Floating the Kenai River

August 31. So in the morning, we took a fun and slightly chilly float trip down the Kenai River, covering about 15 miles of it in a raft. There were five of us: Beth (our guide and oarswoman), Mary and me, and a man with his 10 year old daughter. Every year for the girl's birthday, he or her mom will take her anywhere she wants to go in the USA, and this year she chose Alaska. Pretty cool memories, I would say.

Although it was cloudy and cool, the rain held off for the morning. We were not going to be as fortunate for the afternoon's hike into the Russian River Falls. We saw wonderful scenery while we floated down river. Beth told us a lot about the natural history and human history as she expertly guided the raft down the river. We saw some wildlife - three bald eagles, a group of mergansers, and many salmon swimming just under the surface as they swam upstream. Here are some pictures from the morning on the beautiful Kenai River.

Our guide, Beth, did a great job taking us down the Kenai:

The scenery along the river was wonderful:

We saw three bald eagles, including this immature one and this adult:

We also saw a group of mergansers fishing in this distance, and this red headed merganser on a rock.

The Kenai is glacier fed, and has a beautiful blue-green color:

This hand-operated ferry takes anglers across the Kenai to the Russian River for the salmon runs. In peak season, they take 1,000 anglers a day across for something like eight dollars a pop!

This rock had pretty patterns of lichens on it.