Jen’s Journal – August 4, 2019

Day 36: Hope, AK

Sunny and warm. We haven’t seen rain in a week and hardly any mosquitoes.

Hope

We had to check out Hope because it was on the map but there was nothing about it in the 70-page Kenai Adventures booklet.

Hope is bigger than Chicken. They have internet, four cafes, an RV Park and a National Forest campground.

It is lively. Lots of people camping and fishing.

Many people run and walk their dogs on the highway approaching town.

Tired but cute, it’s actually half of a town. The earthquake and tsunami of 1964 wiped out streets D and E and all of the accompanying intersections, and Turnagain Arm dropped six feet. Those roads are now a large tidal marshland.

Porcupine Campground, part of the Chugach National Forest, is all paved, has beautiful views and clean outhouses. It costs $9 with a National Parks Pass or $18 without.

Kenai Peninsula

This is the first day we have seen lots of traffic on the Kenai Peninsula. Last week we were on the western side and there were ample visitors but it was not crowded. Now,

• It is a weekend

• The salmon are running or spawning, I don’t know

• There is a salmon festival in Ninilchik. We want to go, but admission starts at $70 each.

On a tip from Vi at the Visitors Center in Kenai, we tried Louie’s for some salmon. Expensive but great food and service. We had leftovers. Get the famous clam chowder and you won’t need a meal!

We walked around the town of Kenai a bit and walked on the beach of the Cook Inlet. It got seriously windy with 2-4’ waves and tide coming in.

Tom wanted to fish again so we went east to Soldotna on the Kenai River. He had one on but it broke the line.

While Tom was fishing I hemmed our stealth curtains.

I wanted to go north along the coast until the road ended. We passed two moose and camped at Captain Cook State Recreation Area.