2023 Alaska Trip Report 13

Vanlife with friends on the Kenai Peninsula
Hike near Girdwood, AK
Bald Eagle during pit stop near Kenai River. We thought they would be hard to spot, but they were everywhere in Alaska.
Campfire on the beach in Homer. This is right in front of our campsite.
Small quaint village of Seldovia
Brompton bike ride near the Homer Spit
View from our Seward campsite. We spent A LOT of time here as this is where we came down with COVID-19. I guess there could be worse places to be sick.
Bear viewing in Lake Clark National Park. The views! What a beautifully unspoiled place.
Bear viewing at Lake Clark National Park. We watched these 2 playing on the beach for a while. We were on a boat just off the shore. So close, no zoom even used.
Bear viewing at Lake Clark National Park. One of the highlights of this trip!
Bear viewing at Lake Clark National Park. These Coast Brown Bears (AKA grizzly bears) were very playful with each other. They had no interest in us.
Bear viewing at Lake Clark National Park. That is our boat and we are standing near beach looking in other direction at another group of bears when we were alerted to this big guy by our captain.
Puffins! I ❤️ them!
Cruising in Kenai Fjords National Park. This is about 4 hours before Tony’s dreaded COVID-19 symptom onset. Looking at Tony now, I can see his color isn’t great. 🙁
Seakayaking near Kenai Fjords National Park. We departed from Seward, AK via water taxi. We are kayaking towards Aialik Glacier.
Having lunch on our kayaks near Aialik glacier
A smack (thats what a grouping is called) of moon jellyfish. One if coolest things I have ever seen. Kenai Fjords National Park.
Oh gosh…it’s COVID-19. Ugh! I am still in denial that I will get sick.
Exit Glacier north of Seward – Our lunch spot for the day. This is our 1st time of the van in over a week.
Potter Marsh boardwalk south of Anchorage. There were salmon in the water below us on their voyage upstream
Fireweed everywhere – so beautiful
One of many Brompton bike rides on the Tony Knowles Coastal path near Anchorage
Cool mushroom 🍄 we found during hike in Eagle Creek. We said it looked like Alice in Wonderland but a young boy said Wow it’s a Mario Mushroom. Lol
Hatchers Pass. We drive all the way here, then hiked with COVID-19 for this amazing view. It’s so beautiful we could literally see forever (ha ha).

Leg #: 13 (Day 47-64)

Location: Kenai Peninsula including Homer and Seward plus Anchorage, Palmer, AK & Chugach State Park

Mileage Driven leg/total: 1006 / 6803 miles

Road Conditions: No issues.

Weather: Lots of wonderful sunny, slightly breezy 70 degree days with a few days of miserably cold and non-stop raining days. Summer weather in Alaska has been overall spectacular!

Tofu Status:

• All systems working.

Highlights:

• Wildlife Sightings: lots of bears, orcas, sea otters, puffins, harbor seals, bald eagles, moose, arctic terns, mountain goats, Dall sheep, Dall porpoise, marbled murrelet, Steller’s jay, ochre sea star, a “smack” of moon jellyfish, salmon, arctic squirrels

• Friends, Jeannie and Jeff, arrived from WA for a week of touring the Kenai Peninsula together in their rental campervan. They both previously lived for decades in Alaska so they were a wealth of knowledge.

• From Homer, we took the Rainbow Connection boat, with its all female crew, to the small fishing village of Seldovia. We spent the afternoon eating a picnic lunch overlooking the harbor, foraging (unsuccessfully) for salmon berries, purusing small shops, watching bush planes land and even found a black sand beach .

• It was an early 5 am departure from Homer for bear viewing at Lake Clark National Park but it was totally worth it. The (fishing) boat was quite uncomfortable and smelly but the crew was great and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. After several hours of motoring, we arrived at the 1st of 4 spots to view the Coastal Brown Bears (aka Grizzly Bears when located more inland). We disembarked the boat and took several short hikes to where we were able to view the bears in a forest, valley and beach habitat. Spectacular!

• In Seward, we took the new and much more comfortable Weather Permitting boat, also with an all female crew, to the Kenai Fjords National Park. After several hours of motoring, our small group of 6 disembarked and boarded tandem seakayaks where we paddled out through sections of floating ice to the Aialik Glacier. We had a picnic lunch while watching “calving” of the glacial walls. Serene, majestic and peaceful experience.

• We got in several hikes including one to the Russian River Falls where we saw salmon, and a few more near Exit Glacier, Hatcher’s Pass, Potter Marsh and several in Chugach State Park. There were numerous Brompton peddling opportunites including on the Homer Spit and on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail near Anchorage. Tony got another 10 or so rides in on his road bike.

• We had 2 campfires on the beach, Homer and Seward. We love an occasional .

Lowlights:

• COVID-19! Anyone who knows us, knows we are still careful and are still masking in public but Tony and I both had our first (that we know of) COVID-19 infection on this leg along with all the fun symptoms of fever, fatigue, sore throat, cough, body aches, chills, earaches, loss of smell and taste and headaches. Two people being sick in a tiny van in Alaska is not ideal. We had only been to 2 indoor places unmasked on this entire trip (dinner in Girdwood and the small 12 passenger bear viewing boat). It was very surprising to us we got sick. We lost almost 2 weeks of this trip to just laying around the van watching TV and trying to regain our strength. We both still have residual cough, headache and fatigue. It has been rough!

Tiger (Provan) Sightings: Tony = 2, Tracey = 0

Next: Flying home to Arizona for 10 days for a break before returning for the 2nd half of our adventure. We hope to regain our strength post Covid while in Arizona so we can hit the ground running for the remainder of this trip which includes more Alaska, ferry back to US, Vancouver Island and a US West Coast tour.