North to Alaska 2010

Seward to Hidden Lake Campground


Our first stop after leaving Seward was to spend the night at the Quartz/Crescent Creek Trail head parking area. There are two campgrounds on the Quartz Creek Road but we chose to take advantage of the free parking space at the trail head. One big problem with this spot were the mosquitoes which were enormous and we could actually see clouds of them invading the area. Attire for the rest of the afternoon and evening - mosquito repellent, long sleeves, long pants, collars up and hats on. Thankfully, we were only spending the night and decided it would be easier to stay inside - which we did.


On the road the next morning we are heading towards Soldotna - our main destination for the Kenai Peninsula but we don't expect to get there for a few days. Too much to see and do on the way. Of course, the scenery is beautiful and the color of the Kenai River is awesome. Again, this river is composed of glacier ice melt so is that gorgeous blue color we have been seeing all summer.





We took the Skilake Loop Road which was part of the Kenai Peninsula Highway built in 1947. It is a gravel road and although it is heavily traveled by fishermen and tourists, the road is still bumpy with lots of potholes so it is slow going. Three miles down the road is Hidden Lake Campground which has an observation deck for viewing wildlife and lake shore campsites - none of which we would fit into - we were too long. We did, however find a site suitable for us and even though it wasn't lakeside, it was a really nice site.



After setting up we decided to take a ride on the loop road. Great idea. Just about 1/4 block from the campground entrance is Hidden Creek and when we turned toward it we noticed quite a few cars stopped alongside the road. They were all watching the female grizzly bear feeding on salmon. We stopped also and got the camera going. She was catching the salmon, biting their heads off, flinging the carcasses aside and moving further downstream. We enquired as to why only the heads and it is because that is the best part of the fish. All the best nutrients are there and when they get their fill and realize the fish are plentiful, they will start eating all of the fish. She was a joy to watch. She didn't care who was there watching her as her main purpose and goal was to eat as many fish as she could. That was evident by the number of carcasses littering the sides of the creek. After a while she moved far enough upstream we couldn't see her anymore so we moved on. We stopped along Lower Ohmer Lake to look at the lily pads and across the lake was a moose - female and a little bit further to the west was a Bull Moose. They didn't care that we were watching them either as they were fully engrossed in eating the roots of the lily pads. We went to the end of the road and turned around headed back to the campground - all signs of wildlife are gone.





Day two at the campground found us back at the creek and again the female grizzly was there. We could hear bells as we watched the bear and here were two young women - early twenties - hiking down the middle of the road with one carrying a shotgun on her back with bear bells attached to it. They volunteer for the Fish and Game Department and their job is to count the salmon behind the gate and then release the fish into the creek. As we were talking to them one of their co-workers drove up and we learned a little more about what they do and a little more about the bear. The grizzly is a 3 year old sow and she is collared. The volunteers for Fish and Game think she is a problem but I said - after all you are in "her" territory so she isn't the problem, she thinks you are the problem. They agreed but still they said, she makes it hard some days to do their job because they can't get past her. The guy and Ken got to talking and after finding out we had never had fresh salmon gave us the one he had caught just that morning. He said he could catch another one tomorrow. Looking forward to that meal!


The third day we went to see the bear, there was a party of 4 people there that were totally obnoxious in their behavior with the bear. The picture taker decided he wasn't close enough so he moved in towards her, and of course the bear moved away. Then while the people were talking in loud voices, she moved into the woods and the picture taker followed her up "her" path. He came back out, they all got in the vehicle and slowly proceeded up the road until she came out on the road, then they chased her and made her run. I was incensed! When we went back later, she wasn't around and she wasn't visible the next day when we left either.








We did go back to Cooper's Landing while we were camping at Hidden Lake and got to see the famous "Russian River" Landing area. The Russian River Ferry is privately operated and has a passenger capacity of 28. The ferry crosses the Kenai River to the opposite bank and to the mouth of the Russian River for fisherman. When we were there we couldn't get much of a view because of the trees, but the parking lot was full.




Cooper Landing, population 353, is located at the west side of Kenai Lake. It was named for Joseph Cooper, a miner who discovered gold here in 1894. According to the Alaska Department of Community and Regional Affairs, the population of the area nearly doubles each summer.


Next stop should be Soldotna, where we plan to stay for a couple of weeks or so. John and Fran are already there and they said the salmon fishing is good.