On the Road with Fred and Barb - Newsletter #18
July 15-21 Seward to Anchorage to Sodoltna
July 15-17 Anchorage
From Seward we drove up to Portage Valley and spent the night in a USFS
campground near Portage Glacier. Enjoyed the displays at the visitor
center but you can no longer see the Glacier from it as it has receded
so much that it is now blocked by a hill. The only way to view it is
from a boat cruise on Portage Lake or a hike from Wittier. Since there
were heavy clouds hanging over the mountains we decided not to do either,
having seen so many nice glaciers already.
The next day we returned to Anchorage and got caught up
on laundry, got film developed at Costco, got a much needed haircut
and refueled the beast. Some long time friends from Germany were in
town following a cruise so we spent a wonderful day visiting with them.
Like
us they enjoy walking so we all took a 3 mile hike at the Eagle River
Nature Center which is part of Chugach State Park. That evening we enjoyed
Margaritas and Carsons famous salmon bbq! We hope to visit them in Germany
in a year or so.
Meanwhile Steve and Robbie are traveling north for a few
days hoping their daughter can get a glimpse of Mt. McKinley before
heading back to Boston. We are going back down to Soldotna for some
fishing and bear viewing and will meet up with them in a few days.
July 18 Girdwood
On the way down to Soldotna, we stopped for the night
in Girdwood. This is a small mountain town about 40 miles south of Anchorage.
In the winter, its claim to fame is the Alyeska Ski Resort. 
In
the summer, the tram takes visitors up the mountain for breathtaking
views of the surrounding glaciers (7 in all) and hillsides. And if conditions
are right you can watch para-gliders sailing off the top. We camped
in the day skiers lot next to our friends Dan and Jeannine Wainwright.
Dan happens to be a para-glider and we were fortunate to have a picture
perfect day for sailing. It was really fun watching Dan prepare his
wing and then take off from the peak, catching thermals that lifted
him even higher across the valley. Meanwhile Jeannine had gone blueberry
picking that morning and was making a couple batches of jam. Later she
showed us where the bushes were - a fairly steep climb half way up the
hill. Fred picked us a nice bowl full. Had some in our pancakes the
next morning. The rest we froze for later use - now that we have a little
space in the freezer!
July 19-21 Soldotna
Right now the red (sockeye) salmon are at their peak in
the Kenai River so this place is an absolute zoo. Would you believe
a couple days ago there were over 100,000 salmon that came up the river
in one day? Everyone and their brother are here trying to catch their
limit (3/day). The fishermen are lined up along the river hoping to
snag one in the mouth with their fly rods as it swims by. If you snag
it anywhere else, it has to be put back. You can really tell the people
that know what they are doing - they are the ones with the fish! Fred
went down for a couple hours after dinner and he saw a man wade in between
two others, throw his line in a few times and within ½ hour had
his 3. No one else caught any during that same time. But later Fred
found a nice man who showed him a few tricks and lo and behold he pulled
up a great one - enough for eight meals after it was filleted.
But the real reason we came back to the Soldotna area
was for a bear viewing excursion. We had scheduled it for a couple weeks
back but the company had cancelled the flight due to bad weather. We
thought we had bombed out again as we woke up this morning to light
rain on the roof. Fortunately the rain stopped and we were able to go.
We
took a 30 minute flight by sea plane across the Cook Inlet and landed
on Big River Lake. Then got into aluminum boats for a short ride to
the mouth of Wolverine Creek. This is where the salmon gather to go
up the creek to spawn.
And this is where the bears also come to eat. What an amazing site!
We saw a mother grizzly with her three 2 year old cubs and a 4 year
old male cub. Most the time cubs leave their mother by age 3 so it was
unusual to see a 4 year old, especially since it was still nursing.
And
then we watched it try to mate with one of the other cubs.At times these
bears were less than 10 feet away from our boat. 
They
seemed very unconcerned with all of us. I wanted badly to get a photo
of one with a salmon in its mouth but only once did we see a bear actually
catch a salmon and then it was on the other side of the cove behind
some other boats. But it was fun seeing them try to catch fish, jumping
off the shore into the water and pouncing on the fish.
When we weren't watching the bears, we were able to try to catch some
salmon ourselves. But everytime the bears came around, we had to quickly
reel in so as to not hook a bear! 
Ended
up with our limit of sockeyes which we've decided to trade in for some
smoked salmon. Our 27 pounds of whole fish turned into 9.4 pounds of
smoked. We got some lemon pepper, some Cajun and some hickory.
Even after all that fishing we did today, Fred decided
to join Jeannine and Dan down at the Kenai River after dinner and wouldn't
you know he caught another red - 24inches. My freezer and ice maker
are full again!
