Sunday 8/12
It’s cloudy and cold, but we’re still excited about rafting the Kenai River.
We park the RV near where we expect to finish the trip (Jim’s Landing) and drive CJ with the boat up stream to the launch spot (Cooper Landing). When we’re finished, we’ll use the Admiral to reunite with the Jeep. In this section, the river roughly parallels the road and we’ve calculated the trip at 15 river miles. We’ve asked a few people along the way, and the consensus is 4 or 5 hours to make the trip.
We know that the water is extremely cold, and there’s the threat of rain, so we’re each nicely layered including ¾ wet suits. The wet suit donning is the stuff of legends. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve worn mine and although I may, or may not, be the same weight there’s definitely been some redistribution. With the liberal application of household lubricants, and the appropriate profanities, I finally succeed.
While we’re preparing Das Bot, we meet a couple celebrating their 20th anniversary with a rafting trip. They dub Nancy’s lawn chair as the “Queen’s Throne”. Our other gear includes some fishing tackle, a light lunch, some beverages, and our portable GPS unit.
The launch at Cooper Landing is at the out-flowing end of Kenai Lake. While there’s definitely current here, it’s also wide and exposed to the wind which is blowing opposite of the current. Our GPS unit is measuring our progress in negative numbers as we are blown upstream faster than the current flows, so for the first mile or so I row vigorously until we’re out of the wind and the current increases in the narrowing river. As the day unfolds, the GPS unit proves a valuable tool in helping us understand our progress. It’s particularly important that we know when to expect our take-out point at Jim’s Landing. If we miss that spot, the river will carry us away from the road and into a distant, wilderness lake.
As the river narrows, white water becomes common. We’ve intentionally done this first rafting adventure on a woosy river, so there are no 4’s or 5’s (maybe not even any 3’s), but it’s exhilarating nonetheless.
Shortly, the clouds part and sun appears. We’re now stripping layers down to our wetsuits, which we can’t remove without medical assistance.
The river is gorgeous. It has that rich blue glacieral color. We can occasionally see the road, but mostly we see the deep green trees that line the banks and the mountains that surround us. We are also surrounded by fishermen. It’s the weekend and the Sockeye salmon are running--every fishing guide is afloat with their clients and every accessible bank is occupied. The fish are winning this war. We see a few landed, and the angling success rate is very low. I stop to fish a few times. At one spot where the salmon are jumping like mosh dancers, I hook an 8 or 10 pound fish in the tail—an unfortunate and unsportsman-like development, but among the most exciting 5 minutes I’ve had in a long time. I am fishing with a heavy, saltwater rig—a stiff pole and 40# test line. When the fish is hooked, the jolt feels as if I’ve snagged a sports car. It takes off downstream stripping line effortlessly. I am screaming with delight, “Whoa baby—what a fish!” It’s not until the very end of this fabulous fight that I realize the fish is hooked in the tail. I’m able to safely remove the hook and return this warrior to the stream. He is bruised and battered from his fight against the current and the odds of spawning. I’m hoping that our brief tussle leaves him enough energy to complete his journey.
As we float lazily down the river we see gulls, mergansers, and bald eagles. At one point I react too slowly at a split in the river, and we get drawn the wrong way. Everyone else navigates left, we are pulled right. For a mile or so we’re alone on the river—no other floaters or fishermen. We round a bend, and there on the bank are two young Grizzly bears. They are an incredibly delightful utter surprise. With our mouths agape and scrambling for the camera we float swiftly past them. As we rejoin the main current and round another twist in the river, we can briefly look back at these two brown specs on the bank who have found their own place among the salmon seekers.
Das Bot performs admirably as a river raft…scraping though some shallow rapids and careening safely from some large rocks. We are very happy and very relaxed to be floating down this beautiful river. A day of peace and joy.
At the end we successfully extract Das Bot, retrieve the Jeep and make our way to Summit Lake to spend the night. We are buoyant and eager to do this rafting thing again soon, but also exhausted from the long day of air and effort.
