8/08 – 08/10/19 Traveling north to Cooper Landing where Jackie has friends she has been in contact with who have given us recommendations on things to do and places to fish. We camped at Quartz Creek Campground next to Kenai Lake. The campground had a very nice boardwalk that looked out over the Creek where we found a large number of Sockeye Salmon spawning. The area also seemed very popular with fly fisherman as well. We rode our bikes through the woods and took Sierra for a number of long walks and swims in the Lake. Jim and Jackie got to do some gold panning in this area and found a little color! We enjoyed a really good meal at the Sunrise Inn where Jackie’s friend works. She was really great and set us up with Lures we could use to do some “Flossing”, a way to catch salmon who do not eat when they are traveling upstream. We followed her suggestions and after a missed turn and a slight detour of about 10 bumpy miles we arrived at the location she suggested only to find new signs posted “No Fishing”. Not to be deterred we pulled off the road on our way back to the campground where we had seen some other people fishing across the river and proceeded to enjoy ourselves as we caught a few Coho salmon. We took a drive another day and hiked up to the Russian River Falls where we found a massive amount of Salmon at the base of the falls trying to make their way upstream. It is amazing to watch them make these really big leaps up the falls through rushing water and even more amazing is that many succeed. On the way back from our hike we stopped again at our same fishing spot. We were told by some other fishermen that showed up that there was a brown bear up the road fishing in the river. We hopped in the truck and headed that way. Mike was able to Snap a couple of pictures but I only caught his backside heading into the woods. (Seeing a Grizzly in the wild is still on my bucket list). We still have a ways to go and places to see. I am not discouraged.
Living the Dream 