Monday July 19

Still raining. Sometimes In Alaska all you need to do is drive somewhere else and the weather is different. Parts of Alaska, mainly near the ocean to the south it rains very often. There are some interior locations where it barely ever rains at all. The high mountains are very capable of trapping the moisture in a specific area and keeping it there for weeks on end.

Decided to leave the rain head for the Kenai Peninsula. On the way out of Seward I stopped at Exit Glacier National Park. They had these neat little walking paths leading up to the glacier. Depending on one’s ambition, you could get a view of it from afar or if you were up for it, hike an hour or so and walk right up on it. I’d seen a bunch of ice already so I opted for the view from afar. It was good enough and, really, just like all the other glaciers I’d seen so far on the trip.

Heading south to the Kenai, Soldotna area I stopped at a fly shop and asked if it was safe to float the Upper Kenai River. They said that it would be a great idea. Ideally, if I tried it, I’d be floating down the Kenai River through Kenai National Park. That might be pretty cool…..we’ll see, I might give it a go.

Next stop was the fabled confluence of the Kenai River and the Russian River. This spot is probably the most fished area in the entire state of Alaska. When the salmon are running the banks of the river are literally lined from shoulder to shoulder (not 5ft apart, actually people’s elbows are almost touching each other) with people fishing. The river is too fast to cross on foot so they even have this shuttle that ferries people across the river. This is what’s called combat fishing in Alaska. It gets nuts. People fighting over who caught a fish, people cutting each other’s lines, 17 beers, fistfights, you name it. It’s quite a sight. It’s fun to just watch the madness of it all.

Thought it would be a good idea to have more than one key to the camper so I stopped at this locksmith place and had a copy made. When I tested the copy in the lock it wouldn’t work…..and strangely enough suddenly my original wouldn’t work either…..nice. Will I be sleeping outside tonight? The locksmith lady spoke about zero words of English and just handed me some lubricant spray which didn’t work. I was getting scared, 20 minutes went by and I still couldn’t open it. She gave me skinny little tools to fish around inside the lock with. I tried, she tried…..more time passes. Now I’m thinking…. which window in the camper would be the easiest to replace if I needed to break in. Finally after much coaxing I manage to get the key working again….mini heart attack there. Works fine now….with both keys.

Down in the actual city of Kenai another unusual phenomenon takes place. This thing they call dip netting. There are so many fish entering the river from the ocean that people can actually stand at the edge of the river and net the fish as they swim upriver. They use these 5ft wide nets attached to long handles. They wait for the fish to swim in the net, they drag it ashore, bonk it senseless on the head, and toss it in the cooler. If a family has a really good system, one person’s job is to fillet the fish right on the beach before its tossed into the cooler. Families are allowed to catch 25 plus an additional 10 for every family member present. Some families rope anyone with their same last name into coming so they can get more salmon. (Hey Gram, you wanna go to the beach?”). Some families walk out of there with 100 salmon, that’s 2 fillets for each fish. At $12 a fillet at the grocery store, that is quite a valuable cooler(s) of fish. The neatest thing about it all is that you need to be a resident of the state of Alaska to participate. So, more or less everyone you see at the beach in the photo is a hardy Alaskan. Non-residents may not participate. The beach in covered in total fish carnage, piles of fish heads as high as your knees. Entrails, blood and guts everywhere, seagulls going crazy……again, it’s pretty funny to watch. See the video on tomorrows blog.

Wal-Mart for sleeps.