Cloudy but the rain has stopped. When the clouds lift hopefully we’ll be able to see the mountains across the inlet. Heading south down the Sterling Highway we stopped at Chief Kick Ass Cookhouse and had a great breakfast. Chief cooked for us and we spent some time talking with him. Chief looks like the local Bear!
Back on the road we passed the Russian River again. The river is even more crowded. We are driving along the rim of the Kenai Peninsular. The Lower Kenai’s ecosystem is entwined with the ocean. The highway passes through the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge over spruce forested hills and then descends into a low marshy wetland. The landscape here is constantly changing. The refuge covers almost two million acres of the central Kenai Peninsula. Much of the refuge, 1.35 million acres, is designated wilderness, but there re many areas easily accessible for camping, hiking, and wildlife viewing. It’s hard to visualize two million acres of wilderness!
We ambled into Sterling, which is a true Alaska homestead-style community with a rural flavor. In 1954 a post office was established and the name Sterling was formalized. Sterling is a popular recreation area with a peaceful canoe trail system, a multitude of fishing opportunities where the Kenai and Moose Rivers intersect, and great small local shops.
A short distance up the highway we were in Soldotna and turned onto the Kenai Spur Highway. Soldotna is a busy hub of the Kenai with lots of shops. We followed the Spur Highway 11 miles to Kenai and arrived at Beluga Point RV Park. It took just about an hour to get to Kenai. We wanted a site on the bluff. The owner said if we took an inside site tonight then we could move to a bluff site tomorrow. The park overlooks Cook Inlet with spectacular views. We’re told this is a great place to view Beluga Whales. The whales are white and they come in on the tide to feed. We hope we’ll see some while we’re here.
After setting up we walked along the beach to the mouth of the Kenai River. This is where the river meets the sea as it enters the Cook Inlet. The beach runs along the base of the bluff. It has beautiful soft sand and lots of shells. We found sand dollars as we walked along. The beach has one of the fastest tides in the world. The water is pretty grayish because its low tide.
After our beach walk we hopped in the jeep and did errands, stopped at Pizza Hut and then headed off to the Peninsula Oilers baseball game against the Mat-su Miners. The Oilers are one of 6 teams that make up the Alaska Baseball League. This is an elite group of college players mostly from the lower 48. In their 35 year history many of the players have gone on to the major leagues and have won Cy Young Awards and played in the World Series. The league is strictly paid for by volunteer donations. We found seats right behind home plate. Next to us was a local man who was involved with the team. We learned the land was leased to the team by the city. Volunteers cleared the forested site, and built a beautiful ball field. The folks here are really proud of what they built. Tonight was “free” admission. We had a great time, became instant locals and got back to camp about 10pm.
The sun is still out! Sunset is 11:45pm tonight and sunrise is a little after 4am…it never really gets dark. Its nice being back by the water again.
Photos: Beluga Beach and Mount Redoubt Volcano, Sunset from the bluff, Sunset across the inlet at 11:45pm, Alaska summer darkness at midnight.
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