We’re headed north today to Captain Cook State Park with a plan to drive south to and reach our campground by dinner time. This is quite an industrial area since there are lots of oil derricks out in Cook Inlet. They are hard to miss and so is the industry connected to them.
Altogether there are about 15 or so rigs out in the Inlet.
They sure don’t want you to park near them - I wonder if they know that I took a picture. That sign says ‘NO PARKING’ ‘NO STOPPING’ and they have 5 signs here. I got the message, I got the message. But - doesn’t say ‘NO PICTURES.'
The park has it all: forests, lakes, streams and beaches and we found a trail down to the shore. Check out that seemingly balanced rock in the background. Lots of those red buoys on the shore, lost off of nets and drifted into shore.
The cliff here is all soil, dirt, brush and trees. Where in the world did these huge rocks come from?
The tide was out and it was a rocky shore with well-rounded rocks but towards the water line was this muck. We’ve heard that this ‘sand’ is more like quicksand which can encase your feet in a liquid cement. Remember, the tide can come in 4X faster than you can run. And - if you’ve stepped into this goopy stuff, you’ll have a hard time getting your foot out much less your shoe. It’s nasty stuff. I tossed a small rock into it and got this. Then a second rock. Imagine your foot in this.
Nice walk and we were not alone since we found all kinds of vehicles just cruising the beach. Here’s one but we liked the root system that had washed up on shore.
Lots of eagles - we’ve never seen so many eagles as we’ve seen here in Alaska. Kinda of getting old hat? Nope, we enjoy each and every one. And this one didn’t disappoint, swooping in from a rock and making a pin-point landing on a tree limb right over our heads.
Across the bay were several volcanoes but we could only see this one. These are all part of the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’ which stretches from New Zealand up to Alaska and back down to South America. This ring has 75% of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes.
South to Kenai where it’s all about the fish. Not today, however, we visited the Visitor and Cultural Center and explored its small museum. Here we found a large collection of indigenous artifacts, a group of animal mounts, native art and lots of information.
The original inhabitants were the Dena’ina people who trace their habitation back to ‘time immemorial.’ When the Russians landed in the 1790’s, there were about 1500 Dena’ina living in this area. The Russians called them the Kenaitze which meant ‘people of the flat land’ and the Kenaitze called the Russians Tahdna, which means ‘underwater people’ since when their boat sailed in it looked like it came from under the water.
The Russians came for the fish and furs and built a fort and a church. When they left in 1867 with the purchase by America of Alaska, the Americans built a fort in its place.
After we had explored the VC, we walked around to explore the town via the walking tour. A car would have been overkill for this.
Here’s Moosemeat John’s cabin, named after John Hedberg who homesteaded in this area and was known for his success with moose - which he killed to feed his large family of 13 children. But, he often shared his successes with his neighbors. On the frontier, you’re all in it together. Looks like they need to reshingle.
Nearby is the Parish House Rectory built in 1881, believed to be the oldest building on the Kenai peninsula and still in use.
Across the street is the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church, one of the oldest standing Orthodox churches in Alaska. They still hold services here.
Now, you might think that this building is a coffee shop and a pretty one at that. but it was originally built in 1940 in Sitka, moved here and has been a theater, a pharmacy, a bakery and now a cool little coffee shop/restaurant. Note all the additions that people have added over the years.
Across the street is the Chapel of St. Nicholas built in 1906. It was built as a tribute to Igumen (Abbot) Nikolai, the first missionary in the area. With the aid of two assistants, he was responsible for bringing the smallpox vaccine to the area and vaccinating many people in the area against this deadly disease.
Excellent carpentry
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Then we saw the beach and were drawn down to that. Of course. Walking the beach - can anything be more fun?
Unless it’s hamburgs and fried at the Burger bus, an institution in Kenai. Good but I thought the bar-be-cued hamburgs at the 4th picnic were much better. Cooked over a grill. Ummm.
The burger Bus has its own iconic totem. Are those fries on top of that totem?
Enjoyed the flowers throughout this area.
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