Alaska Trip: day 3

Got up early this morning, packed, and headed to town for a quick breakfast and coffee before taking Emma down to the boat harbor where she was to meet the students and instructors and catch a water taxi across Kachemak Bay.  The weather was calm and cloudy and just as they took off, the first drops of rain started falling.

Last morning in civilization before her kayak expedition commenced

After saying "goodbye," I went to get gas and a quick lunch.  Then I headed up to the Homer Bluffs and Inspiration Ridge to meet my longtime friend, Nina Faust, whom I first met in 2000 when volunteering with the Forest Service to inventory the remains of fox farms on islands near Goddard.  She took me on a hike around her property which is a land trust now managed coincidentally by the Center for Alaska Coastal Studies.

Everything packed up in dry bags and ready to go at the Homer Boat Harbor

After hiking around for a while, I said "goodbye" again and headed north to Ninilchik to go fishing in the Ninilchik River.  I'd driven past both before, but had never stopped in the village or fished the river.  I was able to drive right down to where the river flowed into the ocean and instantly caught a dolly varden!  I moved around a little bit, gradually working my way upstream and caught several others.  Not wanting to spend all of my time in one spot, I started to drive south and fished a few more streams.  Deep Creek looked good, but I didn't catch anything because I didn't stay for long because I hadn't paid for parking.  Stariski Creek was just too shallow and I didn't catch anything.  I'm not sure why I didn't catch anything in Anchor River, but probably because I didn't stick around long enough because the mosquitoes were pretty bad.

Everyone ready to load up on the water taxi at the Homer Boat Harbor

I got back to Homer and went to Sweetgale Meadworks for dinner (Shiva Boom food truck was there too).  Both the mead flight and dinner were delicious.  Got back to the Air BnB and crashed for the night.

Dolly varden at the mouth of the Ninilchik River