Rainy day in Alaska

Still waiting for the first run of Sockeye salmon up the Kenai River.  No one is currently catching any fish, so we sit around the fire in the evening telling fish stories.  If they get any better, we’ll all be thinking we are really catching, 

Today is a stay inside day…light rain and 48 degrees at 10:00 am.  It usually warms up to around 60 in the afternoon.  We’re getting about 20 – 24 hours of daylight each day.  You can’t wait till dark to do anything, otherwise, it won’t get done.

Here's a picture I took yesterday...

Camp Howard

And here's one that Sally got from someone.  I wish I could find it here in Soldotna.

The Blue Goose got a well deserved  bath yesterday.  It had collected over 5k miles of dirt and dust.  The Goose'll also be getting a new refrigerator soon.  The current one is not working but is serving as an ice box until the new one arrives.

I'm going to give fishing one shot today even if it is in the rain, so ... stay tuned.

Soldotna, AK - 0n the Kenai River

I arrived here a few days ago and after a couple of rainy days, began setting up my campsite.  Bad luck…my refrigerator in the RV went out and I have to replace it.  It will take about 10 days to get one in from Washington, so in the meantime, I’m using the lower part of the refrig as a cooler by freezing gallons of water in my large fish freezer and placing the ice in the vegetable bins to keep the compartment cold.

Saw a couple of Moose a two nights ago walking thru the campground as if they were looking for a campsite.  Yesterday, this young eagle was out in front of my campsite.  That’s the view I have out of the RV.  Those eagles sure are ugly when they are young.

The temperature starts out in the mid-40s and gets up to the low 60s. The Kenai River is low and continues to rise as the days warm up and the ice melts.  It should crest at about3- 4 feet higher.

No red Salmon as yet, but it won’t be too long maybe today… If I’m not fishing, I’m not catching so I’m headed back to the river to try again…stay tuned.

Seward Alaska

Good fishing yesterday and great weather.  I caught my limit of 2 Halibut as did everyone on the boat.  Weighed in at 45 lbs and dressed out to 30 nice-sized servings.  The fog set in today, and the mountains I could see across Resurrection Bay yesterday (about 4 miles) aren’t visible today.  The temperature is about 50 degrees and looks to stay that way most of the day. 

Before

I’m headed to Soldotna today where I will set up camp in Centennial Park on the Kenai River for most of the summer.  Looking forward to seeing people who were there my last two trips, so as usual…Stay tuned.

After

Hope Alaska

This is one of the masterpieces of Alaska,  I have never failed to make a top in Hope, and if you are ever this way, I recommend it. Hope is unique to any other place I have ever been.  The main street has two buildings…a café and a bar named ”Café” and “Bar”, and a 15-site campground which was about half-full last night.  At the end of the street, just past the campground is Resurrection Creek where there will be a pretty good pink Salmon run in about a month.   With a population of 150, you’d think business would be poor in Hope.  Not so.  The bar was busy, and I noticed the deck between the bar and café was new construction, so I asked Annie the bartender what’s with that.  She said the deck had some rotten places and needed replacing, so last fall, they burned it down.  Now consider that it was attached to both buildings, sounds a little risky to me.  Annie also said that this past weekend, Memorial Day, she ran out of beer at the bar…guess they had a crowd.

This was my view from the RV this morning. Cook’s inlet and the Chugach Mountains across the way.

Headed to Seward today, about 50 miles south of here, and possibly some Halibut fishing, so…Stay Tuned

Alaska at Last

I made it into Alaska night before last and stopped in a rest area just outside the town of Tok.  The roads in the upper Yukon were horrible and seem to get worse every year.  The last 100 miles are done at about 35 mph due to potholes, swells in the road and gravel roads.  However, the scenery in northern Yukon makes up for the roads. There are as many rivers and lakes as you can imagine and the Wrangell-St. Elias mountains are unbelievable. These mountains separate Alaska from Canada, and the only way into Alaska is to  go around them to the north.   The Wrangell-St. Elias National park is little known and is the largest of all US parks.  It's 6 times the size of Yellowstone and is mostly non-accessible except from a distance.

Yesterday made it on into Anchorage and parked in the City lot next to the train station for the night.  I can get Internet here so it gives me a chance to check on the online classes I'm teaching  I was also able to visit one of my favorite places in Alaska...The Great Alaskan Ale House...aka Humpy's.
The weather is great...high 40s at night low 60s in the daytime.  The sun rises around 4:30 am and is setting around 11:00 pm, but that will change in June as the days will get even longer.

Grizzly

  My plan for today is to drive on down to the Kenai Peninsula to Soldotna where I will  stay for most of the summer.So...Stay Tuned 

Change in plans...I have to wait until tomorrow to have someone look at the breaks on "The Goose".

Dawson Creek BC to Whitehorse YT

I left Dawson Creek Yesterday (Thu) morning headed up the Highway.  Thursday was not very eventful.  I covered 475 miles landing at Liard Hot Springs in northern British Colombia.  Lots of miles, but not much excitement.  Not the story today.  I left Liard around 5:15 am headed to Whitehorse, the capital city of the Yukon Territory.  As I left Liard. I drove 85 miles with only one truck, one RV and one car to pass me going the opposite direction.  If there is a song of  "The Lonesome Highway", it was written about this stretch of road.  However, I have never seen this much wildlife as I did today.  three bears, lots of Buffalo, Elk, Moose, and a heard of wild mules herded by a dog.

Alaska Highway Dawson Creek BC to Delta Junction Alaska 1422 MILES

Just pulled into the Alaska Mile “0” Campground in Dawson Creek BC.  I’m actually at mile marker 1.5, so that only leaves 1188.5 miles to the Alaska border…I can’t wait.  I will probably stay here for two nights and then it’s a 3-day scramble to the 50^th state.  

 You may notice different miles in the sign to Delta Junction.  The reason is the mile markers are set to the original mileage while the sign above is the actual miles today which is shorter due to a lot of road straightening over the years.  At any rate, it's a long way.  So Stay tuned.

This is a mural in one of the alleys in downtown Dawson Creek.  It almost looks real.