July 14-15, 2009 – Kenai Lake, Kenai River, and Russian River

We woke this morning (14th) to cloudy skies and decided to move on down the road.  Our first choice was to stop at Bird Creek Campground on Turnagain Arm but the roads were really bad and all the campsites that would fit us were taken.  So further on we went.

Here are some pictures around Turnagain Arm – we are coming into glacier country – :-)

 

 

We stopped at Quartz Creek Campground by Copper Landing and it is beautiful!!  Our site:

It is a USFS campground ($9.00 with the Golden Age Pass – oh my!!!)  We could spend some time here.

Our neighbors, Iris and Gary,  are originally from Pottstown, PA so we spent the evening around the campfire having a great chat.

 

Miles Traveled: 150 miles

Routes Traveled:

AK: Bogard Road; Trunk Road; Palmer-Wasilla Highway; SR-1 (Glenn Highway); SR-1 (Seward Highway); SR-1 (Sterling Highway)

This morning (15th) we took a walk around the campground.  The Kenai Lake borders part of the sites and when we come back this way again, I would love to have one right on the lake – :-))

Here is the Lake:

The pictures do not show the true color of this lake – sort of light blue/turquoise..

This afternoon, we went to Copper Landing to the post office and then for a small ride ending up at the Russian River Ferry.  Here is the ferry and yes, that is the color of the water!!

One of the fish stations on the Kenai River:

The river on the right is the mouth of Russian River. The one on the left is the Kenai River. (This is a very popular spot when the salmon are running.)  A few people fishing:

 

We hung around that area for a while.  Here is an interesting tidbit from one of the information boards: “3000 eggs will produce 400 Salmon fry in the Russian River, only 100 will make it to the sea, only 6 will return to the river as adults, and only 2 will survive long enough to spawn.”

And another about the Kenai River: “The Kenai River is often referred to as the world’s greatest sport fishing river.  Its turquoise waters have produced the world record king salmon – just over 97 pounds.” – WOW!  That is a BIG fish.  (One of these days, I am going to learn how to fish and fillet!!)

And we had another great campfire and visit with our neighbors.

I will leave you with this last picture:

Life doesn’t get any better than this – we are so Blessed!!!