August 9, 2007 – Travel to the Russian River

The mountains this morning before we left:

Mount Iliamna:
Mt Redoubt (still considered an active volcano):

We traveled today to the Russian River Campground and were able to get a site. I was concerned that we would not be able to get in because the silver salmon are now running and this is a popular place (fishing, hiking, seeing salmon and bears). I wanted to stay 3 nights but we could only get a site for 1 night.

We were able to take the hike (4.6 miles roundtrip) to the Russian River Falls – beautiful area. We did not see any bears but did see some of the salmon swimming upstream and some jumping to get up the falls.

The falls:

A silver salmon jumping (they were HUGE!):

And a neat mushroom on the trail – look at those colors:

The Russian River empties into the Kenai River and the color of the Kenai was a turquoise blue – beautiful!!

The campground is situated between Russian and Kenai Rivers. For the fisherman, there is a path along the river and also fish cleaning stations in the river. After supper (another campfire), I took a walk down but did not stay long. There were many signs about bears in the area and when I got to the river, there was no one fishing in that area. A quick couple pictures and back up the stairs I went. (I did not want to meet a grizzly here by myself!)

The river:


So tomorrow we are heading towards Hope!

One last picture: Elliot is now starting to ride on the dash!!!

Miles Traveled: 51
Routes Traveled:
Alaska: Kenai Spur Highway; AK-1 (Sterling Highway)