Cooper Landing - Day 10

Fri. July 3

We left Homer today for our next destination, the Russian River Campground in Cooper’s Landing. It's about a 3 hour drive (this is the same area where we had our first bear sighting on the way down to Homer). On the way, we stopped at Ninilchik Village, a 19th century village with several old dovetailed log buildings. There is a quaint little green and white Russian Orthodox Church here which has a scenic setting above the ocean. Across the inlet is Mt. Redoubt, but the marine layer makes it barely visible. Many tourists stop here to take pictures. It’s a peaceful place with a small cemetery next to the church. We continue on thru Soldotna, a large town with too many retail and medical facilities. Soldotna gets busy during fishing season as it has many fishing rivers including the Kasilof and Kenai Rivers.



As we approach the Russian River Campground we can see hundreds of fishermen down in the waters where the Russian and Kenai rivers meet. They are angling for salmon – really BIG salmon, where 50 lb. kings are common and the world-record 97 pounder was caught here. Catching one can be really fun as the salmon don’t just jump, they explode from the rivers! This is why they call it “combat fishing”.

This area borders the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge to the West and the Chugach National Forest to the East. Cooper Landing is completely surrounded by the Kenai mountains which are home to dall sheep, mountain goats, brown and black bears and caribou. It’s a spectacular setting, with snow covered peaks all around. We find our deeply wooded site in the campground and then take a walk down to the river which is accessed thru a series of boardwalks along the banks. Everyone is fishing . . . men, women, children and lots of birds. We don’t see any bears today, even though Santos is prepared with his big stick! This area is so lush with vegetation that the ferns stand taller than me! We hang out on the boardwalk for awhile and enjoy watching the angler’s techniques.

For dinner tonight, we head over to the Kenai Princess Wilderness Resort, just a few miles up the road. This is a premier wilderness lodge sitting high above the salmon rich Kenai river. The hotel has a wonderful restaurant with an outdoor deck overlooking the river. Since it’s a beautiful warm sunny evening, the deck is packed and we have to wait about 10 minutes for a table. It’s so peaceful and surreal eating out here, I could stay forever.

Temp: 72 degrees and sunny
RV Miles: 160
Wildlife sightings: Bald Eagles, Sockeye Salmon