Kenai is one of Alaska’s greatest treasures, often referred to as the
world’s greatest sport fishing river, oil capital of Alaska and was originally
settled as early as 1000 A.D. by Dena’ina Athabascans. It river has produced the world record king
salmon, 97 pounds. You can find King,
Red, Silver, Pink Salmon, Rainbow and Dolly Varden. To get to Kenai you must get off the
Sterling Highway at the Soldotna. Soldotna, is the hub for the Kenai Peninsula
with governmental and medical and has a great visitor center and many places to
stay, including Fred Meyer (grocery store with an eatery, beer and dump station
for RV’s).
Les is the fisherman that caught the 97 pound king salmon.
Les is the fisherman that caught the 97 pound king salmon. He is standing in front of the Soldotna Visitor Center.
Wood bench at the Soldotna Visitor Center. The
bench is dedicated to the King Salmon and fisherman.
The following pictures are from inside the Soldotna Visitor Center and have many animals that were found in the Kenai Peninsula area.
Moose
Bald Eagle 
Wolverine 
Quilt made mostly with 1 x 1 squares.
.JPG)
A fisherman putting his salmon on his fishing line. This is at the fishwalk in the back of the
Soldotna Visitor Center. 
Parking lot of Fred Meyer. The
line of RV’s on the left is waiting in line for the dump station. This place was too busy to stay
overnight. Jim and Jack went on a
scouting missing to find us a better place to park our RV for the next few
nights. 
Our friends, whom we meet in Homer, boat in the parking lot of Fred
Meyer. 
Bridge over Kenai River on the way into the town of Kenai. .JPG)
Chamber of Commerce in Kenai .JPG)
Anchor by the visitor center in Kenai
We stayed overnight in an unused Lowes parking lot. This is sunrise was on our first of three
nights, it was over the Walmart parking lot.
Walmart have parking spaces marked off just for overnight stay with
RV’s. They are longer and wider. The first night that we stayed at Lowes
parking lot it was pretty full with other overnight RV’s. Walmart parking lot had even more RV’s than
Lowes. Most of them left on Monday or
Tuesday. I guess they had to go to
work. It sure is great to be
retired. 
A fisherman walking to the Kenai River with his dip net. The residents are allowed to use very large dip
net (about 5 feet in diameter with a 10 to 15 foot pole). 
A local fisherman fishing for salmon from the shore. 
Some fisherman along the Kenai River. 
Some of the fisherman go out in boats. 
Mt Redoubt @ 10,197 last erupted in 2009 
Mt Spurr @11,100 last erupted in 1992 
Mt Iliamna @10,016 
View of Mt Spurr from across the Kenai River Flats. 
027 Another view of Mt Spurr
across the Kenai River and Kenai River Flats. 
View of some of the building of Kenai
and the part of Kenai Mountain Range from across the Kenai before the
beginning of fishing. This part of the
river is very popular with boaters.
View of some of the building of Kenai
and the part of Kenai Mountain Range from across the Kenai before the
beginning of fishing. This part of the
river is very popular with boaters.
The boat has started their fishing.
They motor up the river a little bit and float down to the mouth of the
river with the tide. They weave and out
with each pass. I keep watching to see
if and of the boaters would run into each other. They must be good or lucky, because we did
not see any accidents. 
Boaters in the river with Mt Spurr.
Boaters by the bridge
Some type of kingfisher, I think?
A pretty wild flower, don’t know what type? 
Kenai River
Kenai Riverbend Resort boat launch area. 
Don’t remember what boat this is? ?
Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary, a Russian Orthodox Church. Original church build in 1846 and has 1847
Russian edition of the Holy Gospel with icons of Matthew, Mar, Luke and John on
the cover. 
Mt Redoubt 
The next few pics are of how the resident fish with their dip net. Some people call this combat fishing. 
As you can see the fisherman are up to
their neck in the river. 
The State Troopers have an active interest in the fishing. 
This pic is not real clear, but is it shows how even an older resident
can fish with dip nets. 
It is hard to believe that the fishermen are almost up to their
necks. This is in a tide river with
swift currents. 
If you don’t want to fish,
you can always do kite sailing. 
Old train engines advertising the American Legion. 
A neat old house in the town.
Check out the old whale bone as their archway to the house. 
An even older house in town. I
hope they get the money to fix it up.
Burger Bus has the best burger on the peninsula located in downtown Kenai. 
Our last great sunrise over the Kenai Peninsula. 
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