The following morning, mercifully un-crushed by any fallen trees, we explored the beach a little before setting out to see some Kenai sights. The beach was more mud/rock than sand, so we didn’t spend too long there. Exploration completed, we set out south again back towards Kenai.
The beautiful beach by the camp site:
We stopped for a drink at one of the many tiny roadside coffee kiosks that seemed to be popular up here, and then dropped in to the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge visitor center to get some ideas about the best place to go. They suggested driving along to the far end of the refuge and doubling back along the gravel internal park road; apparently many bears had been seen in the area!
So you’re saying we might see bears? Excellent!
The walk took us through woodland, so we made sure to be nice and noisy so as not to surprise any bears. The trail took us to overlook the river, which flowed through a beautiful canyon. It looked like a fun place for rafting!
The top of the canyon:
The river through the canyon:
Taking a hike in the wildlife refuge:
A view over the wildlife refuge:
We returned to the airport, stopping for a fantastic Thai meal, and also at a shop to try and repair my phone which had stopped working in the wildlife refuge. No dice!
My favourite licence plate, outside the restaurant:
The next leg of our flight took us down the peninsular to Homer.
On the way to Homer:
Conditions were great on departure, but by the time we arrived we had to sneak in through rain and ceilings that I will describe only as “low”. Within 30 minutes of landing, everything was back to normal however, and we set out for a walk into town. It was a bit late in the day, so we just walked down past the visitor center to the beach.
We took a taxi back to the airport and retraced our steps a little to Ninilchick.
The Homer spit, on departure:
This small gravel strip has a campsite directly across the road; ideally, we could camp under the wings, and pay a few dollars to use the showers next door!
The campsite at Ninilchick: