Treading water in Seward

Well, most of the day has been spent poking around town and then writing. When I find myself this struck and motivated to write, I do my best to lean into it. Not much of that effort went into writing for the site as it turns out, but for more personal and cathartic purposes. Important nonetheless. The plan was a steep hike up to and on top of a local ice field, but that has been back burnered. While there is always tomorrow, my open days are getting a bit numbered. I need to meet the guys in Fairbanks in just ten days. I hope to see Homer, Denali, and hike out to pay homage to Christopher McCandless’ magic bus before then.

Upon leaving Seward, I find myself in a place called Cooper's landing on the Kenai river not too far after I split off to head toward's Homer. An old guidebook of mine mentions a place doing some awesome fishing tours by plane... I've got to at least see if its reasonable. I've been given the impression that often bush plane travel out here actually is the simplest and cheapest option... there's even plane delivered pizza! Talking to the guy at the lodge, the price is still a bit too rich for my blood. But, they are looking to fill one more spot on a drift boat tomorrow afternoon fishing for salmon or trout. Rationalizing that I can learn what they are fishing with around these parts and then snag similar gear to do my own fishing throughout the rest of the trip, I say sure- lets do it. It's a half day trip, and in the afternoon... so I'll have to camp somewhere nearish and kill the first half of the day, sort of stranding me in the orbit of this little stretch of riverside. My compromise plan is to break off to the north to the nearby settlement of Hope, camp there and nose about, then return in the afternoon to hopefully catch some fish!

Hope isn't much, but there is a commercial rafting outfit and a kayak instruction place I take mental note of to check into at some point. It is on the sea, along the same inlet that I drove down next to when I left Anchorage. Finding a decent pull off with a view of the ocean, I'm surprised again at how much the water level changes with the tide. There are huge tidal flats exposed with low tide. I never did get to see the dramatic bore tide unfortunately. A few side creeks and rivers are choked with fisherman where they meet the sea. The size and abundance of fish in these waters still amazes me. My fishing license goes live tomorrow at one. Thoughts of a cooler full of salmon visit me as I drift off to sleep. I think I may have been spoiled by my previous trip to Angoon, visiting a professional fisherman...