We had a splendid week on the Kenai Peninsula, July 10-16.  After C worked 9.5 days on the Riley Fire he took 7 days off.  We spent much of our time fishing for sockeye on the Russian River. 

We saw two black bears and one grizzly.  Each bear was closer than the last, with the grizzly being too close!  Fortunately they all avoided us once they saw us.  We did both get our bear spray in hand in the last encounter, but didn’t use it.

Since we weren’t in a secure location, we didn’t take photos of the grizzly when he was close (20 feet from Charlie when they met at a trail junction).  We defensively waited until he crossed the river and then pulled our phones out.

Ten minutes later, we met the same bear further down the trail – he had crossed the river to our side again.  Ah, adrenaline.

The other bear was at Captain Cook State Recreation Area.  We saw him (and a moose) shortly after enjoying the excellent rec center in Nikiski.   Only $5 each for pool, hot tub and showers.  I added $3 to include their 136′ waterside.  Great fun!  Supposedly the views at the west end of the Kenai Peninsula are spectacular vistas with mountains and volcanoes,  but every overlook on our trip was similar to the photo below:

We lucked into an awesome site at Russian River Campground when we went back, hoping someone would cancel their reservation.   After waiting only an hour, we were able to get a site for 3 nights.  The next day, the clouds cleared for a few hours, letting us dry out our wet gear and see some nice views.

Caribou: tried to find the Kenai Lowland herd without success.  Did see crane couples both on Marathon Road and in Kenai Flats while looking for caribou.  Also, excellent wildflowers on Marathon Road.

Camping specifics: Russian River  2 nights reserved, Discovery at Capt Cook 1 night, Russian River 3 more nights. 

Fishing specifics, 10 sockeye caught on Russian River: also tried Centennial Park/Kenai River but prefer fishing for sockeye in clear water.  C caught the daily limit of 3 on each of 3 days (one day he caught 4 but released a blush salmon).  We had one long day of fishing where neither of us caught anything though C hooked many.  During the week I hooked 2 but have still never caught a sockeye when flossing, despite significant generous coaching from C and others.  I am not a fan of flossing,  but had a great week anyway. 

We experimented with canning – 2 salmon in 4 pints.  We also had success vacuum-sealing then freezing fish by using a generator and Jackery as there are no electric sites where we camped. 

Birds:  We saw lots of  bald eagles and gulls.  We also saw some adorable young families of Harlequin Ducks and Mergansers.  Many juvenile birds are curiously flitting about.  The young can be difficult to identify,  but are fun to watch. 

What a great week!  We will plan something similar next July.