Fish and Fjords

After an attempt to catch a Kenai King salmon was thwarted last week due to hooking one through the dorsal fin, (see An Epic Tail) I had another chance this past Monday as I once again was a lucky member upon Tom's driftboat. The weather was beautiful...sunny...not necessarily conducive for salmon fishing so we took our time out on the water and waited until the sun started to set before getting into some of the prime spots along the river.

Through some random MRC cabin conversation, Annie and I discovered our moms had something in common as we both had childhood memories of a food they would make for us called runzas. It had been years since I had enjoyed one of these tasty meat-pocket sandwiches so I made

up a batch at Tricia and Jared's place that morning and brought them along for the ride. They paired well with our BB Porters.

A couple hours into the float, when the pole bent sharply and I started to reel in whatever was on the line, I had flashbacks of last week's battle and wondered why the other Kings that the boat took in prior didn't seem to give the other folks such a hard time? Was it me and my meager upper body strength? The counter-intuitive way this leftie was reeling? Yet another futile fight with a dorsal-stuck fish? Eric, Tom's friend and a fishing fanatic, was a patient coach as he watched me "reeling" in this sea monster (Annie's term), looking more like someone trying to open a can of chunk tuna than land a fish. I just couldn't go any faster. He said he understood.

It was a fun fight! And, a big fish! 50 lbs big! I guess it was a boat record, making the catch all that more celebratory for all on board. We all caught fish on this last fantastic evening of driftboating for the 2008 season; mine, kings also for Eric and Tom and a silver for Annie.

I just spent two days in and around the town of Seward, the gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park. Would have loved to have gone kayaking or visited the kennels of Iditarod musher, Mitch Seavy, but both of those will have to wait until next time. Instead, did a great hike up to Exit Glacier and the Harding Icefield. Along the trail heading up to the "toe" of the glacier there were date markers indicating where the glacier was each year, stark reminders of how far it has receded. Met other solo hikers, Amanda and Jordan, at various spots along the way and we hiked together the last 1/3 of the way or so, enjoying the warm weather and views of this ancient relic from the last ice age. Now, I'm all the more excited for tomorrow's backpacking trip into the Talkeetnas with Caryn, Tricia, and sweet-dog Olive.