Lucy is on the road to Alaska

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, we drove in and were able to stay in this camp ground for two nights, but we had to change spaces. We were told that people have made reservations six months in advance. [we don't make reservations] Watching the Dip Net fishing, the fish cleaning, the huge ice chests, the bumper mounted freezers, and the food sealing machines were impressive.

[JFRINALDI]

HI BRIAN,
If still in Soldotna be surety check out the Moose Is Loose for some great pastries. The creme filled Maple bars are the best! John ..

[Lafitte]

[moosetags]

That sure is a nice one.

Brian

[Gene]

The Exit Glacier was a lot lower into the valley below in 2002—it has melted back quite a bit. I missed whether you took the boat trip to Kenai Fjords, but it was a good trip and we saw a lot of puffins on the way. Puffins are a bird that looks like it was created by a computer and cannot fly. If you take one of the boat trips out of Homer, there is an island in the bay with lots of birds, including puffins. The trip to Halibut Cove is unique. Fisherman on the Kenai River were lined up a few feet apart for miles when we drove by.

I believe you drove over Moose Pass north of Seward.

Have I mentioned Child's Glacier outside of Cordoba?

[moosetags]

Lucy is still camped in Soldotna. We did some more touring of the area today. We visited the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and hiked one of the trails in the Refuge. Along the trail was one of the Elwell Fishing Lodge Cabins from the 1930's. It had been moved from its original location on Russian Lake and reconstructed here.

We had Lunch at "The Moose is Loose Bakery" in Soldotna which was highly recommended by an Airstream friend. Our lunch consisted of Bavarian Creme-filled donuts. They were excellent, probably some of the best in the world.

After lunch we took a ride south along the coast of the Kenai Peninsula to Kasilof. We stopped at a dip netting fishing camp along the beach and watched the dip netting process. Today was the last day of the dip net fishing season.

We dove back up to Soldotna and returned to Lucy at the campground. We called it a day and had dinner in Lucy.

Tonight's pictures include:

- This very nice 1974 Streamline Travel Trailer was Lucy's next door neighbor for the last couple of days.
- SuEllyn with a new friend at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.
- The 1930's Elwell Fishing Camp Guest Cabin.
- Close-up on Fire Weed Flower. These are all over Alaska in the Summer.
- Beach view along the coast.
- Fishing camps along the beach.
- One of the more complete fishing camps in the beach parking lot including an outside shower stall.
- Fisherman using one of the 4' dip nets.
- A group of fisherman dip netting.
- Dip netting from a small boat right off shore.

Brian

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by Gene

The Exit Glacier was a lot lower into the valley below in 2002—it has melted back quite a bit. I missed whether you took the boat trip to Kenai Fjords, but it was a good trip and we saw a lot of puffins on the way. Puffins are a bird that looks like it was created by a computer and cannot fly. If you take one of the boat trips out of Homer, there is an island in the bay with lots of birds, including puffins. The trip to Halibut Cove is unique. Fisherman on the Kenai River were lined up a few feet apart for miles when we drove by.

I believe you drove over Moose Pass north of Seward.

Have I mentioned Child's Glacier outside of Cordoba?

Hi Gene,

No, we did not take the boat trip from Seward. It was just too cloudy, rainy, and windy while we were there.

We did drive through Moos Pass twice. Once on the way to Seward, and again on the way to Soldotna.

No, you have not mentioned the Child's Glacier.

Brian

[nerka3]

The old adage in Alaska is when the fireweed blooms all the way to the top, summer is almost over. This year is different though since everything is early, due to the warmth. Maybe (just maybe) summer may go longer.

[NWRVR]

Great thread, love the pics. We lived in Kenai for two years from '71 and loved it. Worth a visit to the moose preserve in the Kenai gas field if they still allow access. Excellent gravel road throughout the gas field and generally lots of moose to see. Kenai has a great beach on the inlet that you can sometimes see salmon heading up the inlet to the spawning rivers. Safe travels.

[Smartstream]

I knew you would like The Moose Is Loose Bakery. With a name like that how could you possibly go wrong?

When you leave The Kenai Peninsula if you have time think about a little side trip to Whittier. The drive through the tunnel was fascinating and the little town unique.

Safe travels.

[gypsydad]

Brian- notice you are in Soldotna; curious why the stop over there instead of going down to Homer (93miles vs 168miles)? Is it worth the stop over there (Soldotna) from Seward? What are the attractions in that stop over or could you/would you just go down to Homer and drive back to see them?

Also, wife asking if your keeping track of your gas and overall costs from Canada and return to mainland US, if you will "share" that info when your back; (she is budgeting for next spring!)

[Gene]

Child's Glacier is accessed from Cordoba. We took the state ferry from Valdez and left truck and trailer is Valdez. The CG we stayed at had storage for several nights and and it was cheap. We rented a rent-a-wreck car in Cordoba and drove to the Glacier. Not long after starting the trip the car told me there was low air in the tires, I just kept driving. You wind through the Copper River delta on the old railroad right of way. I can't remember how many miles it is, but the round trip was over a hundred I think. The railroad was to ship copper ore a century ago from Kennecott. In one place the river was a couple of feet above us and only a narrow levee kept us dry—I drove faster through there. Eventually you come to parking areas across the river from the Child's Glacier. It looks pretty close, but I think it is actually a half mile across—hard to visualize size there. The glacier used to be 400' high, when we were there in 2010 it had melted down to 300'. It calves regularly and some of the pieces are bus sized. Rarely a piece breaks off so big it causes a large wave and can get people really wet in the parking areas, but nothing like that happened when we were there. We watched it for hours—it was fascinating. A boat or ship tour will only stay at a calving glacier for relatively short times.

I regret I didn't take the truck and leave the trailer in Valdez. Renting a perhaps not well maintained car costs a bit, picking it up and dropping it off were a pain as the woman who rented the car was hard to reach via phone and changed extra to let us drop off the car at the ferry terminal. The terminal was a long walk into town and we stayed at a motel for two nights. Taking the truck on the ferry costs more, but would be worth it if I had known better.

Just about the first place we saw as we entered town was pizza joint, so that was good. Interesting food choices in the town. If you take the ferry, you get to see Prince William Sound (a bonus), the location of the Exxon Valdez disaster. When we were in Cordoba, fishing had still not recovered many years after the oil spill. As you noted, a trailer on the state ferry means backing up at some point, so we didn't want to bring it and I'm not sure where we would have parked it.

Sorry to hear you missed the boat trip from Seward. On one trip to Alaska, it rained virtually every day. Another trip it hardly rained at all. Weather is pretty strange there any time.

[moosetags]

Lucy broke camp this morning in Soldotna, and we headed south to Homer. Homer is the furthest south town on the Kenai Peninsula that is accessible by road. We arrived in Homer mid afternoon and got Lucy a campsite at the Ocean Shores RV Park. Lucy has a site with a nice view of Kachemak Bay. We got Lucy all hooked up and took a quick tour of Homer.

Homer is a town of about 6,000 people. It attracts thousands of tourist to fish the waters of this area. The number of small boats at the big marina is amazing. The marina and most of the tourist activity is out on the Homer Spit which is a 5 mile narrow piece of land jutting out into the Bay.

We came back to Lucy early to have dinner and enjoy the view across the Bay.

Tonight's pictures include:

- Cloudy day on the road down to Homer.
- Stopped at an oceanfront rest area with Fire Weed in the foreground.
- The beach along the Kenai Peninsula.
- A cute little 1967 Shasta joined Lucy at the rest area.
- Hazy mountain view as we approached Homer.
- Lucy and Lillian at their bay view campsite.
- Arriving on the Homer Spit.
- Southern tip of the Spit. Hopefully tomorrow will be clearer.
- One section of the marina out on the Homer Spit.
- View of the Bay from Lucy's side windows.

Brian

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by gypsydad

Brian- notice you are in Soldotna; curious why the stop over there instead of going down to Homer (93miles vs 168miles)? Is it worth the stop over there (Soldotna) from Seward? What are the attractions in that stop over or could you/would you just go down to Homer and drive back to see them?

Also, wife asking if your keeping track of your gas and overall costs from Canada and return to mainland US, if you will "share" that info when your back; (she is budgeting for next spring!)

We camped in Soldotna to experience Soldotna and Kenai. We wanted to see the dip net craziness at the mouth of the Kenai River. We also needed a Walmart stop and Kenai has a nice new one. Soldotna also has a Fred Meyer which has Boars Head at their deli.

Tell your wife that we keep a complete record of everything on our Airstream journeys. Our last posting to this thread will be a complete rundown of all the stats and costs. If you can find the last posts of Lucy's California trip last year, you will see what I mean. We keep logs for everything. I can tell you that tonight is our 2,012th night of Airstream camping.

Brian

[moosetags]

As we are planning our exit from Alaska, we are wondering about roadway conditions. We are specifically interested in the current road conditions between Glennallen and Tok. As we originally went to Fairbanks, we did not have to address this issue in-bound. We plan to visit Valdez and start our trip home from there. Is it better to drive the road from Glennallen directly to Tok (137 miles) or take the road to Delta Junction and then on to Tok (260 miles)? We have heard that the short route to Tok is really rough.

Brian

[WisePharm]

Just got back from Valdez with the Airstream and there was no construction on the Richardson between Delta and Glenallen. However, the ride was very rough, bumps and rolls, for most of that stretch.

According to the 511, there is construction on the Tok Cutoff. Notably, there is a twelve mile section down to one lane, so plan on waiting for pilot car escort (this is also necessary twice on Richardson between Glenallen and Valdez.)

Haven’t driven it in a few years, and then it was sans Airstream, but I don’t recall the Tok Cutoff being particularly worse than the Richardson.

Just my 2 cents. Enjoy your travels!

Lauren

[nerka3]

We are very interested in the condition of the Tok Cutoff too. We are leaving Anchorage on August 26th for Tok then down thru Canada. When we came up in the beginning of June, we had to wade through construction and pilot cars at spots. Is it still the same? Is it better to go Richardson Hwy through Delta Junction to Tok?

[nryn]

The longest day on our trip so far has been the Alcan from Whitehorse to Tok (and on to Fairbanks). Lots of construction and pilot car sections, mostly on the Yukon side.

My plan now is to leave Alaska around August 21 from Valdez and head up the Tok Cutoff, back over on the Alcan then take the Cassiar back down. Very interested in reports on any of these stretches.

[moosetags]

Lucy is still camped in Homer, Alaska. The mountains out Lucy's windows were quite a bit clearer today than yesterday. There is still haze and low clouds, but we did see some sun and a little bit of blue sky.

We went out on the Homer Spit again today. The views were better. We had a fish and chips lunch at at AK Fish Fryers right on the Marina. It was very good. We ate at an outside table with a harbor view.

We came back to the mainland and drove out East End Road until the pavement ended about 20 miles out. This road rises to 1,500 feet above the Bay and has some spectacular views. We continued along Skyline Drive for more great views of the town below.

We stopped at Safe Way and got some chicken for dinner and returned to Lucy for dinner overlooking the water.

Tonight's pictures include:

- Beach with mountain views in Downtown Homer.
- Our lunch spot out on the Spit.
- Glacier view across the Bay.
- Mountain tops are still in the clouds.
- View down to the Bay.
- Bay view with inlet.
- Many glaciers in the view.
- Road back to town.
- The Homer Spit from above.
- The beach at the foot of Lucy's campground.

Brian

[Tincampers]

Don’t miss Two Sisters Bakery down the street and Fat Olives Pizza.