If I Were Going...: Kenai Peninsula and North of Anchorage

The Kenai delivers

During our trip to Alaska, we had several planned activities, including my Kenai Fjords boat tour and Scott’s fishing trip, which we did out of Seward; our Kenai Back Country Bear Adventure out of Kenai and our visit to Brooks Camp from Anchorage. In our “down time,” we saw some pretty scenery …

Wow!

… animals …

Bull Moose

… flowers …

Lots of colors

… and birds …

A smattering of birds

Accommodations

As I mentioned in my Kenai Fjords blog, we stayed at the Spruce Lodge in Seward for two nights. In Kenai, we stayed at the Kenai Airport Hotel, which is right across the street from the small Kenai Airport.

Serviceable lodging

I booked it thinking that our Backcountry Adventure flight would leave from that airport. But, it didn’t. It left from a smaller airstrip in Nikiski. So, I contemplated changing, but didn’t.

And it turned out fine because there really wasn’t anything closer and the Kenai Airport Hotel, while a bit older and kind of funky, was actually pleasant and oddly quiet for being so close to an airport.

Comfort Inn

In Anchorage, we stayed at the Comfort Inn near the Airport. We turned in our rental car before we departed for Brooks Camp and had one night in Anchorage before flying out the next morning. So, we needed a hotel with a reliable shuttle (we’ve had shuttle issues in the past at other hotels).

Plus, because we were flying on small planes, we didn’t want to take all our luggage to Brooks Camp. Therefore, we needed a place to safely (and preferably at no charge) store some luggage for two nights.

While a bit pricey for a Comfort Inn, it was nice, we could walk to dinner, luggage storage was easy and the shuttle was great.

On the Road

Most of our time in Kenai and Anchorage was simple transit, but we did have a few adventures, starting with this handsome Bull Moose that we saw eating while chest deep in a lily-filled pond.

Can you get more Alaskan than that?

Tern Lake

Kenai

We spent some time at Tern Lake, which is the beautiful lake in Moose Pass at the intersection of the Seward Highway and the Sterling Highway. It's located where you decide whether to head south toward Seward or west toward Kenai, Soldotna and, if you then go south, Homer.

I have been going to this lake for years (I have a gorgeous photo Scott took years ago hanging in my office) and I just learned the lake’s name this year. It usually provides good photo ops because it is prone to having smooth, reflective water and pretty flowers ...

Reliably breathtaking

The irony is that I spent a lot of time trying to capture a swooping Arctic Tern making reflections above the lake.

Such symmetry

Who knew it was Tern Lake? Probably everyone but me.

So many visits without knowing the name

Anyway, the Lake has a nice parking pullout, so stopping to take photos is easy. While there, we encountered Magpies …

Loud-mouthed, just like in Colorado

… a gorgeous Red-necked Grebe …

Posing for me

… Mew Gulls …

Circling overhead

… and the aforementioned Arctic Terns …

Flying low

Around the corner is a picnic area, with a lovely bridge across Dave’s Creek, which feeds the Lake ...

Scott on the bridge

I went looking for birds, but found only this engaging Red Squirrel …

Curious fellow

… and another knock-out view …

Looking back at Tern Lake

Tern Lake has to be one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

A beautiful vista

Summer Flowers and Pretty Views

All throughout the Kenai Peninsula, we encountered beautiful mountains and lakes …

Beauty around every corner

… and lots of summer flowers, most of what we saw was beautiful purple Alaska Lupine (the same flowers the Bears were playing in in Silver Salmon Creek). We had to stop ...

Wouldn't you?

... and take pictures …

Scott getting a few shots

This beautiful plant is called Alaskan Lupine or Nootka Lupine. Native to North America, it allegedly grows up to two feet tall, but I swear I’ve seen taller (Super-Nootka, anyone?). It has a high tolerance for cool, wet summers and grows freely along roadsides, gravel bars and forest clearings from the Aleutian Islands and south central Alaska, and along the Alaskan panhandle to British Columbia.

Nootka in Iceland, 2019

A member of the pea family, lupines form seeds in fuzzy pods that may be attractive to children but can be toxic. Interestingly, Nootka Lupine is quite prevalent in Iceland, where was introduced in the first half of the 20th century to combat erosion, speed up land reclamation and help with reforestation.

Now, however it is now considered an invasive species because it has spread from the loose, eroded soil in which it was originally planted throughout the lowlands of the country. The thing about introducing plants, animals and birds is that it is very difficult to put that genie back in the bottle.

In addition to these beautiful purple flowers, we also saw a lot of Arctic Roses and Northern Yarrow …

Common sights in the spring and summer

Both very popular with Bumblebees …

A Frigid Bumblebee in an Arctic Rose

And, of course, we saw some very pretty Dandelions and, in the water, Yellow Pond Lilies …

Pretty flowers

We stopped a few times to look for Salmon, but it appeared that the runs had not started yet.

We did see a mama Common Goldeneye with a parade of ducklings, so that was a treat …

Mama and her brood

And, that scenery!

Gorgeous!

Bears

On our way to Kenai, we did a couple of short drives down some gravel roads in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. We weren’t seeing much until we saw a car stopped under a tree. Was the driver resting? Checking a map? Or looking at something? We always check.

And, sure enough, there was a big Black Bear in the tree. At first, she seemed to be climbing or maybe grazing ...

Bear in a tree!

Then, she settled and looked out at us ...

Looking at us

By now, the other driver had left and we had pulled up. I was outside the car with the car between me and the Bear. Scott was shooting from the driver-side window. As she stared at us (rather intently) …

Really looking at us!

… she suddenly shifted, hissed and slapped her sizable paw on the tree branch…

Warning!

Scott captured it:

I took it as a warning and got back in the car. I then opened the sunroof to try to get some shots, which caused me to look higher above us. And, there was a cub – this year’s cub – in the tree above us ...

Surprise!

We took a few photos and moved on so as not to agitate her.

A few shots and then, onward!

When we came back by later, they were both gone. It’s possible that the first driver had seen them cross the road and they had climbed the tree when he stopped. Regardless, they had moved on.

We didn’t see much else in the Refuge, just a White-winged Crossbill and a Swainson’s Thrush, both a bit too far away and too shaded for decent photos.

Not much for birding

While staying in Kenai, we did a little exploring, searching for (and failing to find) a beach we had visited years ago. I think the issue was that the tide was out – way out – so nothing looked the same.

Cook Inlet has very dramatic tides, so the vista can change greatly. The weather wasn’t great and the beaches were muddy, so we didn’t find much to do.

Gray mud, gray sky, gray beach

But, no biggie. We were just here between upcoming Bear adventures.

The highlight

Reflections Lake

After we had finished the Kenai Bear Adventure, we stayed two nights in Anchorage: one before we went to Brooks Camp (where we had a car) and one after (no car). Besides driving the pretty route up Turnagain Arm to Anchorage, we didn’t do a lot …

Turnagain Arm

… except that took a short drive north of Anchorage …

Scenery along the road

… and visited one of our favorite quick-stops: Reflections Lake …

A pretty spot

As the name would imply, this spot is usually a good bet for a pretty photo of a reflective lake …

Some reflection

It was a bit breezy, so we didn’t get a fully glassy lake, but we had some nice vistas and some nice flora and fauna. That is if a Loon is classified as fauna. Because, swimming in the middle of the lake was a beautiful Common Loon. And, I love me some Loons.