movies.  There is a 8'3" bear in one of the displays and some other displays of large animals.  I especially like the 1913 descent on Mt. McKinley display.  The descendents of the original expedition started an anniversary climb on June 7 and expect to take a month.  Another great thing we did was the Riverboat Discovery - going on a sternwheeler up the Chena river.  During our time on the boat we saw a float plane takeoff and land on the river, a demo of dog sledding, and presentations of Athabascan culture at a reenactment village.  But the highlight of this week was a flight across the Arctic circle to the landing strip at Bettles, Alaska and spending 2 nights at the Bettles lodge.  While we were there we took a town tour, talked to the park rangers and watched movies about the Arches of the Arctic National Park, and paddled canoes for 2 hours down the koyukak river.  When we reached the end of our paddle trip we explored the ghost town of Old Bettles and waited for the boat from the lodge to pick us up. The mosquitoes were terrible!!!  And we waited and waited.  Finally, because the boat was not working, the lodge picked us up in a float plane.  That was a real treat and a very welcomed sight.  The food a the lodge was very good and the staff was friendly and accommodating.  And best of all - Chica got to go.  She had to be in a crate but all the way back on the plane she had her head stuck out of the crate looking where she was going.  We topped off our Fairbanks week with a visit to Mary Shields , first women to finish the Iditarod, and a dog sled demo.

The next stop was Denali.  We could not believe the weather we had during our stay - sunny, warm, and clear skies the entire time.  Mt. McKinley is usually only seen 1 day in 7 and we saw it everyday.  We took the bus the first day we were there to Wonder Lake.  That is the long ride for 10 hours.  We saw lots of caribou, some moose, dall sheep, ptarmigan, and 3 grizzly bears.  One of the grizzly bears was on the side of the road and stayed there for about 20 minutes.  Of course, the bus stops the entire time and we take lots of pictures.  And the views of the mountain were fantastic.  The rest of our time in Denali was spent taking hikes, bike rides,visiting the visitor center, watching a free dog sledding demo, shopping.

We left Denali and stopped over night outside Talkeetna.  Six of us went into the town to look around.  When Chuck and Jan were getting their mail, they talked to a pilot going to Mt McKinley that afternoon and said he had seats available.  All six of us wanted to go so they took a plane just for us.  What a ride!  It was a beautiful flight through the mountains and landing on Ruth Glacier at the base of Mt. McKinley.  We got to play around in the snow for awhile and then flew back.  On the flight was Moores, Ron and Bernita Poutney, Sally Schindel and myself.  

At Anchorage we stayed for 2 days.  There was a summer solstice party going on down town that we attended along with the weekend open air market.  On Sunday, I went to the Alaska Native Heritage center with Sally, Sandy Murray, and Keith Forrester.  The four of us took a short dog sled ride with an Iditarod competitor named Jake.  Then Sunday afternoon Dean and I drove to Soldotna.  

Next report will be on the fabulous number of fish that we have caught while we are on the Kenai Peninsula. Hopefully!!!