Day 5 - August 19, 2009

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Ok, finally, back to Alaska.

The day after Katmai, we took things a little easier. Josh had off for the day again, so we had a good breakfast, loaded up in his Volkswagen camper bus (which is a lot like the one we had when we were little, and this one really brought back a lot of memories. It's amazing how similar the smells and sounds of that bus were to the old one.), and headed south out of town again. This time, however, when we reached the fork in the road, we turned left, toward Chiniak.

Chiniak is a tiny "village" that consists of little more than a few scattered houses, a post office that used to only be open a few hours for a few days/week, a tiny school, and a restaurant called the Road's End. I don't think the post office is open at all anymore, and the restaurant wasn't open on this day - big disappointment: the restaurant is just a pretty cool place to stop and have a bite. Chiniak had only 50 inhabitants in the year 2000. One good thing about this drive is that soon after turning left at the main fork, the road was no longer paved, as the entire drive used to be only a few years ago.

Driving past the Road's End, there really aren't any more buildings. Just streams choked full of salmon, hiking trails, and wilderness. We drove to near a beach we'd visited in our last visit to Kodiak. 1st, though, we hiked around some more WWII bunkers and gun emplacements. These things never cease to amaze me, but unfortunately they've turned into what appears to be the not-so-secret pot-smoking hideout for all of the island's teenage idiots, who also spend their time defacing historic landmarks. Teenagers - who needs'em.

These bunkers are located on a cliff 50-100 feet above the ocean.

The view from a bunker lookout.
Afterwards, we walked back to the bus, grabbed our gear and lunches, and then hiked down to the beach. This is a beautiful, undisturbed beach with sand and cliffs. Last time we were hear Jon David and I fished for the numerous salmon you could see just off the beach. Since then I thought it would be fun to catch some more and build a fire with the driftwood and cook them there. Unfortunately, there were no fish this time. So, Sarah and I explored the cliffs a bit, then came back to where Josh was and ended up falling a sleep for a few minutes. It was a beautiful day. Cloudless, with a warm sun and cool breeze. Ed and Jeanette went walking the other way on the beach.

Once they got back, Josh and I went down the beach to shoot some clay pigeons with his shot gun (he has this for safety from the bears on the bear views). Ed didn't want to shoot, but watched with us. I'm pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

We had a good time, but soon we were heading back to the bus.

We started driving back towards Kodiak, but with the intention of stopping at many of the streams along the way to go fishing. Our 1st stop was a short drive from where we'd been, and was a stream that was FULL of salmon. There were just clouds of salmon from the mouth of the stream to a pool about 100 yards up stream, but that pool was just unbelievable - it looked like you could walk across the pool on the backs of those fish. A truly amazing site. And just think - before we came along, every stream and river on the Pacific coast for thousands of miles north and south was even more full than this one not too long ago. It was so full, that literally every time Ed threw his line in, the hook would snag one of the fish. It would always come off after some amount of time fighting with that fish (which, of course, was very frustrating to Ed), and sometimes it would hook into another one before he reeled it all the way in. I caught one, but didn't have a whole lot of luck here, so after cleaning mine and trying to help Ed, we moved on.

Kodi caught a lot more fish than we did.

On the way out, we passed this place. This used to be the Chiniak Winery, but obviously it it not now. We had no idea what the "World Peace Training Center" is, but obviously we had some fun mocking it. Don't worry, mom - the shotgun was unloaded and not really pointing at anyone.

Still farther along the way back to Kodiak, we stopped at the Olds River, where we'd been told the fishing was great. Well, it was. There were salmon everywhere. I caught a couple more and cleaned them up, and then just kept fishing and catching more, but letting them go - we had plenty of fish now.

Poor Ed still hadn't caught a fish. Well, while I was cleaning one of those fish he picked up my fly rod. I think he was just dangling the line in the water while trying to figure out how to cast it when he got a bite. It turned out to be by far the biggest fish of the week! SOB!! Nice job Ed!

Ed with his lunker male pink (humpie) salmon.

Sarah being a spazz . . . . . . . . again.

This was another beautiful and great day. Some fishing, hiking, . . . a little of everything.

Alaska Trip - Day 3 (Part A)

Monday, August 17, 2009

Man, so much to talk about for this day. Better get started.

We got up at a decent time, but got out of the house late because we had a good breakfast, plus I went to fill up the car and buy some flies for fishing at the outdoors store downtown.

Once we finally got out of town, w drove down to Pasagshak. There is only 1 road south out of town, and after about 45 minutes it splits - to the left is Chiniak and to the right is Pasagshak. Today was an absolutely gorgeous day with deep blue skies and warm sun with a cool breeze - just like the last time I went to Pasagshak years ago, and since there are real sandy beaches here, it just felt like beach weather.

The drive is always beautiful and interesting. The road was only paved a little ways outside of town last time I was here, but now the entire thing is paved. The road takes you past the coastguard base (the largest in the country) and then around the head of 3 bays. After the 3rd, you are farther inland and come tot he fork in the road, and then not long afterwards you drive past a village beside a stream near a beautiful bay, and then to a couple of beaches. The 1st one is Surfer's Beach, but that one was full of heavy equipment, like they were collecting a lot of the beach sand for something. Weird and disappointing.

So, we kept driving on to Fossil Beach. This is a beautiful beach situated between 2 long ponds and is accessible only on a road that is pretty rough and steep. There's also a great stream emptying one of those ponds that then cris-crosses the beach. The beach is strewn with huge logs that have washed up on shore. There are also beautiful mountains in the distance across the bay.

This beach is only a couple hundred yards long and has dirt cliffs at each end, and in each cliff there are tons of fossils. Nothing spectacular, but cool nonetheless. I was to the more southerly cliff and climbed over the rocks and debris for as far as I could go. I didn't want to keep everyone waiting though, so after a while I went back. Ed had gone exploring and Sarah and Jeanette had apparently been gooffing off because later on I found several pictures like this on Sarah's camera.




Once Ed got back we drove out slowly so we could pick some Salmon berries. We were in Kodiak for the very end of the season. The pickings were slim, but we found plenty to eat throughout the week.

One of the cool things about this end of the island is that there is a NASA launch complex here (http://www.akaerospace.com/klc.html). They launch satellites and sometimes missiles for the Missile Defense Shield. It's pretty weird to see such large and advanced, modern buildings and structures so far out here away from anything. It's also weird to see buffalo (bison) around here too. Many years ago a guy brought bison to this part of the island hoping to make a successful commercial venture out of it. I don't think it was very successful, but they're still here, breeding, and free-range. We drive near some on our way back toward the north.


It didn't take long to get back to a stream near the NASA area. I forgot the name of this stream, but on the way out it was FILLED with fishermen. Fewer fishermen now, but still 5 - 7 the entire time we were out there, which was quite a while because we were catching lots of fish. They were almost all pink salmon, though I heard some guys say they saw a couple of silvers. Someone else saw a a seal swimming in the stream. Anyway, there were lots of salmon, I I got tons of bites, several fish came off the line while fighting, but I landed several others. I think we went home after a couple of hours with 3 females, and 1 male that another fisherman caught and gave to us wen he noticed I was cleaning them to be eaten. He said the male pinks are better to eat anyway. These are really beautiful fish, with their pink strip and dark spots on their top half on a green background. They fight hard, too! My arm was wearing out.

Sarah got in the act too! I was cleaning one of my fish when I looked up and saw her fishing with my rod. She had a little luck - she aught a dolly varden about the size of my hand (I can't believe we didn't take a picture!!!) A guy there said they were good to fry up, but this guy was so little it wouldn't be worth it. Now Sarah wants to get "his and hers" fly rods - her's bright pink of course. I'll quit fishing before I go anywhere and fish with her with a bright pink rod.



I always like cleaning the fish because you learn so much. These females are absolutely FULL of eggs. Literally, 80 - 85% of the body cavity is filled up with bright, perfectly round, orangey eggs. Makes you wonder what their body cavity is filled with when they don't have eggs. I saw on a show somewhere that you can eat the eggs straight out of the body - lots of good energy and protein. So, Ed and I ate some. They were kind of like small, warm, slimy, salty grapes. Not very tasty, but I've had worse.

We didn't really want to leave, but had to get back by 3. Plus, we really needed to get those 3 fish on ice. So, we headed back, and about 1/2 way we stopped at Kalsin Bay Inn for ice. This is a this little dive bar in the middle of nowhere. I was glad to stop too, because I've never been here and it looks cool. It was pretty rough on the inside - looks like a fun place to hang out. Reminded me of an old gaucho bar near our field site in Argentina - in the middle of nowhere.

Ok, I'll have to write about the rest of the day tomorrow. I don't want to hold it up anymore.

Bison around Pasagshak

Salmon Berry - we were a little late this year, but there were still a few around. They're great!

Spazzes caught in the act!

Ed didn't have too much luck this day, but better luck later.

Sarah and the whopper Dolly Varden she caught. They just attacked any salmon eggs or egg-looking lures. Good to know for next time!

Fishing

The scenery around the river that we were fishing in.