Russian Lakes Trail

Yesterday was a work day - washed the Airstream and the car in the rain - so today we got to play. (Washing the vehicles in the rain is a good way to do it, very little need for the chamois, but the trick is to not drive it in the rain. When we got back from going to the local Safeway, Frederick just hosed the road dirt off.)

First stop this morning was the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Visitor's Center, to get advice on the best trail. Here's Frederik with a life-sized sculpture of a bull moose -about 1400 lbs.

We settled on the Russian Lakes Trail, an hour's drive down the road. The trail was along the Russian River and here are the falls. Actually they are more like a series of cascades.

At the base of the falls is a fish ladder for the salmon, Dolly Varden and Rainbow Trout.

We stood on a viewing platform and were able to watch fish by-pass the fish ladder and attempt to jump the falls.

Can you see the dying "red" fish at the bottom on the ladder? ( Clicking on the picture to enlarge it will help you see the fish.)

On the way back we passed by this tree that was about 50 feet tall with beautiful bark.

This is Tom - he's a "fish counter" for the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge - really. We passed him twice on the trail, once going out and once by the above tree. We asked him what kind of tree it was and he identified it as a Cottonwood Tree. We then talked about his fifteen years of fish counting. There's a weir in the river and he literally counts the fish as they pass through the weir when he opens the gate. He carries the shotgun because, "the government gives it" to him to carry. He's never used it on a bear but he has used his bear spray twice in the 15 years. He's originally from Wisconsin but has lived in Alaska since 1976.

Today's Hike:

Length 5.06 miles

Duration - 2 hours, 50 minutes (including lunch and chatting with Tom)

Elevation gain - 480 feet ( 50 floors on the Fitbit)