Western Kenai

I wrapped up my time around Kenai with two days in the western half of the peninsula.  Yesterday, I stopped to see my brother's inlaws who are working on a cabin along the Kenai River.   They were kind enough to entertain and house me for day amongst everything else they have to do.  

In the middle of the day, we drove about an hour to a state park along the Cook Inlet.  Clouds hid most of the mountains on the far side of the water.  I understand its a very dramatic backdrop when the skies are clear.   The beach was scenic in its own right with jagged rocks and a creek emptying into the sea.  We drove right on to the beach.  I was happy to serve some productive function loading a few heavy rocks for use at their property.  For dinner, they cooked halibut they had recently caught.  Then we sat around the fire until well past sunset, which incidentally was around 10:00.

Today I did a lot of driving.  I drove all the way to Homer and back past Anchorage to Wasilla, the town Sarah Palin made famous.  I am just staying the night here before moving on to Denali tomorrow.  The weather was pretty bad all day. It rained almost non-stop, though never very heavy.  I walked around Homer & had lunch (baked salmon).  I broke up all the driving with a 5-mile, level hike to Russian River Falls.  I saw a few salmon leaping up the rapids, but no bears trying to eat them.