Kenai Peninsula Day 3

Well, the cold front here in Alaska has a lot of coughing going on.  Jeff now has a stuffy head and Janie a dry cough.  All four of us are a little under the weather, with Kent feeling better and Sheila as well.  Lots of Airborne and Mucinex or Dayquil.

Mother nature still delivering cool temperatures today, but some signs of the blue ski.  No rain in the forecast and hopeful we will have some sun today at some point.

Bloody Mary and Bagels with peanut butter and jelly along with glasses of Airborne this morning.

After our morning muster, we headed out for a hike at Skilak.  The last 13 miles of the drive to the trailhead were gravel.  A lot of potholes and wash boarding.  A lot of this area was hit by a fire (thunderstorm lightning strike) three years earlier.  Quite the sight to see.  The trailhead was back in pines that opened up into bushes and birch surrounding the lake.  The trail was a steady incline to the top with a few bogs and muddy spots. Nobody took a spill and the views were stunning.  

You can see the inlet from the Glaciers and the water is that glacier watercolor.  Pictures just do not do justice to the views we had.

After the hike and dirt road trek we found a bathroom, then gas and drinks, and off to the Soldotna Boardwalk.

When we arrived at Soldotna Creek Park.  The city had food trucks and businesses set up in tents.  We walked down to the boardwalk where the fisherman spread out along the shore every 20'.  The Sockeye are running and they don't feed.  The technique is to drag the bottom and snag them.  Dip Net we saw yesterday by the Kenai River mouth is for residents only.  25 salmon per person annual limit. We watched the salmon be caught, cleaned, and packed filets.  8-10 lbs. per fish.  The limit is set daily by fish and game.

Boardwalk with steps down to water

The young lady had help as most needed a net to pull in their catch.  Quite the fight to bring in and not lose off the hook.  After catching they have to put them out of their misery.

The quickest technique.  Saw some others not being as skilled, but at least everyone took the step to not let the fish suffer out of the water.

Sockeye - 10 lbs. Helper did the fishing holding even though did not actually catch.

Cleaning station in the river.  The unused portions just go back into the river.  Seagulls all around now make sense as they have a built-in food supply.

Some would clean right at the water's edge on the steps.  These were all over the river off the boardwalk and across the river coming down from homes rented to fishermen.

Kent picked up some fried pickles snack from a food vendor as we walked back to the car.  The ladies strolled through some of the vendor tents.

Off to the Elias Brewing for a cold one.  After sitting down the consensus started by Jeff was no shopping and cooking back at the Airbnb.  Good choice for everyone as the food was very good.  The beer was ok and cold.

Back to Airbnb for Clean up and settle in for our last night in Kenai - tomorrow we drive to Talkeetna for the Denali part of the trip.

11 pm in Sterling, AK

Good by Aibnb