The scenery reminded us of Ireland, or maybe Scotland, with all of the shades of green. There is a price to be paid however - this is one of the rainiest parts of Alaska.
The salmon were running (as usual) in all of the surrounding rivers and streams. Believe they were Cohos (Silvers) and the locals were out in force, lining the banks of some pretty remote streams, as you can see from the photo below. Wasn't exactly "combat fishing" like you see around Anchorage, where they're literally elbow to elbow along a productive stretch of water, but pretty crowded nevertheless by local standards.
We were told that there are lots of bears around - the big Kodiak grizzlies that the place is famous for - but they tend to shy away from human contact, so if a group of fishermen occupy a particular spot the bears will just go somewhere else. And that's the thing about this place - there are plenty of "somewhere elses" for the bears to go and feed to their hearts content. The reason they grow to such mammoth sizes (fully twice as big as their inland cousins in places like Denali) is the quality and abundance of their protein-rich diet. It's also why (apparently) they co-exist with people so well. With plenty of fish to eat they never associate people with food (or as food for that matter), nor are people considered a threat except in unusual and specific circumstances...mothers with cubs for example.
Check out the size of the fish the guy in the bottom right of the photo is carrying - it's as long as his leg!
Continued along Pasagshak Road for another 15 miles, just enjoying the scenic panorama, when we came upon just about the last thing we expected to see on Kodiak Island - a group of surfers enjoying the waves inside a broad bay along a stretch of black sand beach. All were wearing wet suits (the water temp is around 46 deg) and apparently having a great time. We stopped to sit on the sand and eat our sandwiches as we watched them for a while when I noticed something flopping around on the beach below us. Walked down and it turned out that the beach was littered with Silver salmon who had either missed the turn somewhere along the line or were just too tired to continued the journey to spawn. They hadn't yet morphed into that weird humpback and beaked appearance they adopt at the last stage of spawning, but were still sleek and pretty...just tired. So...the surfers could surf for a couple of hours and then collect dinner on their way up the beach to their cars. Amazing place!
Collected one of the live ones and walked him down to a nearby stream outlet...which is where I figured he was trying to get when he beached himself, but to no avail. He gave a couple of half-hearted flips of his tail when I put him in the water, then slowly went belly up. So much for my National Geographic wildlife rescue moment.
That dog sat patiently at the edge of the surf for at least 45 minutes waiting for his master to paddle in. Those wetsuits must be really thick - the water was freezing.
Continued the drive another few miles when we rounded a corner and happened upon another sight I never expected to see on Kodiak - a herd of Buffalo grazing by the side of the road. Also saw herds of cattle and wild ponies moving about on what appeared to be an open range. At the very end of the road is the Kodiak Lauch Complex - a small missile launch facility similar to the one at PMRF in Hawaii but much smaller. Guess they occasionally shoot satellites into a north-south orbit, as well as targets fired downrange to be intercepted by missiles fired from Vandenburg, Kwajelein, or PMRF.
Saw about 30 or 40 scattered about, as well as a few calves like the one above on the left - born just this Spring no doubt.
And about 200 yards further along we encountered this herd of ponies grazing next to the road.
On the return trip I chanced to look over and see this Bald Eagle perched in a tree. Our entire Alaska trip has at times seemed like a prolonged National Geographic episode, but never more so that this day driving around Kodiak Island.
As we drove around we noticed a large Coast Guard facility just west of town. Turns out that Kodiak is home to the largest CG base in the US with about 2000 personnel assigned. Saw a couple of cutters, and they no doubt have at least one C-130 and a long range rescue helo to patrol the waters of the North Pacific and the Bering Sea stretching all the way out to the end of the Aleutian chain...about 500 miles away. Must be tough duty if the weather we're seeing today is any indication. Had a very nice Exchange though.
Kodiak is the second largest island in the US - only the Big Island of Hawaii is larger - but most of it (like Alaska itself) is only accessible by air or by boat. We pretty much drove all of the roads in the vicinity of the city of Kodiak in half a day, which leaves about 95% of the island yet to be explored. Still hoping for a chance to do a bear viewing flight while we're here but right now the weather isn't cooperating. Started raining again yesterday afternoon and today there's a nasty Pacific storm lashing the island....winds are about 35-40 knots and it's raining sideways. Not a good day to be out so we're hunkered down for the day.
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