Finally on the road - Saturday June 26! We had a little pressure, as we had reservations on the ferry - Alaska's "Marine Highway" - for Sunday morning and had to be there, 250 miles away, by 9:45 am (ferry left at 11:45 am but lots to get ready and loaded.) The ferry was 1 1/2 hrs. to get to Seldovia.
From Wikipedia: Seldovia (Alutiiq: Angagkitaqnuuq; Russian: Селдовия) is a city in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. Its population was 255 at the 2010 census, down from 286 in 2000. It is located along Kachemak Bay southwest of Homer. There is no road system connecting the town to other communities, so all travel to Seldovia is by airplane or boat.
and more from Wikipedia: The Alaska Native people of Seldovia make up approximately one quarter of the population and have ancestors of Aleut and Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) descent, as well as some Dena'ina.[5]
The town's original Russian name, Seldevoy, translates to "Herring Bay", as there was a significant herring population prior to rampant overfishing early in the 20th century.
Until the development of a more complete road system in Alaska, Seldovia was an important "first stop" for ships sailing from Seward, Kodiak and other points outside Cook Inlet. At one time Seldovia was home to over 2,000 residents, but today fewer than 300 persons reside year round.
And now from me: Another interesting fact - at one time, the Main Street of town could only be walked from one end to the other at low tide - by high tide, water was right up to the doorsteps - Seldovia has anywhere from a 15' to 21' tide! The boardwalk was built around the 1920s and enabled people to walk to houses and businesses at any time of day.
Pictures of us coming into Seldovia on the ferry and of the ferry itself. There is also a "high speed ferry" that we couldn't take our RV on and several "water taxi" companies that ferry people from Homer to Seldovia and back.
Ferry coming into Homer before we load.
Our first look at Seldovia. We had a great time there, camping at "Outside Beach, with very few people around and a wonderful view out our very big windows that we appreciate on our RV. The beach is rocky for the most part, gravely, rather than sandy, and with the very big tide, big craggy rocks emerge at low tide.
And lots of hiking here too - up to their Resevoir, also the Rocky Ridge hike which was a loop back into town and then through town back to our RV on the other side, fairly steep, lovely primitive trail. We drove 10 miles up to Jakalof Bay and met some new people, learned something more about salmon fishing there, and the next day did another hike we found out about from a young woman who'd come over to bike for the day and. was waiting for a water taxi. That hike was about 7 miles, a combination of an old truck road into a mine and a primitive trail over and through a couple of creeks and washed out narrow strips of land. The mining was for chromium at one time, years ago now with some evidence of the abandoned vehicles and structures. Oh - and also a fast-retreating black bear who caught our scent or was alerted by my calling "Coming through bears" and took off before we encountered him - thank you bear.
and a hike our last day before we left again on the ferry, which I thought was going to be nothing, the "Otterbahn Trail" that started in town and went to Outside Beach and back - it was a fun trail with more up and down, more to it than I expected - we got there at low tide, note the rocks that are usually under water, and we met another interesting couple who talked to us about retirement as they are selling their place in Halibut Cove, a short boat ride away and looking at what's next.
We had a couple of lunches in town and a couple of trips to the bakery - highly recommended. And I found the library, which I love to do in every town that we visit. It's only open a few hours each day, so if I ever move to Seldovia, I'm going to be a volunteer librarian so that it can be open. I was able to circle back and buy 3 books for $1 each. It's a wonderful small-town life, we met lots of interesting people, had a campfire with one group one night, and ran into everyone who we met on the ferry coming over several times - because it's a one-street town basically for businesses, so lots of running into people. Even a family that we met in Jakalof Bay met up with us one afternoon and said, "Wait - we know you!" They were visiting a parent and were from Arizona now, and the parent had a cabin there - "good forethought," I said. It was a beautiful bay to have a cabin on.
And on the way home - Ninilchik, where we stayed on the beach on the way up at the Deep Creek State Recreational Site - and then on the Skilak Road, which is a 19 mile gravel road that we probably won't take again! A little too rough and very slow! But a beautiful day hike above Skilak Lake and a new discovery of the Hidden Lake Campground, which thankfully is almost at the end of the Skilak Lake Road! Skilak Lake Road runs through the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, and we heard two stories when we got back that testify to the wildlife. One man was on a trail just 2 miles up the road from where we hiked and was attached by a black bear with two cubs. He was slashed on the arm and then bitten in the shoulder but managed to hike out and was ok. Another couple somewhere on Skilak Lake was attacked, I think by a brown bear, while sleeping in their tent and managed to get away by canoe but with injuries. You do have to be careful, as we saw lots of bear skat while we were hiking most days.
Although the days are getting shorter, the sunsets are getting longer. These two pictures are an hour apart, at 12:30 am and 1:30 am approximately, one night when I wasn't sleeping.
Kira finds new comfortable riding/sleeping places in the RV besides my lap, which I'm grateful for, and she's glad to be home. It's probably a good thing that she doesn't know we're leaving again on our next trip in a few days!
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