The Road to Homer With a Stopover at Ninilchik

 Thursday, July 17, 2014

We spent a total of three nights along Resurrection Bay in Seward. The first two were lovely. The morning of our third night a huge fifth wheel trailer, pulled by an equally huge pick-up truck, decided to take the space next to us. Our section was lined out for small RV's since it was narrower there. They were so long that they almost hung out over the sidewalk between us and the water, and blocked our view of the northern half of the bay. I was not happy with the Texans, especially after they ran their portable generator late at night and early in the morning just under our open bedroom window. Noise and exhaust!!!


We left the next morning. Just outside of town we made a stop at Exit Glacier. We took a quick hike to see how much it had receded in 20 years. Greg estimated that it had moved back a mile. The national park built a nice visitor center, paved a large parking area, and re-aligned the trails. Good thing! The place was mobbed. Twenty years ago, there might be have been a half dozen other people standing at the base of the glacier with us. Now there are many dozens of people walking around, and the only way to get to the base of the glacier is by a 1.5 mile difficult scramble up the exposed rock alongside it. We took a short hike to an overlook that turned out to have a partially obstructed view, and left. Not our first glacier. Time to move on.

Exit Glacier from near where it ended when we last saw it

We drove north back to the Sterling Highway that transverses the Kenai Peninsula west, and then south to the end of the road at Homer. Traveling west we drove through Cooper Landing, catering to the tourist fishing industry. Where there had once been a few outfitters, there were now dozens. Further on we reached Soldotna and a traffic jam. The Fred Meyer store lot was full of RV's, and I suppose the WalMart was to, but we never saw it. The population has exploded in Soldotna, too, and the big retailers are moving in.

The Kenai River near Cooper Landing

Finally we reached the stretch of road heading south along the eastern shore of Cook Inlet. Delayed by summer construction projects, and knowing that if we arrived too late in the day we wouldn't find a campsite on the Homer Spit, we turned into the Ninilchik View State Recreation Area. 14 campsites, $10 a night, and a million dollar view! We parked on the bluff overlooking Cook Inlet and the Alaska Range, with Mt. Illiamna, and Mt. St Augustine, recently active volcanoes, across the water. We took a walk on the gravel beach, and looked at the old fishing village of Ninilchik with its iconic Russian Orthodox church on the clifftop. The harbor at the end of the Ninilchik River was full of fishing boats resting on the bottom and against each other due to low tide.

Ninilchik campsite

The village of Ninilchik

Bald Eagle

Immature Bald Eagle roosting below camp

The beach at the foot of the bluff

The harbor stuffed full of commercial fishing boats waiting for a new fishery opening

The Russian Orthodox Church

Warning sign in Russian at the harbor

Another photo of our neighbor

Looking from our camp across Cook Inlet

About 11 pm we looked outside, it was still light, and saw the whole flotilla of fishing boats off the shore next to us. Greg counted about 60. They were all anchored with their engines off. It looked like a silent invasion force in the gloom. We decided there must be a very localized fishery opening early the next morning. The trawlers took off early, while the larger tenders waited offshore to offload fish when the seine net boats came back.

Fishing boats moored waiting for the opening in 6 hours

We saw 62 fishing boats moored at midnight and the harbor was empty.

Sunset a little before midnight

This morning the fog blew off across the water and we can see the snow covered tips of Illiamna and St. Augustine. Greg took a short bike ride. Four wheel drive vehicles are allowed on the beach. Greg rode the beach until the gravel got too loose and deep and then explored the Ninilchik area on bike for a bit. He had close encounters with two juvenile bald eagles and one mature eagle. We decided to stay a second night and put off the circus in Homer until tomorrow. Since we are now fairly close, as long as we get there in the morning, we should be able to find a campsite to stay in for two nights along the water. The weekends are especially crowded on the Kenai, so once we find a spot we'll stay until Sunday before we head north up the Sterling Highway again.