Thursday July 15

Thursday July 15
Today we spent most of the day in Kenai looking about. First we went to the mouth of the Kenai river where I had heard they do netting for salmon in the river. Sure enough they do and it is a big deal. The state of Alaska allows residents only to do what they call substance fishing with dip nets for salmon to preserve for the winter. The city of Kenai controls entrance on this area of the "beach" and charges $15 or 12 hours of parking. They gave me an hour of free parking to look. There was a waiting line to get in. People were camped all along the beach. The tide was out and some people staked out their spot until the tide came back in, since the water was so far out and it was quite muddy. Down at the end the water was still flowing and a line of fishermen were in the water up to their chests holding the dip net in the water waiting for a salmon to swim in. This net is normally 5 feet, or 60 inches, in diameter with the handle being about 12 feet long. Individual styles and sizes varied occasionally. I am talking about a giant net like we use back home to net fish from a boat. When a fish was captured they would roll the net so he couldn't get out and drag it on the beach. Some put them on stringers, some put them in wagons, some stacked them on the beach, others just filleted them. Then they would go back for more. One guy told me he could get enough for the winter in one day especially if they were running good. These were red salmon but they were still silver. As they run up the river and spawn they turn red and then die. Fish were constantly being dragged on the shore. Gulls were flying everywhere waiting on the carcasses. Some whole families were out their camping, with the kids playing in the "sand". It is real rocky with volcano rock and ground rock for sand. Not sand like we think of. There were hundreds of fishermen on the beach. It was an amazing sight to behold. Everywhere you went around town and on the highway people had these giant nets tied on their vehicles.
Then we went to the visitors center to see some exhibits. They had a great deal about the Russian Orthodox Church in Kenai. This area was first settled by Russian Orthodox. They also had a lot of exhibits concerning the early days in Kenai. They had the first printing of Capt. John Cook's journals on display.
Then we went to Old Town Kenai and photographed the old Russia Church. Then to Wal-Mart for some shopping. After that we drove out by the airport down a dirt road looking for 3 eagles nest a girl had told me about. We didn't find them but we did see 5 caribou, two up close.
Finally we headed for our next destination, Seward. This will be our last place on the Kenai Peninsula. We stopped a few miles short at a Forest Service Campground since we had had a long day and were tired. We have a nice quiet place in the middle of the woods.
Today we drove 125 miles. The temperature never go up to 70 today with a pretty good wind, making it almost cold. Last night it got down in the upper 50's. Tonight it is cloudy, cool, and calm. Tomorrow is another adventure here in Alaska.