West on the Sterling Highway.
Sterling, Soldotna, Kenai and north on the Kenai Spur Highway. Like many of the highways in Alaska, it came to an abrupt dead end. Captain Cook Recreation Area is at that dead end. There is a campground and beach access to Cook Inlet. We hiked around the beach a little bit and checked out the campground. Typical pay campground with an onsite host. Large. Busy. Not really interested.
Just as we were leaving, "Orangie" pulled in. We couldn't decide whether to stay and buddy up to Orangie or leave. After too much discussion, we chose to inspect a possible camp spot on the road near a creek. The spot was really close to the road and offered nothing more than a dirt cul-de-sac. There was a stream that looked promising so we both dropped in a line. Rachel caught her first Alaskan trout.
There was a burst of excitement when a school of salmon ran up the creek. They kept circling the deep pool in search of a way upstream. None of them showed a hint of interest in our lures.
We eventually caved in and drove back to the campground. The camp host quickly came by to gobble up our fee. It's hard to fork over money to park for the night when better, free-er options exist. The host did give us a free bundle of firewood (usually $6) at least.
We watched the sun set over Cook Inlet. Five volcano peaks are visible from there but hid elusively behind low clouds.
Somehow the night devolved into us leaping between large rocks at our campsite trying not to touch the ground. You know, the ground is lava scenario. I think we were going a little crazy from it still being light at midnight. Rachel slipped off a boulder and perished in the lava. She has a big purple bruise on her knee to prove it.
We never got the chance to buddy up to Orangie but they pulled out of the campground right in front of us. We must be on the same path.
South to the Kalifornski Beach Road. This part of Alaska has a lot of Russian influence and the names of the towns and roads reflect it. The mouth of the Kenai River was littered with people fishing. Dip netting to be more precise.
Dip netting involves holding a large net in the water during salmon runs. You battle the current, cold water, and other dip-netters waiting for fish to swim into your net. The nets are huge. Most were over 4 feet in diameter with long poles that can extend over 20 feet into the river.
We stopped at the mouth of the Kasilof River to get a closer look.
South on the Sterling Highway to Anchor Point. This is the most westerly point of North America accessible by continuous highway system. I was surprised since half of the state of Alaska lies west of here. Nonetheless, we drove as far as you can drive. There's nowhere to go but east.
We stumbled upon Whiskey Gulch Beach. Sure, the location was amazing and we had a great view of snow covered volcanoes, but there was a blue Unimog parked on the beach. Another Unimog! I pretend to look for a camping spot as we slowly crept past it. Eyes roll in the passenger's seat.
I snuck a shot as we rolled past..
The rig belonged to a retired German guy traveling the pan american route from Alaska to Argentina over the next two years. Various family members will fly over and join him for different legs of the trip. He said it had been his dream to do since he was 18. Good thing he waited. A lot of these roads didn't exist back then.
We made a small fire on the beach as the sun set over the volcanoes on the other side of Cook Inlet.