Thursday 8/9
At noon we reluctantly leave the Comfort Inn. We had hoped to spend one more night, but they are sold out.
We head up the other major road on Kodiak to Anton Larsen Bay. We find very nice scenery, but no perfect place to camp, so we return to the Chiniak Road. We land at Mayflower Beach on Kalsin Bay. We’re feeling very pilgrimish.
Kalsin Bay might be the remnants of a caldera. The permanent shoreline is shaped like a rounded “U”, but at low tide you can see rocks and shoals that suggest it once was an “O”. The road that leads into the beach is at the bottom of the “U”. Our campsite is at the far left, down a rocky trail and nestled in the trees out of view from much of the rest of the beach…very private, nicely removed from the road, with a wonderful view.
Birds abound: gulls, scoters, harlequin ducks, and we see a new bird, the Red-Throated Loon.
Billions of salmon are jumping in the bay.
It’s low tide, and I make my way along the slippery rocks as far as I can to fish, but there’s too much aquatic vegetation—plus as I am making my way out, the tide is on the way in, and I don’t want to have to swim back.
We dine on re-hydrated hash browns, inhale the beauty of the waning day, and retire. It’s quite cold, so we don many layers and zip our sleeping bags together. Nancy is even wearing mittens.
