Cooper Landing & The Skilak Road

On July 22nd we left Soldotna, driving 53 miles down the Sterling highway to Cooper Landing.  Located at the confluence of Kenai Lake and Kenai River, Cooper Landing has a population of less than 400.  This was initially a mining community. Gold was first found here in 1848 by a Russian engineer working in the area. Joseph Cooper, for whom the town is named, later found gold in 1884.  Today, most businesses in Cooper Landing support sport fishing on the Kenai and Russian River.

 
We stayed at an RV park run by the Kenai Princess Lodge.  This is a great little RV park.  Directly behind our rig was a kennel of huskies, three adults and three very young pups. What a hoot!

In the evening we sat on the bank of the Kenai River to watch Mergansers float by.

 
 
On the other side of the river a fisherman caught a good looking salmon.

 
  
Later in the evening we walked in the forest near the RV park. We came across a couple of trees with large burls.  Burls are found throughout Alaska on Birch,  Spruce and other trees. They begin life as a gall, a small tumor caused by fungi, insects or bacteria.  Only a slight irritation can cause a gall.  The gall grows to become a burl.  Once started, the burl grows with the tree.  Burls are used to make furniture and are incorporated into houses, used as a column on a porch or entryway.

 

The following day it rained heavily until late afternoon, so we slept in and got caught up on chores inside the rig, including processing photos from Ninilchik.

We had been told by a Ranger at the nearby Kenai Wildlife Refuge that Skilak Road was worth exploring for wildlife.  The next morning we headed out early.  We never know when we go down a dirt road what we'll see.  Sometimes it's interesting while other times it is just a bumpy, dusty ride.  As soon as we turned off Sterling Highway onto the Skilak Road, we saw a Snow Shoe Hare. 

Then we saw an Ermine, small and sleek, run across the road.  This time of year they are dark brown.  In the winter, their coats turn a beautiful white and are much sought after for women's coats and stoles, as in "ermine and pearls." We saw quite a few Ermines over the course of the next two days. All ran too fast to get a photo.

Soon we saw a Grouse supervising the whole family crossing the road.  What a hoot.  Some flew across the road.  Others scampered across as though the devil himself were chasing them.  When all were safely across the road and into the forest, the adult also disappeared. Because it all happened very quickly, we only were able to photograph the adult, just before she disappeared.

A couple of miles down the road we came to a High Bush Cranberry bush, full of bright red berries.  Just the sort of bush to attract birds.  We parked our truck and set up our cameras.  Soon,  this little guy appeared. We bellieve it's a Warbler, but are not sure if it's a Yellow Warbler.  Or maybe a Wilson Warbler.  What complicates the ID is he is very young. Any thoughts? 

 

We also saw this Yellow Rumped Warbler.

Then, this juvenile Robin landed on a branch in front of us.

This bird flew in just before we left. Perhaps a Swainson's Thrush?

 

Meanwhile, just up the road a Coyote took great interest in what we were doing before disappearing into the forest. He looks a little hungry.

As we approached Hidden Creek, we stopped to speak to a couple of folks who were standing on the road near a culvert that ran under the road. They explained there was a Grizzly  in the culvert.  Looking at the creek, we saw a number of Salmon swimming close to the mouth of the culvert.

I had been photographing birds with a 500mm lens.  Margie had a 400mm lens on her camera.  Both too much lens for photographing a Grizzly at close range.  Before we could change our lenses,  a Grizzly appeared in the river just below. 

We took a couple of photos before the bear disappeared back into the culvert. 

 I changed to a 70-200 mm lens just as the Grizzly appeared on the other side of the culvert, heading up river. 

The bear didn't hang around for long, but we managed to get a couple of photos.  Most of them were butt shots, since the bear was heading upstream away from us.

We continued on down Skilak Road to Rock Lake, where we saw a pair of Pacific Loons.

 

 

 While we were setting up our cameras to take photos of the Loones, we noticed two tiny chicks nearby sitting on a warm rock enjoying the sun.  We were able to photograph both the parents and chicks for over half an hour.

These are very young chicks. What a great way  for them to spend a warm summer morning.

There were a number of ponds and lakes along Skilak Road.

 

If you look carefully, in the tiny inlet to the right are two swans. They were so far away that even with a 600mm lens they are hard to see.

 

Further up the road we wandered into a Birch forest.  Soft underfoot, the ground was damp but not boggy. It was quite beautiful. 

 

It really was an amazing morning. 

The next day we got up even earlier and headed back to Skilak Road.  Much to our disappointment, there were no Salmon in Hidden Creek.  No Salmon, no bears! In fact, the second day we saw very little in the way of wildlife along Skilak Road that had been so busy the day before. A local guide explained that the Salmon run in batches.  We had been fortunate the day before to be near Hidden Creek just when a batch went up the river.  And if there are fish, there are also likely to be bears.  She also mentioned the next batch of Salmon were just down the road near Sterling, and were expected to get to Hidden Creek and Hidden Lake in about two days. It must be the luck of the Irish!

Remember Tern Lake?  We posted a series of photos of Arctic Terns several days ago taken on July 11th.  After striking out on Skilak Road, we thought we would go back to Tern Lake, just up the road from Cooper Landing.  Although the obligatory Loon was still sitting on her nest, not a single Tern could be seen! We knew it was nearing the end of the season for them on the lake.  Time to start heading south, to the southern end of South America and the Antarctic. But we were surprised to find they were all gone.

Cooper Landing is our last stop on the Kenai Peninsula.  We spent twenty days on the Peninsula.  We felt that we barely scratched the surface, and could easily have spent two months or more. Lots to see for sure.

Next we go to Anchorage to get the rig's wheels realigned on Monday and to Wasilla on Tuesday to pick up new tires for the Ford before heading up the Glenn Highway heading toward Valdez.  

Comments

[Geoff]

With Grizzlies, butt shots are always preferable to rapidly approaching head shots

[Ellen]

We appreciate your opening a large picture window to enjoy and view the beauty and wildlife of the Kenai Peninsula. Your photos are wonderful. You are taking the time to truly enjoy Alaska. We really enjoy the unique treasures along the way.

[Chris K]

This is one of the best blogs with the best pictures of the wildlife I have ever seen, and you are even accurate on your commentary. Very good. I am really enjoying it. You are also a very good photographer.