10th Alaskan Stop - Portage

We said goodbye to Homer on Tuesday and headed up the Sterling Highway to Soldotna for a picnic sponsored by the Kenai Peninsula School Borough for all those Camper Hosts that could attend.  There were about 25 people there so it was nice to meet other Campers.  We did meet the guy who started the program some 11 years ago.

After lunch we continued on our way out of the Kenai Peninsula for the first time in 7 weeks.  Hard to believe that we spent that much time there.  But we had a great time.

We stopped at the Portage RV Park at the far end of the Turnagain Arm Bay.  See the map (upper left hand corner).

We have only electric here (no TV, no WIFI, no water, no dump) so we are roughing it!  Scenery is great, though.

After getting set up, we drove over to the Visitor Center to get some brochures about the area.  Saw a neat film about all the glaciers here.  We also found the stream where the salmon are swimming up to lay their eggs.   

These are Sockeye Salmon - they are blue tinged with silver in color while living in the ocean. Just prior to spawning both sexes turn red with green heads and sport a dark stripe on their sides.  They are born here and after a couple of years, swim out into the ocean (sometimes as far as Japan).  After about 4 years, they come back to spawn, and then they die.

Later, back at the campground, we went over to the bonfire, which burns 24 hours a day.  Nice place to meet other campers.  We shared s'mores.

Tomorrow is Portage Lake and Glacier.