As anticipated the mini festival hosted by Steve at Creekbend Cafe and Acres in Hope was a wonderful evening of music and a real insight into the Alaskan way of life. People were friendly, interesting and ready to chat.

Each year the tiny town of Ninilchik, on the Kenai Peninsula, celebrates the running of the salmon back to their spawning grounds with a large, three day music festival that attracts people from all over the state and beyond. So important are salmon to the local economy and culture that the purpose of the festival is to raise awareness and support sustainability.

www.salmonfestalaska.org

The Hope mini festival is a prequel to the Salmon fest attracting three of the Salmonfest acts to Hope the evening before. We were treated to Tim Easton, Blackwater Railroad Company and the Kitchen Dwellers over a 5 hour period. 

We stumbled on this town and event. Impromptu is a good thing. As outsiders we would never have had enough local knowledge or info to have featured this in our schedule. 

Great vibe, good music and perfect summer evening weather and some interesting costumes. In Alaska, anything goes which makes it easy for those of us travelling with a limited  wardrobe! We met locals, young and old, along with various people who had travelled from other parts of the state for the event, all camping in their cars or adapted forms of transport.

Rather belatedly, given the late evening and festival campsite disturbance we packed up and departed  re-joining the Seward highway west bound. Eventual destination that day was Homer a seaside location literally “at the end of the road” on the Kenai Peninsula. Distance 168 miles mostly on a two lane road. 

The road follows the Kenai river and its tributaries across the peninsula and is world famous prime salmon fishing terrain. we dont  know enough about the intracies of how the various types of salmon running and spawning correlate with one another but have never seen a spectacle quite like the number  of people – men ,women and children – all lined up in the river along the easy access points. Regardless of the activity underway, the rivers themselves are spectacularly beautiful. they run fast and clear and many have that glacial blue hue about them.

Of course Phil wanted a go…..so we stopped in Soldotna, where Rich and Laura from Washington State were staying. Rich is here fishing in Alaska for the whole month of August!! Yes apparently people can fish all day for a month.

It was a brave effort but without success. Phil caught himself more than anything else.

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Homer

That evening, minus any fish, we reached Homer late on. It is known as the “place at the end of the road“ because you cannot drive any further south by road in Alaska. Homer is a reasonably sized town but its distinguishing feature is the gravel spit that extends some 4.5 miles out into the Katchemak Bay. It is narrow but houses restaurants, fishing charter businesses, gift shops and campgrounds. We checked into the best run campground we have stayed to date but also one with a stunning outlook across Katchemak Bay towards a massive glacial field.

The tidal range at Homer is 28.5 feet, one of the largest in the world. This means large beaches at low tide.