Alaska Travelog: The afternoon after fishing.

 After our half day drift boat fishing trip we decided to go exploring.

A trip over to Seward?
In the rain?
Sure!

(We are staying in Coopers Landing...heading to Seward,)

 

 

 

Our little SUV rental car.
We got a free upgrade!
Four wheel drive!

 

That dark patch looked like a shadow but it actually was forest.

The drive to Seward probably would take a lot less time if one didn't need to stop at just about every wide spot in the road to take another picture.
I was a huge fan of the patch work quilt like colors on the mountains.

 

Traffic was light thank goodness.

It made those road side shots a lot more easy to manage.

But sometimes I still shot from the window as we zoomed along, like I did in this shot.
(Tip for shooting in motion: Use your camera's sports or burst setting.)

Not sure why fish can not be seen except in these two months?
(OK...that refers to when the salmon are spawning...I think...)
We thought we would take a look-see.

Looks like a nice little well used path...

I got into macro shots of the various ferns and micro plants that were like a carpet beneath my feet.

Doesn't this look like something that should be seen under tropical waters?
Nothing in this pictures was bigger than the tip of my thumb by the way.

The peeling patterns of the birch bark fascinated me.
Remember...I grew up with palm trees.
Deciduous trees are a new experience in my life.

At one point along the path the forest floor was carpeted in this beautiful tiny plant that sported an array of autumn colors.

The fern had turned pale and nearly white, which looked very nice against the brown decaying leaf mulch.

 

Now that's what I call a pretty forest path!

At the end was a small platform overlooking a rather ordinary stream with zero fish.
Oh well. 

From the cuts in the mountains that were made to clear a way for road construction we knew that there was precious little top soil in this forest; the trees were growing on basically solid rock.
No wonder the roots were growing almost above the ground.

Anyone who has read my blog over the years knows I have a fixation on mushrooms and fungi.
Isn't it pretty and interesting looking growing on this stump?

A close up...

The moss on this stump was growing around something (mold?) that was blue green with pink spots.

Kind of love the bony look of the roots atop the soil.
We didn't linger very long in the forest.
Back to our car...

And still more gorgeous fall scenery.

Traffic is picking up...must be getting closer to Seward.

I will say that as much as I was ga-ga over the yellow cottonwood and birch stands, I missed the multicolor forests of Utah.
Eventually some reds popped up along the way.

Now I did mention that it was raining.
Seriously raining at this point.
Check out what is going on along side the road.
Flooding in the forests...

And flooding in civilization too.

 Were we going to be able to make it to Seward?

There were road sign guys holding signs so travel could only happen one side of the street at a time.
Hmmmm....

Double hmmmm....

This was looking pretty bad.

Everywhere we looked there was ponding.

Over us the mountains play a colorful game of peek-a-boo through the misty clouds

Well, we made it Seward!

Houses clung to edges of cliffs that didn't look all that stable to me.
Pretty houses and they must have a fabulous view on clear days.

So here we are in downtown historic Seward.
Not terribly different than a lot of other historic areas of towns in San Diego.
 

 

We parked in front of this very cool door that went into a book store on our way to grab a cup of coffee next door.
(Thought of you Sara W.!)
 

Love the colorful names that they have given coffee and teas in this seaside coffee shop.
I stuck with hot chocolate but was tempted to try the Black Jack.
It had been about an hour on the road by this point so I asked to use the rest room.

Now there's something you don't usually see in a coffee shop bathroom.
I just saw the toilet plunger next to the organ...hee hee.
(Yes, that is a toilet in the low left of this picture and a baby changing table next to the organ. Just so you know, I just "went" and left, not trusting my piano keyboarding to be useful on a vintage organ.)

Back outside I spotted another great door, and roof too.

Wonder if this door was locally crafted?

In the driving rain we drove (Har!) around the area.
This was right across from the Cruise ship harbor.
Some kind of museum/cultural center or something.

Quite dreary.

Looking the other way.
Still dreary.

Some kind of monument being visited by crows.

Must be a great place to hang out on a drier day. 

What's this?
So this is where the Iditarod starts!

And in case anyone has forgotten, Seward was destroyed by 20 ft high tidal waves, six waves total, following immediately after the 9.2 earthquake that struck on Good Friday, 1964.
The signs are a constant reminder to everyone.

Mile 0 point of the Iditarod is right here.
Sure looks a lot different without snow doesn't it?
 

I will give it to Seward: they have some really fun building embellishments.

An old white clapboard houses with a great combo of red and blue green trim caught my eye as we drove through the little residential area.

There is just something about how the mountains frame Seward that I liked.

It had a busy boat harbor of course. 

I liked this Irish looking cottage too...

While I was sighing at all the cute houses Bernie was starting to wonder if the road flooding might strand us in Seward over night.

We got through the flooded road...whew!

 

The flooding really was bad though.

The next day we read that Seward had declared a state of emergency.

They got 30+ inches of rain in September and qualified for State and Federal Disaster funds.
The entire Kenai area suffered from uncommon hurricane winds and flooding rains during the month.
 

The calmness of the inlets denied anything major was happening inland.

Fall beauty shone despite the weather.

 

We got home to Coopers Landing and Bernie cooked up the trout he had caught the day before on the outside grill.
Just red onions, salt, pepper and a dab of butter, and the fish all wrapped in foil.
A salad, some fruit and a glass of wine completed the menu.
Alex stopped by to say hi and was pleased to see that we actually cooked and ate the fish.
Apparently people keep fish but then don't get around to cooking them!
We were to go fishing again the next day but the waters were rising and the weather was to be crummy so he suggested moving our next "drift" back a few days.
He didn't get any arguments out of us!
A day lazing about in bed, reading and exploring a bit sounded perfect to us at that point.

To be continued....

 

Cooper's Landing: Day 2-Jill goes fishing too

Even though I was having plenty of fun wandering around taking pictures of the fall colors that were intensifying hourly... 

and the river level was rising hourly as well...

and the sign said the waters were closed to fishing...

and the sun was barely up...

I went fishing too!

There's Alex unloading the boat.

I kind of gulped when I realized that I would have to wade into the river and climb into the boat.
It wasn't bad at all actually.
The waders did what they were designed to do.

Plus the sun rise was pretty as seen from the water.

Sunshine was a MOST welcomed sight.
I wasn't especially keen on spending half a day out on the river in pouring rain like it was the day before.

Alex gave me and our other passenger George casting lessons; Bernie pointed out to me that fresh water fishing was done with the reel under the rod.
I was holding my rod with the reel on top, as I had always held it when fishing off  La Jolla as a kid.

Raise the entire rod up so it stay parallel to the water.
Then twist the rod counter clockwise so the flat side of the reel is also parallel to the water.
Flick the rod with a wrist and bit of elbow (not whole shoulder!) so the weighted hook end flies toward the back end of the boat.
The boat floats (or is rowed) ahead and you keep the tip of the rod pointing down at the pink bobber in the water which flows rapidly towards the front of the boat.
One has to pay attention: if the bobber goes below the water a fish has "hit" it and one must quickly pull up (not sideways) to set the hook in the fish's mouth.
Following the bobber with one's eyes while keeping the rod tip horizonal to the water with the tip pointing at the bobber takes concentration.

Ummm...not concentrating...
Also feeling just a tad embarassed to have someone rowing me along.
I kept feeling like I should take a turn and let Alex rest even though as a strong 25 year old who routinely rows four people zig zag across the river; he really didn't need my help to do his job.
 

It was pretty chilly.
I needed my mittens!
Oh, and this is me with my new boat name:
Liz.
For some reason Alex kept calling me Liz; he apologized but said I looked like a Liz to him.
I was fine with that!
In fact it made me laugh to have new name while I fished!

I had been rather surprised a few days back when Bernie took a picture of me on the beach and framed the shot so it cut off my feet.
He is an excellent photographer so I commented on it.
After shooting several boat pictures of me he asked if I wanted my feet in the picture this time.
Of course I did!

I got hung up on this mountain and took a picture as often as the light changed upon it.

The glacial blue water and yellow trees still has me in "wow" even now looking at this picture.

Home Sweet Home:  Drifter's Lodge.
My bedroom window is the one beneath the green roof just beneath the "dish".

See my pink bobber in the lower right hand corner?
I am clearly not paying attention to it: the view is demanding I be photographer instead of fisherwoman.
It was shortly after this that I was the first one in the boat to catch a fish!
I was just kinda staring at the bobber when I saw it go down.
I gave my rod a tug and began reeling in.
I told Alex I thought I had snagged on something as the line resistance was more than I would expect from a river fish.
He told me he could see a fish on my line...
I think I argued for a moment more then saw the fish myself.
He quickly netted it, show me and released it before I could even take a picture!
I was like "huh?? what just happened???"
A nice Dolly Varden....

Bernie hooked up moments later.

This time I had my camera ready!

Such a beautiful creature!

Alex gave it a quick smooch and released it back into the water.
It was still really early in the day.
Had we know that would be about it catch wise I think I would have kept this one.

Bernie was standing at the bow of the boat casting nicely.
George (the other guy on the boat) was getting the hang of it with lots of coaching from Alec.
Alex...said I was doing just great!
(I was SO proud when he said that about my casting!)

 

Sometimes the water was turbulent.

The boat moved down stream rapidly.

Alex would tell us stuff like that here was usually a rock called Preacher's Rock but it was underwater due to the heavy rains.

After about two hours of fishing I was ready to kick back and just enjoy the ride.
Alex asked about my boots: were they regular hiking shoes or ???
I explained that they were a newly released wading boot design that I was crazy about.
They were as light as slippers and so comfortable.
(I was so proud that a professional fishing guide was impressed by my boots!)

The two guys fished (casted repeatedly) the entire four hours we were out.
George eventuall caught a small Dolly Varden; I think Bernie might have caught something else too.
The high waters were definitely messing with the fishing. 

I was having no problem "catching" what I was after...the amazing scenery!

 

 

 

Alex was just as great as Bernie had said he was.  I was a little nervous about being with a fishing guide.
I mean what if he got all uppity with me because I goofed up while I was casting or something?
As it turned out I was ready to adopt Alex or clone him or beg him to move to where we live because he was such a great young man.
Bernie had said I would like him and he was so right.

 

As Alex rowed along and kept an eye out on Bernie and George he also kept an eye out for things for me to photograph.
He spotted the eagle's nest for me.

A couple of trees down was the eagle too!

 

It seemed impossible that regular things like kids being taken to school was happening while we fished.

Guess who wants a willy boat now?
Or a pontoon boat or ???
More next post on what we did with the rest of the day...