Yesterday afternoon, we took the little shuttle bus from Katmai Air (float plane dock) to the King Salmon airport to catch our Alaska Airlines flight to Anchorage. We almost waited too long as they were doing a final call for check-in as we walked in the door.
The check-in people do double-duty, so they close check-in and then go work other parts of the boarding process. We made it in time and then were rushed through security and then onto the plane. The flight was thankfully uneventful.
A young Russian couple now living in Seattle was on our plane. In fact, they were on our float plane when we arrived at Katmai, and we got to know them a little better last night and this morning. They were getting a rental car and offered to give us a ride to the storage place where we could pick up our Jeep and RV.
Unfortunately, the storage unit sits behind a car dealership which locks the front gates at closing time. The rental car line was long, and we were concerned that we might not make it, so we thanked them for their offer and then got Uber to take us.
We made it and the vehicles were just fine. Rather than heading out of town immediately, we drove over to our usual Anchorage overnight spot at Cabela's.
This morning, we took care of some errands and stocked up on groceries before heading back down to the Kenai Peninsula. Steve & Esther were in Soldotna, a larger town with more stores and services than most in the Kenai. The town also sits on the Kenai River, and the second Sockeye Salmon run for the year had begun.
Steve & Esther were parked at one of the city-run campgrounds - Swiftwater Park - which sites right on the river and has great fishing access. They grabbed one of the last remaining sites for us. It's a first come, first served campground, but with it being Saturday and the salmon running it was full.
We eventually arrived and parked in Site 31, a huge site backing up to the woods. Sites are $26 from July 7 - 31 (peak season) and $21 at other times.
Steve & Esther were a short walk away.
There are no hook-ups, but there are places to take on water. There is a dump station, but they charge $20 for it and the gate attendant told us that most people go to the nearby Fred Meyer which has a free dump station.
Fred Meyer also has a place to take on water, a gas station, and propane. Plus they allow RVers to park overnight for free, and it's packed during the salmon runs. There is often a line to dump and take on water.
There are a few RV parks in Soldotna that have full hook-ups, but they charge double the cost or more and most are the typical Alaska gravel parking lot.
Once settled, I did my usual exploring of the campground.
It's all about the fishing, and they have a nice boardwalk and stairs system to protect the banks of the river. This park also had day use parking for $8 and a boat ramp.
I walked the boardwalk checking out the various river access points to see what areas looked the most promising for "flossing" Sockeyes (aka red salmon).
They even have a few "accessible" fishing platforms.
But farther downriver, the walks were longer or steeper and often involved lots of steps to get to the river.
Across the river, folks were lined up in what is referred to as "combat fishing".
Back on our side, I finished walking the shoreline and noting that the river was still higher than usual.
But people were catching fish.
Later in the evening, Steve and I went to a few of the spots we had picked out, but they were all full. The plan was to camp and just walk to the river from our campsites each day, but all the places to fish here were filled.
We drove to other places we learned about, but ultimately didn't even get a line in the water. Frustrated with the crowds, I declared that we were getting up early and leaving at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning to get a good spot. There was a reason all those people were lined up on the other side of the river as I saw more people catching fish over there than on our side, so that would be our destination after having discovered the stairways on that side are part of a public access spot.
I've been looking forward to catching Sockeye on the Kenai River ever since we started planning this trip. And that will be our focus for the next three days. Hopefully, we'll figure it out. Stay tuned to see what happens.
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