Homer

Homer is a special town located near the southwest corner of the Kenai Peninsula. They pride themselves on the halibut fishing in the area.

The official weigh station for the halibut derby was empty when we walked by.

Halibut charters typically hang the boat's catch so the customers can get a photo. In this case, it was other tourists who decided to get a photo without taking the charter.

The vast majority of the halibut we saw while we were in town for a few days were small, locally known as "chickens."

In addition to halibut, the town seems to thrive on puns.

This one is tough to read - O'fishal Charters.

There are several full hook up RV parks in town and they seemed to think that $65 was an appropriate base price. We stayed at the Fishing Hole Campground operated by the city. It's just a place to park and is not particularly quiet, especially when the halibut fisherman leave with their boats in the early morning, BUT

it's only a couple hundred feet from the campground to the western end of the marina.

The marina didn't have many large boats this time (last time I was here I spotted a couple boats from Deadliest Catch) but there was an interesting assortment of commercial fishing boats, charter boats, personal boats set up for fishing, and private cruising boats.

Some of the personal fishing boats were pretty classy!

Our Fitbits appreciated our wandering around the area, checking out few stores and eateries. It was a bit of a contest between steps and calories - I think the calories won on this stop!

I loved the waiting bench provided at one shop, but ended up shopping instead of sitting.

The locals tell me they're scheduled for 48 cruises ships this year which they appreciate.

I think it's the high percentage of working boats in the marina that catches my interest. Homer remains one of my favorite Alaska towns.

What Were They Thinking?

Given the world renown fishery at the Russian River, getting a camp site anywhere close takes some planning and luck. Three years ago, our son was lucky enough to get a couple spots at the Russian River State Park for the late sockeye run, but typically that park is booked full the first day of available reservations.

This time we positioned at the nearly empty Trail River NF campground near Moose Pass in hopes of snagging a favorite spot at Kelly Lake during the typical weekend shuffle.

In spite of the growing Swan Lake fire to the north, we had beautiful reflections on the lake when we snagged the primo lakefront site at Kelly Lake. And even better, it's free! Six years ago, we'd visited the Swan Lake area because of the canoe route that winds through a number of the lakes in that area.

We tucked both of our rigs into the one spot rather than taking up two of the four sites available. Even with the tree shading our solar panels in the morning, we had more than enough power production to stay happy for six days.

Kelly Lake also has a cabin that can be rented. It's about .5 mile from the campsites and parking, but does come with a rowboat if you think it's easier to row your gear instead of carrying it. While we were there, it seems it was only rented one or max of two days at a time.

Once in a while the breeze would change directions and we would end up with enough smoke from the Swan Lake fire that you couldn't see across the mountains on the far side of the  lake.

In spite of the number of times we'd visited the area, none of us had ever driven the Skilak Road. It's an 18 mile gravel loop that runs south of the Sterling highway. The guys took a day off from fishing so we could check out the area. Several nice lakes, and several nice campgrounds were found. The most amazing thing was this small sign along the road, west of Skilak Lake.

Of course, we had to check it out! What we found was an abandoned, but very impressive double lane dump, set up so that it could be used from either direction. The water had been turned off, but the dump appeared still usable, in spite of the weeds growing through the asphalt. The price was right, but the road was rough enough that I wouldn't consider driving there to save a few dollars! What were they thinking???

With more than enough salmon to fill their annual needs, the Alaska contingent decided to wind down their fishing and we decided that we'd had all the smoke we wanted. After six days with family at Kelly Lake, we pulled up stakes and moved down the road to Ninilchik View. I'd been thinking of Deep Creek Beach, but Turk liked the grass at Ninilchik View.

It turns out, we left just hours ahead of when we would have been evicted. They closed all of the campgrounds along the Skilak road as well as the the campgrounds on the south side of the Sterling Highway. The fire hasn't crossed the highway but they are using the highway as fire break and traffic was restricted for a while. We'll have to go back that way, but not until we're done in Homer.

While we were at Ninilchik, we did some wandering around, including checking out all of the campgrounds at Anchor Point. We really liked Halibut Campground because it was adjacent to the beach and near a tractor launch operation, but it was full. We did manage to snag a cache while we were there that is the western most cache accessible to the road system in the US.

Here, Fishy!

The Russian River, at and above its confluence with the Kenai River is known around the world for its salmon runs. It's a favorite place to fish for our son and his family & friends. This year, the first run reds (sockeye) have exceeded all expectations.

While our daughter-in-law went with us to get our rigs settled in to a primo site at Kelly Lake, our son, grandson, and his friend stopped off at the Russian to see why the limit had been upped from three to six fish. Five hours later they were hauling 18 headed & gutted fish back up the hill from the river.

Everyone seems to have their favorite spot. The confluence of the Russian with the Kenai is often crowded. I expected to see more people given the run reports but it was mid-week. If you look carefully (as always, a larger version is available if you click on the picture) there's a lineup fishing the Kenai downstream from the confluence.

Fishing in Alaska is a family affair and they start them young!

I took this picture to document the only four legged wildlife I saw, but then spotted a black bear for a couple minutes, well up river from where our folks were fishing.

It took away, but I finally spotted a wild rose that was still a bud.

Meanwhile, our son (in the yellow shirt) was teaching BJ a bit about river fishing. I believe it's the first time in over 47 years that she's had a fishing pole in her hand.

While our grandson and his friend were limiting, Jeff and BJ were having fun.

Between them, they accounted for three fish.

There are several access points along the lower Russian, all with stairs (and fences) to protect the river banks from erosion.

Another day, another bunch of fresh red salmon headed to the freezer - all except one that didn't get that far - the grill won out.

The next day, the grandson went back with his friend and the friend's father and grandmother. The limit had been raised again, this time to 9 fish. It was a long day that resulted in a couple tired boys, but there were 30 salmon on the stringer when they quit that day.

While the season continues, fishing is done for our Alaska contingent with more than enough to keep them in salmon for the year.