Kodiak: August 12-16
We flew to Kodiak on a 50-minute flight from Anchorage. We drove all of
the paved road system, hiked in mossy temperate rain forest, watched Kodiak
brown bears catch salmon, splashed along an ATV track to a fishing spot,
and visited the tide pools.
view from our rental house, across to Near Island
The basket in our rental house kitchen included a canister of bear spray!
North End Park
We arrived in Kodiak in the late afternoon. After dinner, we drove over a short bridge to Near Island.
We hiked through the spruce trees, picked berries, and walked along the rocky beaches.
We walked into the spruce forest on North End Trail.
Evan picked lots of salmonberries from the bushes along the trail.
looking across the strait toward our rental house
harvest of yellow salmonberries, from the bushes behind Evan and Paul
To the end of the road
Our first full day, we drove south from town to the end of the road at Fossil Beach.
It was cool and rainy, and we had the beach and cliffs to ourselves.
Paul in front of Fossil Beach
These tough flowers were growing everywhere in the black sand.
Evan found the world's toughest plant growing on a beach log.
Evan climbing on beach logs at Fossil Beach, with our car in the background.
shell fossils in the headlands at Fossil Beach
Kodiak is home to the Pacific Space Complex. A rocket launch was scheduled for later in the month.
We went back to North Island Trail in search of more berries.
Many of the trees were covered in moss.
Fort Abercrombie
The next day, our bear viewing flight was delayed because of low clouds.
While waiting for the weather to clear, we went to Fort Abercrombie and
walked through mossy temperate rain forest, past ruins of a WWII-era coastal
defense base.
WW II ruins at Fort Abercrombie, now mostly covered in moss.
Two 8 inch guns and a giant light pointed out to sea.
Evan spotted an otter off the coast from the Wildflower Meadow Trail.
boardwalks crossed some especially wet sections of the trail
Everything was carpeted with moss on the well-named Moss Trail.
The WWII-era automatic weapons magazines are now lost in the moss.
Frazer Falls bear viewing
Kodiak has lots of bears, but they don't generally live near the road system.
Once the weather cleared, we met our guide and pilot from Sea Hawk Air at the seaplane
base on Near Island. We flew about 45 minutes around Kodiak to land on Frazer Lake.
We walked along a trail to the Frazer Falls fish ladder to watch bears nap, play, and fish for salmon.
getting ready for takeoff in the seaplane
The lines in the vegetation are bear trails.
The biggest boat is using a seine net to capture salmon.
Larsen Bay is only reachable by boat or plane.
salmon cannery in Larsen Bay
bears fishing in the river
Our plane landed on Frazer Lake, then taxiied to the beach.
leaving our ride behind and setting off on the trail to find bears
fireweed, cow parsnip, and big mountains along the trail
When we arrived, mother and three cubs were napping and two young bears were fishing.
Another mother bear sticking her head into the start of the fish ladder to grab salmon.
Evan and Paul on the cliff overlooking the bears and fish ladder
mother with her two older cubs
The bear standing on top of the fish ladder pulled out a salmon.
two four year old bears coming to fish
watching for salmon
Her two cubs came over to get some salmon for themselves.
waking up from their nap
The cubs were curious about us.
Our guide telling the cubs they should not come any closer.
The bears who went around behind us, coming back for more salmon.
salmon in the Frazer Falls weir, where they are counted by Alaska Fish & Game staff
Saltery Cove Road ATV
The next day, we got up when it was dark (the only time we saw dark on our trip),
to meet our guide at 5:30am. He drove us over puddles, across streams, and through
narrow tree tunnels along an old WWII road. Evan and Paul fished for salmon,
and we had lunch on the beach with wild horses. Our guide filleted one of the salmon,
and we grilled it for dinner.
mother and baby black tail deer crossing the ATV road
We saw two mother deers with their little spotted fawns a bit further along the road.
Sometimes the road was a series of giant puddles.
We crossed several streams.
We stopped for a rest at the pass.
ferns and moss along the river just downstream of the fishing spot
our guide Justin showing Paul how to cast
Evan and Paul fishing for salmon
Evan's first catch
Our guide Jason was as excited as Evan. He told him to hold the fish out so it looked bigger.
Our guides estimated there were 500 salmon in the fishing spot. There were lots more just upstream.
Paul's salmon catch
eagle in the tree near the fish weir
Alasks Fish & Game counts the salmon as they pass through this fish weir.
We watched a herd of wild horses while we had lunch.
We had lunch on a log; our guide Jason and the ATV are in the background.
We drove back along the beach for a bit.
road or stream?
Big splashes covered the entire windshield.
We stopped to pick many handfuls of salmonberries near the pass.
Our guide said a big berry fits over your thumb.
Pillar Mountain
After grilling our salmon for dinner, we drove up to the top of Pillar Mountain just behind town.
Kodiak is almost 100% powered by renewable energy, including these six wind turbines.
Near Island, Aleksashkina, and Long Island from the top of Pillar Mountain
looking inland from the top of Pillar Mountain
the town of Kodiak and the bridge to Near Island, as we drove down from Pillar Mountain
Tide pools
Our last day in Kodiak, we checked out of our vacation rental and went back
to Fort Abercrombie to visit the tide pools on a negative low tide.
black leather chitons, or as we called them, footballs
blood star
anemones
we named these Christmas anemones
North end of the road
From Fort Abercrombie, we followed the road north to the end at White Sands Beach.
The white sand is actually ash from the eruption of Novarupta in 1912 --
the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century.
White Sands beach, at the north end of the road system
The lighter color is ash that blanketed Kodiak from a 1912 volcanic eruption.
The ash felt soft and springy underfoot.
hiking the moss-covered forest toward Monashka Point
The forest trail had boardwalks over some wetter spots.
We picked some wild blueberries along the trail.
Fallen trees were now just ghostly outlines in the moss.
After lunch, we walked over to Kodiak Brewing Company, which had local beer and funny signs.
South End trail
Before our flight, we went back to Near Island one more time.
We stopped at the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center to see their aquarium and learn about fisheries.
When it stopped raining, we walked along South End trail to a small beach with a resting bald eagle.
We went back to Near Island and walked / ran along South End Trail.
choice of two boardwalks (or leaping) over the stream
our last chance for salmonberries on Kodiak
bald eagle overlooking a small beach
view of the small beach from the rocks
To the Swan Lake Canoe Route
We flew back to Anchorage, got a rental car, and drove through the mountains of the Kenai Peninsula
to the Sterling area. Next: canoeing the Swan Lake Canoe Route
Planning
- Kodiak vacation rental - ocean view and close to everything
- Sea Hawk Air - floatplane to Frazer Falls for bear viewing
- Fort Abercrombie State Historical Park - mossy forest trails, WWII ruins, and tide pools
- Adventure Guides Kodiak - ATV adventure on Saltery Cove road: deer, wild horses on the beach, salmon fishing, and berry picking