Alaska - Day 8 - What's so important to set the alarm for 4:45 a.m.?!?

Last night we drove all the way to the Hope Highway, and found a camping spot right on the cliffs above the Turnagain Arm. The Milepost had described several options, and we snagged the last spot when we arrived after 10:00 p.m. 

We have another great free camping spot, with this long private walkway to our private look-out point overlooking the Turnagain Arm.

We were in bed by 10:45 p.m. with the alarm set at 4:45. What is so important that we'd get up at 4:45 a.m.?

At 4:45 it was 40 degrees and it had been raining most of the night. We put on our rain pants and rain coats and went outside to check the bore tide. 

What's a bore tide?!? After a lot of googling and reading, we can share what we have learned about this unusual phenomenon. When we first read about the must-see things that make Alaska unique, we read about the bore tides in Turnagain Arm.  So we must first explain Turnagain Arm, where we are camped. Imagine an inlet off the ocean with tall mountains on both sides. This inlet is 42 miles long and about 3.5 miles wide where we are camped. It is called the Turnagain Arm because when Captain Cook explored this body of water, he kept instructing his crew to "Turn again" when they got to the end and there was no outlet.

From our camping spot, we took pictures at low tide, where the mud flats and rocks were showing, and the water was greatly receded from the mountains that surround the Turnagain Arm.

We took pictures from our private perch that show the rocks and mud plainly during low tide from this vantage point.

Six hours earlier from the very same vantage point, we took a picture at high tide. All the mud and most of the rocks are covered. There is obviously a lot more water in the Arm during high tide.

From a little different view point, we took a picture at low tide, and you can see that the water level is far below that rock with the little tree on it.

Close to high tide, that little tree on the point is much closer to the water.

Tide changes are influenced by the moon, and the difference between high and low tide is the biggest when there is a full moon. A bore tide happens when the low tide waters are exiting the narrow passage of the Turnagain Arm at the same time the high tide waters are rushing into the Arm. That's what is happening at 4:55 a.m., and we could see a ridge in the water in the distance. 

What does a bore tide look like? On some days it is barely noticeable. But several days each month (around the full moon) it will make a wave that goes all the way across the 3-mile width of Turnagain Arm. On the very best bore tide day, it can be up to ten feet tall, and people come here to surf in front of the wave.

This is the only place in the United States that this unique phenomenon happens. Moving at around 10-20 miles per hour, it takes over an hour to work its way all the way to the end of the Turnagain Arm. At 5:10 a.m. it is was about even with us. The wind from the opposite direction whipped it into a "V" shape. From our perch on the rocks we could hear a roar of rushing water and crashing waves. We have wandered into another of God's wonders!

There were no surfers on this early morning and very cold bore tide wave, as we saw it travel past our perch.

During the 20 minutes we were outside, we got a reprieve from the rain that had been falling all night. That was certainly great timing for us! The sprinkles started as we headed down our personal path back to the van. The rain continued from 5:15 a.m. throughout the entire day! We went back to sleep until 9:30, and then we had a cold breakfast of boiled eggs and ham and bread so we didn't have to cook outside in the rain. It was a good day to look through all the pictures we have taken during the last week.

We did make the three-mile trip into the tiny town of Hope, Alaska. With a population of 190 people, it is off the usual tourist itinerary.  That's probably why it is considered to be the best preserved gold rush community in the Kenai Peninsula.  This 1902 log Social Hall still hosts community events.

This building was built in 1896 as the town's general store, and is now the Seaview Cafe and Bar.

We drove to the end of the Hope Highway, which becomes the US Forest Service Porcupine Campground. We had read about a couple of nice hike options here. But with the continuing rain, we headed back to our dry camping spot instead.

We got back to our campsite in time for the evening bore tide. Because low tide happens about every twelve hours, we would be watching around 4:45 p.m. We have neighbors now that have decided that we had too much room in our private bore tide viewing area. They are young transplanted Alaskans who have never heard of a bore tide. We were anxious to show them a good bore. But the wave came into Turnagain Arm at an angle, and fell apart before it got to us. Obviously, not all bores are created equally.

After a soggy day, our only pictures are of bore tides and the beautiful stellar jays that Denisa has been chasing around our camping spot.

She also chased Mark around, taking a picture of him in his rain gear on a picturesquely soggy cliff above the Turnagain Arm.  

This was certainly a unique Alaska experience. We were glad we set the alarm for 4:45 this morning so we could experience the bore tide for ourselves. Now we can bore others with our first-hand knowledge of the Turnagain Arm's bore tide.

Alaska - Day 7 - Soldotna and all things Kenai

We fixed breakfast and rolled out of our camp site at Lower Skilak Lake this morning around 10:30. The bad news is that we have a brisk wind this morning. The good news is that the mosquitoes don't like the wind! We didn't see any mosquitoes this morning! We finished the 19-mile gravel Skilak Road, and our only wildlife sighting was a snow hare transitioning from white fur to brown fur. We had hoped for wildlife and scenery, and instead we got burned trees and pot holes.

We rejoined Sterling Highway, heading west until we pulled off at Izaak Walton State Recreation Area. Their log cabin is roofed in grass, 

and the Moose and Kenai Rivers come together here. Alaska is filled with rivers, lakes, and streams! No wonder they have mosquitoes!

We pulled into the town of Soldotna, and saw that the temperature was 54 degrees today. Add a stiff breeze, and we're once again wearing our biggest coats and ear muffs. The towns of Soldotna and Kenai are connected by the Kenai spur highway, and we took a walk through Old Town Kenai's Historical District. The Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church was our first stop.

Built in 1895, this church is a National Historic Landmark, but they still hold regular services here. Those blue onion-shaped domes on the rooftop are beautiful against the blue sky in Kenai.

Not far away is the St. Nicholas Chapel with its smaller onion-shaped dome.

It was on this walk that we saw the line forming for the Burger Bus. After cooking out of the van for a week, we decided it was time to try some local cuisine. Denisa stood in line for 15 minutes to place our order, so she had plenty of time to get advice from the locals on what to eat here. She was told by her fellow customers that they have stood in line here in a blizzard, it's that good! It took another 20 minutes to get our halibut and shrimp and chips combo, and we ate every scrap!

We continued to drive west until we hit the western border of the Kenai Peninsula. We can look across the Cook inlet to the volcanic mountains on the other side of the water--about 50 miles away. It was hazy, but we could see the top of Mt. Redoubt, which last erupted in 2009.

When we got to the coast, we took the highway that heads north through the little-known town of Nikiski, Alaska. Much of the economy along this road is driven by the oil industry. We could see oil refineries and off-shore drilling platforms as we headed north.

This highway ends in Captain Cook State Recreation Area. We are beach combing on the most northwesterly beach in the Kenai Peninsula. We were a little surprised to find a dead moose on the beach, so we decided not to stay in that area long.

It's low tide here, so there are more beaches to comb on this cold afternoon.

No sea shells on this beach, but we found an interesting assortment of colored rocks.

As we left the state park, we spotted a couple moose on the side of the road. This one close to the road . . .

and another hiding in the shadows behind.

On our drive today, we also found a flock of sand hill cranes. These birds stand about five feet tall, and have a six-foot wing span. Even thought they're not yellow, that's a big bird! They're nesting and raising their babies here in Alaska. Those babies must grow quickly, as this flock will fly thousands of mile south this fall to winter where it's warm. 

The other animal that we are searching for are caribou. We have seen these signs around Kenai, and the visitor center receptionist assured us that she saw one this morning, and another at noon. There are 32 herds of caribou in Alaska, and this area around Kenai hosts one of them. We drove all the roads she recommended, but we are still caribou-less.

There's one other animal that we are learning about while we are visiting Kenai. Soldotna and Kenai are famous for their salmon fishing, and fishermen will arrive by the thousands later this summer. We learned that there are several different salmon runs, and different types will swim up the Kenai and surrounding rivers. For example, the Coho (or Silver) salmon will show up in these rivers in August and then again in September. When they first appear from the ocean, they look like a handsome silver fish.

As they swim upstream, their skin starts to turn pink, and their mouths start to curl.

By the time they have made it to their breeding grounds, these Silver salmon have turned bright red to attract a mate, and developed vice grip jaws to defend against other suitors. It's an amazing transformation! By the time they turn red, their meat is no longer good to eat.

The Humpy (Pink) Salmon will actually change shape as they go from the ocean . . .

upstream to the breeding grounds where they began life several years before. The Humpy Salmon actually develops a hump while it travels up river.

We also learned about Sockeye (Red) salmon, and Chinook (King) salmon. They make runs at different times and head upstream to the place where they were hatched that is imprinted in their brain. Many of them will be on the Kenai River that comes in at Kenai and flows through the town of Soldotna. Tonight we parked at the visitor center, and walked down the long stair case to the Kenai River.

We walked a mile along the fish walk that lines the river. Because fishermen were tearing up the river bank when they climbed down into the water, the most popular areas have built these walkways with occasional stairs down into the water. If we returned in a month, we would expect to see fishermen shoulder to shoulder as they try to snag salmon on their way up the river to spawn. They call it "combat fishing" when the crowds get so big and a spot on the river is a precious commodity.

We enjoy learning about life here in this western section of the Kenai Peninsula, and we also enjoyed their lower gasoline prices. We would fill up for $3.07 per gallon here. It was a good day in Soldotna, and all things Kenai--like Kenai Lake and Kenai River and Kenai coast and the very nice Kenai Visitor Center and Old Town Kenai . . .

Alaska - Day 6 - Some Days have snow drifts and mosquitoes

After cooking a big breakfast of scrambled eggs, ham, and toast, we left our camp site that was a few miles north of Seward, Alaska. Based on the prices we see at restaurants here, we are saving lots of money by doing our own cooking. Of course, that also means we had to buy more ice and a few more groceries before we left Seward this morning. Our drive today will take us north on Seward Highway, along the lovely turquoise waters of Kenai Lake. This is a very big L-shaped lake, and we'll see it again today on a different highway.

The Milepost book listed a fish weir near Bear Lake, so we turned off to see if any salmon were making their way up the rivers here in the southern Kenai Peninsula. We found our first Milepost error, when it told us to turn west for the weir, instead of east. That might be the only mistake in the entire book. We were sad to see that the adult salmon are not yet returning to spawn, and the fish weir was empty. But we did get to see the tiny salmon fry in the big tank there. These babies were raised from harvested eggs gathered from salmon attempting to return to their birthplace.  About three inches in length, they will take these little guys up the road to Bear Lake and that will "imprint" in their tiny salmon brains that this is the place they should come back to reproduce.

We also stopped in the tiny town of Moose Pass, where we had camped two nights ago. It's claim to fame is this water wheel that powers the grind stone in front of Denisa. A hand-painted sign says: Moose Pass is a peaceful little town, so if you have an axe to grind DO IT HERE!"

A little further down the road at Lily Pad Lake, we found a moose walking in the marsh. These moose-sighting are getting to be so common that we've stopped making u-turns for moose pictures. So this was the best Denisa could do on a drive-by shot.

Trumpeter Swans have just started arriving in Alaska this week. They spend the summers here, nesting and raising their young. These big birds use their long necks to feed on the vegetation at the bottom of the lake. Because of mineral content in the water, their necks and heads will sometimes be stained.

We are finding that many of the hikes we want to take are still icy, or perhaps the beginning of the trail is covered in snow so we couldn't drive the van to the trail head. But we found that the Carter Lake Trail is on the Seward Highway, and it has been reported that the snow is melting off the trail. So we parked the van and started our hike up the mountain. You are supposed to register before starting hikes into the mountains, and we noticed the last hiker from yesterday wrote "Trail impassable after 1/2 mile." We were questioning whether we should start a trail that was flooded at the very beginning, with water coming off the trail in a little waterfall.

But we've never been real smart about following hints, and we headed on up the very steep trail. It wasn't long before we found snow on the trail.

Sure enough, in a half-mile we found the impossible creek crossing. Actually, Mark made it across with dry feet, and then he tried adding some logs to make a walkway for Denisa. Then his stick broke and he ended up in the water. Should we continue, or head back to the van? We never have been very smart about keeping our feet dry, and we ended up just walking across this raging river.

Now we both have wet boots and socks, and we're seeing more snow on the trail.

It is a beautiful blue-sky day, with comfortable temperatures. That means that the icy snow is now becoming slush. It wasn't unusual to take a step and go through the icy crust all the way to our knees. But we never have been very smart about quitting a trail even when the conditions were questionable.

We thought that our first creek crossing was our only water crossing. But we were very wrong. We would actually find three more times when we would have to walk through ice water to continue. Have we mentioned that we never have been very smart about turning back?

On one of those water crossings, Denisa's foot broke through the snow and she landed in an unexpectedly deep creek. As she struggled to grasp anything to help pull her out, her hand found this vicious plant. As she wrapped her hand around the sharp spines of a plant that is aptly named "devil's club," she quickly forgot about her wet feet and started thinking about all the spiny thorns in her hand. We never have been very smart at quitting just because of a bad experience with the local flora.

The good news is that the elevation has leveled off, and we are no longer battling the steep section of the trail. Without all the snow, this would have been a very pleasantly level section as we neared the lake.

Well, we finally arrived! But Carter Lake is still iced over and hidden by snow in this beautiful valley. We had looked at pictures of this spot taken last summer, and this wasn't exactly the view we were hoping for.

Our cold feet were complaining, so we found a cleared spot under a tree and took off our wet boots and socks and let the sunshine dry our feet. We were obviously all alone on this snowy tundra, because no one else would be crazy enough to hike this far through those conditions. We sat here and ate our snacks while we warmed up. We both almost jumped and ran when there was a big noise and movement right beside us. When we started breathing again, we realized that one of the branches that had been weighted down by snow, had just melted enough to let the branch pop up and startle us.

It was a beautiful scene with the white snow and the blue sky in this big valley. You can barely see Denisa in the far right hand side of the picture below.

Now we had to convince our feet to get back into those wet socks and wet boots and make that long hike back to the van. The good news is that our feet aren't very smart, and they obliged as we headed back home. It was a long hike through the snow that was even less predictable as it continued to warm up. With every step, we didn't know if we would sink six inches or sixteen inches down into the drifts.

While we didn't see any wildlife on this trail, we found evidence of them in the lower sections. We found this fur first, and then a big hand-full of bear fur that we forgot to picture.

After over four miles in strenuous conditions, we wouldn't call the hike to Carter Lake a success. But we would call it an experience that we won't soon forget. Welcome to trying to hike in the mountains of Alaska in the spring! Back in the van, we were looking forward to dry socks and shoes. As we drove the van a few miles further north, we made a turn to the west at Tern Lake. 

We found lots of terns and a few ducks at Tern Lake, but Denisa loves the loons. 

We are now driving west on Sterling highway. We came to the highway bridge that divides Kenai River and Kenai Lake.

Remember the turquoise lake we saw earlier today, 30 miles away? That was the other end of Kenai Lake that starts right here at this bridge.

Looking the other direction, we see Kenai River, famous for some of the best salmon fishing in the world. We're too early for the salmon run, or this place would look quite different with wall-to-wall fishermen battling to catch the big ones. Today, we only watched as a family was unloading from a raft after their float down the river.

We will soon enter the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, and Denisa has been having phone conversations with their visitor center for several weeks. We had talked about road conditions and the best hikes to take early in the season. For the best wildlife viewing and hiking, they recommended taking the alternate gravel road that parallels the highway. Since our rental camper van is allowed on gravel roads, we ignored the warning signs.

This gravel road was worse than the more-famous McCarthy Road that we have already conquered. We did get some great views of Skilak Lake on our drive.

Then the road took us through the ugly burned sections from the big fire of 2019. We didn't see any wildlife, and we probably wouldn't recommend this drive until the trees have a chance to rebound.

But we did find an open spot at one of the two free US Forest Service campgrounds. Lower Ohmer Lake Campground was full, but Lower Skilak had a couple spots still open. Spots here are free for up to 14 days. We talked to our neighbors on both sides, and they were all here to hunt morel mushrooms. We found that this soggy blackened area is great for mushrooming, and morels are supposed to be the best! Even though there are no hookups, this is our sixth free and beautiful camp site of this trip.

The picture below is our view of Skilak Lake out the front windshield. We actually stopped for the day at 6:30 p.m.--the earliest that we have set up camp since we got here. We brought out the camp stove and cooked up a delicious meal on our picnic table. That's when we realized that we weren't alone.

We were surrounded by mosquitoes! We had heard that people often say that the state bird of Alaska is the mosquito. They aren't kidding! These guys are big and aggressive!

It's the warmest day of our trip so far, and the first time it has been hot inside the van. So we were in a conundrum. Do we sit outside in the breeze and let the mosquitoes feast on our flesh? or sweat it out inside the van with the windows rolled up to keep the mosquitoes out? The good news is that the weather cooled quickly, and we only donated a little blood to the local mosquito population before it was comfortable to stay inside the van. After this little opportunity to experience Alaska mosquitoes, we are hoping that this wouldn't be repeated soon! 

As we thought back over our adventures today, we have to say that this wasn't the ideal travel day--it started with hiking through snow drifts and ended with swatting mosquitoes. But we found some amazing Alaskan scenery between the two!