Went back to Veronica’s for pastry and coffee this morning. Much better. Today we’ll head north up the Kenai Spur Highway to Nikiski. This is a rural town mainly supported by gas and petroleum companies like Conoco and Tesoro. We passed huge refineries and then found ourselves back in the forest again. The road follows along the Cook Inlet. Unfortunately the clouds are covering Mt. Spurr Volcano which should be directly in front of us. Nikiski is a popular recreational area. One of the state’s most beautiful state park is located at the end of the Spur Highway. Just before entering the Captain Cook State Recreation Area we saw a mother moose with twins. The babies are a chestnut brown with big ears and eyes. They are really funny to watch. Their legs are so long they wobble as they try to follow mom through the marsh and tall grasses.
Further up, the road changes from pavement to gravel and then ends on a bluff overlooking Cook Inlet. We drove up on top of the bluff but the sand was pretty thick so we didn’t venture any further. It was low tide and not much to look at. We couldn’t get pictures because the cloud cover and the water are all the same color…gray!
Back in the car we headed south and saw another moose and baby. It was still early so we retraced our steps and continued south to the town of Kasilof. Kasilof has no stoplights, traffic jams, or factories. People are proud of their small town life. They grow their own potatoes, catch their own salmon, and respect the land they live on. We wanted to check out the area to see if we wanted to camp here. The focus here is really salmon fishing. There were very few people around which told us the fish aren’t running right now.
We continued down North Cohoe Loop Road that winds along the Kasilof River. The Cohoe Loop Road is one of the side routes noted in our Milepost… so off we went. We stopped at several Crooked Creek access points and then found ourselves at the end of another road. This one ended on the beach at the mouth of the Kasilof River and Cook Inlet. The clouds are starting to lift but I still can’t get pictures. People were setting up tents and camping along the bluff. We decided this was a good place to have our picnic lunch.
Leaving the beach we turned left down South Cohoe Loop Road. Along the way there was this single track side road that went through some trees right up to the edge of the bluff. We had great views and were surrounded with beautiful wild flowers. We sat here for a while just enjoying our surroundings. (Yes, we even took a nap…)
Back at camp we relaxed outside. We have new neighbors from Rochester, NY (Mary & Mike). We exchanged travel stories over gin & tonics and had a fun time.
As the temperature started to drop we went in for dinner. I made our new roast beef sandwich (horseradish, swiss, caramelized onions, & tomato) and grilled them. Yum.
We watched TV for a while.
Photos: Our table on Veronica's porch, Mom & Babies, Twins, Lunch time, South Cohoe Loop Overlook
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