Day 65 Seward, AK

We arrived in Seward yesterday afternoon.  We were able to get into Miller's Landing CG with a site backed right up to Resurrection Bay.  With mountains in front of us and across the bay, we have some spectacular views.

Camped on Resurrection Bay, Seward, Alaska

We were in Soldotna a week and were able  to use that campsite as a base for seeing the places on the west side of Kenai Peninsula.  We made the trip down to Homer two different days.  The first trip down, we took a fast ferry to a small village, Seldovia.  We had about four hours to see the area until the ferry returned to Homer, so we did some hiking.  There is a trail from town to the north end beach through the forest and over some bog area.  Sparky enjoyed the trip in the backpack.

Old hitch hiker

The second trip was to see the things in Homer.  We had a nice sunny day for that trip and spent some time hiking on the beach as well as visiting the Islands and Oceans Center.  It had a lot of information about the wildlife preserves that include much of the Aleutian Island chain.  And of course, being in a fishing area, we had to avail ourselves of some seafood, fish and chips.  Halibut fish was the fare and it was excellent.  We also found a local winery and, being curious about whether they had grape wines, we visited there and found that their wines were made from local berries and even rhubarb.  Quaint place off the beaten path with views of the Harding Ice Field directly across the bay from their parking lot.

Harding Ice Field across Kachemak Bay, Homer, AK

We visited some of the local state parks and forest service lakes and streams in search of the elusive fish that wanted to present itself to our delight for a meal.  No volunteers.

After leaving Soldotna, we headed for Seward.  As there were no camping spots available, because of Silver Salmon Derby Weekend, we stopped at Trail River National Forest Service Campground for a night.  The campground borders the river and Kenai Lake.  So I had to try to find a volunteer for our dinner.  No luck as it started to rain as I got my line in the water and all action ceased.  Since we did not need to leave early yesterday morning with only 25 miles to go, I determined to try again and, voila, a volunteer.  A nice salmon will be our dinner tonight.  We would have had it last night but the campground here has a fish fry each Saturday with campers providing the rest of the food.

Bringing home the bacon, sorry Salmon

We will be here four days and will have plenty of things to see and do.  Seward is a small town, about 3000 people, centered around the fishing industry.  The bay is an open bay year round so boats and cruise ships can come and go as needed.  It does rain here a lot in the summer and is raining now, so we will plan mostly indoor activities.  One outdoor activity that we want to do is a hike to Exit Glacier just north of town.  It is supposed to be an excellent hike to see the blue colors that are the norm for glaciers when you can get a chance to see below the surface which we can do at that location.

From here, we will head to Whittier.  We are looking forward to that visit as we get to drive through a shared tunnel, 2 1/2 miles long.  When a train is scheduled, it has the right of way.  Otherwise, vehicle traffic is scheduled on the half hour going into Whittier and on the hour coming out.  Should be interesting.  We also have a fjord/glacier tour planned.

In the last post, I was not able to upload pictures so just have one to add to this post

Our parting shot from Talkeetna.  THE MOUNTAIN