Newbies in Alaska: Father-Son Bucket List trip (8/2015)

[dkinla]

Hey everyone,

Yes I know this report is really, really, really late... but I really haven't had the proper time to sit down and write a report since our now 1 1/2 year old Evan is keeping us properly busy :lol: Just haven't had the time to upload the pictures/videos and type away... but hopefully you all will enjoy this report from a truly newbie perspective in Alaska... we had never been there obviously... and what we experienced was far more beautiful, serene, majestic, and any other superlative I could use than what I had imagined Alaska would be like...

Anyhow, after all these years... away at college, med school, residency, etc. I finally made it back to SoCal to be closer to family and of course, raise a family of my own now...

and I finally had the chance to take my father on an Alaskan fishing-sight-seeing trip I had always wanted to take him, but never had the means to until the past few years. We had originally planned to go in 2014, but Evan came a little early, and so had to reschedule to the summer of 2015.

My dad will turn 78 this year and so it's still great that he's able to come out fishing with me... I think he enjoys the fishing, but he has always really enjoyed the outdoors/nature... growing up... we went camping everywhere and he was always the one to point out the little things in nature that one might overlook~~~

With the Mrs. blessing and her telling me to not get eaten up by a bear... the day finally arrives, and we meet at that McD's near LAX... one last hug for grandpa with his first grandchild Evan!



Finally get to board and get settled in:





Upon arrival to Anchorage airport, the first tourist bear sighting!



we take a shuttle to our hotel right near Ship Creek, and wouldn't you know, there is Ship Creek running just behind the hotel... and there were already a lot of guys fishing...



You seasoned Alaskan trip veterans know, but most of the guys fishing were using the "Kenai flip" technique, where they just whip the line out, let it drift several yards, and then jerk the rod in the hopes that the line floated down the current and into a salmon's mouth so that you can essentially snag the salmon when you jerk the rod... I had never seen the technique before, but was fun to watch for a little while...



talked to a resident Alaskan there, and he caught these 3 salmon in a couple hours he said... pretty decent size:



well, couldn't believe that the sun wouldn't set until 9:30pm or so... which meant we had some time to kill.. and so made our way to the Anchorage Museum...



Moose on the Loose!



this waterproof parka made from the intestinal linings of seals, etc. was pretty cool...



Got our rental car a short while later, and made a quick drive to Flattop Mountain trail just outside of Anchorage... the views from up there were just gorgeous:









we didn't hike all the way up to the top, because the last part of the trail was a pretty steep/vertical hike with ropes, etc.

well, took my dad to a nice restaurant in Anchorage for some Alaskan King Crab legs and a cold Alaskan summer ale:



we walked off our dinner afterwards and watched some more people fishing:



the next morning, we begin our drive towards Soldotna (Kenai Peninsula) on the Seward highway... wow that is such a majestic and beautiful drive... with mountains, glaciers, rivers, and creeks all along the route... I think my dad really enjoyed the drive. I think that drive alone was worth the trip... and I rate it one of the top scenic drives I've ever taken...





there are so many trails to stop and hike at along the drive, and we did manage to make a couple quick hikes along a couple trails:



my pictures just don't do the Alaskan wilderness justice:





just look at the beautiful color of one of many rivers we passed:





along the drive, there was the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center that we stopped by, and got a chance to see some of Alaska's wildlife.. I really liked how they had this elevated walkway platform that you meandered through the bear habitat... got to see a couple of the bears really close:



a couple more moose:



and wood bison:



well, we continue on the highway, and make it into Soldotna.. a much larger town than I had imagined that had pretty much everything you would need.. supermarkets, breweries, Starbucks, fishing tackle shops, etc.

we stop by at St. Elias Brewing Company for another round of cold summer ale beer and pizza... sure hit the spot!



A few miles away and we check into Bob's Cabin in Soldotna... his main lodge is right along the Kenai River:



His service has received plenty of great reviews.. I will certainly say my dad and I really enjoyed their hospitality and the cabins we stayed in... the guided trips that we chose were fantastic as well (we have the pics and vids to prove it!) and for those that may be interested... here's a link:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...na_Alaska.html

we get settled in, and again, sunset isn't until 9:30pm or so... we drive back into town a few miles and find this park along the river to see how people are fishing there:



they have an elevated metal walking platform with various places where they have steps that go into the river... we saw a lot of guys fishing along the banks in waders, and again, primarily doing that "Kenai flip" technique I mentioned earlier... and we definitely saw several really nice grade salmon being caught this way...

they have it setup really nice:



well, we get back to the main lodge cabin and call it a night... we wake up early the next morning to make the drive down to Seward.. was a bit of a drive in the early morning darkness, but we make it to Seward and what a great town Seward is... scenic beauty all around...

we get on the boat and head out for a multi-species trip... the weather was beautiful with sunny blue skies.. and the temperature was in the low 60s by the afternoon...



first up... we hit the halibut grounds... and in general, these grounds were for the smaller halibut, not likely to catch those humongous barn door halibut that weight 300+ lbs, but here's my dad with his first ever halibut, and make that Alaskan halibut!!



After everyone caught their limits of over and under size halibut, we head off to the silver salmon grounds, and wow! there were some really fantastic fighting salmon we caught there... really nice size... and worked my dad around the boat a little!!

here's one of the nice silver salmon models I caught:



In the midst of everyone hooking up with these great silver salmon, my dad goes major bendo on something that peeled a lot of drag and took him completely around the boat once! We couldn't believe it when we got it on the boat, but my dad actually hooked a really great size King salmon!!! I was so happy for my dad since these King salmon have become really hard to catch the past few years due to their dwindling numbers... but check out this beauty!!



After catching limits of silvers for everyone on the boat, we hit the rockfish grounds on the way back, and there must've been a ton of rockfish down there, because everyone limited out really fast... and these were nice size as well!



here's a picture of the boat's haul that day, lots of nice eating size halibut, silvers, and rockfish:



here's my dad and I holding up a couple nice silvers we each caught:



We make it back into Seward.. and have a quick dinner of fish and chips and beer, and start the drive back to Soldotna. On the way out of Seward, we make a pit stop at Exit Glacier (Kenai Fjords National Park). I would highly recommend making this stop to take in the sights and sounds of this majestic glacier:



the short hiking trail leading up to the edge of the glacier was just magnificent!





this was one of the highlights of the trip for my dad he said afterwards... sure he enjoyed the fishing, but seeing the sights was even more memorable for my dad...

we get back into Soldotna, and after asking Bob if we could check out their private cabins they have along the Kenai River, he says he has one available and that we could stay there the rest of our trip! fantastic!

here's a view of the very big private cabin right along the shore of the Kenai river:



my dad and I had some really tender and tasty halibut and salmon sashimi for dinner that night... just a perfect way to end our first day of fishing:



the next day, we were scheduled for a fly-out trip to Crescent Lake, only accessible by float-planes of course... it was our first time ever in such a plane, and my dad got to ride shotgun with the pilot! I'm sure that was an awesome experience for my dad:





We flew over the sea, glaciers, and mountains and made a smooth landing on Crescent lake... how beautiful is this place?:





we were geared up in waders and initially tried for silvers using salmon eggs, but it didn't seem like they had made it into the lake yet... there were plenty of sockeye salmon (reds) that you could see swimming in the currents that had turned color already... and wow these guys fought hard on our lighter tackle... here's a nice model my dad caught:



and the release:



we got in and out of our boat (with a guide of course) a few times... and saw several bears cruising around the shores of the lake:



This bear was chowing down on a dead Sockeye:



We also hooked into plenty of nice size Dolly varden trout... they fought pretty good on our light tackle.. and again, our guide holding up a nice size Dolly that my dad got:



and another:



I could've just stayed there all day and just fished... the weather was beautiful again, sunny blue skies, and kind of balmy temperatures... but we took another beautiful flight back and headed back to our cabin... another night of some more halibut and salmon sashimi and some spicy ramen noodle of course!



we tried some fishing of the dock at our cabin, but no luck our first try... still was a great time just relaxing on the dock and seeing the water go by...

the next day, we were scheduled for the Upper Kenai River drift boat trip... and of different fishing trips we took... this was the highlight for me! this drift trip felt like the real Alaskan experience to me... on secluded water, nature at its best, and great fishing as well... couldn't beat that... we met a couple of really great guys on this trip as well:

our guide was such a great guy and really worked hard to get us on fish:



here's a nice size Dolly:



checkout the beautiful pattern on this Dolly my dad got:



another model:



around every bend in the river and different section of the river... we were just amazed... my pictures could never capture the beauty:





we got out of the boat a few times and fished along the river... here's a beautiful rainbow trout I caught:



towards the last part of our trip, we were trolling some plugs in the current and one of our new friends Mike hooked into a monster that took him on several great, deep runs, and after a long while and tiring out the fish... a huge King Salmon was brought into the net, a few quick pics and vid later, it was released back into the waters:



Truly another amazing day of fishing with such great weather as well... we were told to bring our rain gear, but so far on our trip, not a single drop of rain.. I told my dad it needs to start raining a little and get a little colder to feel like Alaska!

we drive back to our cabin, and spend a couple hours relaxing on the dock and try our hand at fishing again...



I actually managed to catch a couple using that flip technique now, and my dad managed to catch this beautiful salmon right on our dock.. my dad looks so proud of himself!



well, the next morning, we had our chance to fish with the man himself Bob for silver salmon on the lower Kenai river.. he has a great boat and tackle on board... and we essentially used plugs smeared with scent to land 4 nice size silver salmon over the course of the morning:







limit was only 2 per person... so here's our catch:



was great to see the rod load up and go bendo when these feisty silvers hooked up... given that you had to fight the fish against the current as well, it was a great battle on the river... my dad had a great time! I forgot to mention we saw plenty of bald eagles flying above us or atop the trees during our trips on the river...

the weather had finally gotten a bit colder and a weak storm front was finally pushing through... we had gone through 4 days of fishing with beautiful weather and on our last morning, the rain started to gently fall after we had caught our limits of silvers

well, since we limited out kind of early in the morning and had the rest of the day... we decide to do a road trip to Homer!! that was a great decision and turned out to be a really nice scenic drive as well!

made a quick stop at Clam Gulch to take in the views and a quick pic:



this highway along the western shores of the Kenai peninsula was great... passing through the towns of Kasilof, Ninilchik, Anchor Point, and finally Homer:


typical California tourists in Alaska:





drove into town and saw a small farmer's market going on, so made a quick stop and bought some King crab legs and fresh Kachemak Bay oysters for dinner later:







here's a pic at the famous "fishing hole" along Homer Spit, where salmon would come into this fishing hole with the incoming tide... and I didn't realize the tidal range was so huge in Alaska.. up to 40 feet sometimes between high and low tide... there were some people fishing there, but didn't see any being caught in the few minutes we looked around there:



saw some guys cleaning plenty of halibut they caught on their private boat, and start up a quick chat with one of the guys cleaning the halibut, and he gives us a couple nice fillets for dinner later tonight since we were from SoCal



had a nice lunch at Captain Patties Fish House there along the Spit:



my dad enjoyed his seafood chowder, halibut sandwich/chips/cole slaw, and beer of course:



a shot at the furthest end of the Homer Spit:



really enjoyed our tour of Homer Alaska:



well, we make the drive back to our cabin and yup, you guessed it, some more halibut/salmon sashimi



along with our King crab legs and oysters:





what a great and relaxing meal that was~~~

there should be more of these types of stores here in SoCal:



well, we call it a night... and since we had plenty of time the next day to drive back to Anchorage (sunset at 9:30pm)... my dad wanted to go on a short halibut trip again and so we booked a last minute charter out of Ninilchik, and easily managed to catch 4 nice size halibut... we fished hard at some grounds that were likely to have the BIGGER models, but nobody managed to catch one... but plenty of nice size models that my dad prefers







well, that ended the fishing part of our trip... we drove back to Soldotna, and had Bob's service pack/ship the rest of our fish back home. We drove back to Anchorage along that majestic Seward highway and slept another night at that hotel next to Ship Creek.

[dkinla]

The next morning, we boarded the Alaska Railroad train from Anchorage to Denali... wanted my dad to see Denali National Park... and went with the GoldStar Service. The Anchorage Railroad Station was just steps away from our hotel:







the accommodations in the train were great... comfortable seats... large dome windows to view the scenery passing by... and the meals served were really great too:







there are a couple of quick stops along the way... here we are in Talkeetna:



One of the great meals we had on board:





we arrive in Denali and take a quick shuttle to the Denali Princess Lodge:



get settled in and take a look around the very small town of Denali and have dinner later at the Salmon Bake Restaurant...



again more beer and food:





we take a quick walk around the hotel and from the top, a view of the Nenana river flowing through Denali:



the next morning, we get on the tourist buses that are only allowed through Denali National Park and unfortunately, weather had turned a bit cloudy, at times rainy, and cold. The weather during our fishing trips was fantastic, but our luck ran out for the bus tour... but nonetheless, it was still beautiful to see Denali through the mist and clouds that intermittently shrouded the mountain tops...

one of many stops inside Denali:





Of course, got to see several bears and a mother with her cubs as well along the route:





with the rain and clouds, unfortunately my dad was not able to see Denali on this day... I think they said the mountain and peak were only visible about 20% of the time due to the ever changing weather there. It just felt wonderful to know that there are still places like Denali that are relatively untouched and to just see a small part of that in all it's coming winter glory was great....

when we got back, we made a quick tour of Denali National Park Visitor Center... they showed a great movie about the park and had some nice exhibits:







there was also a great little trail that we hiked on around a small lake:



a moment along the Nenana river:



later that day, we went on our first ever river rafting trip down the Nenana river... we went on the Canyon Run! I was a little nervous about my dad... and the potential that he might fall in the river, but thankfully, nobody on our raft fell in and everyone just had a great time taking in the ride and scenery:

1st father-son river rafting pic:





later that evening, one last dinner at the Salmon Bake restaurant again:



checking out from the Denali Princess Lodge:



and getting back on the train for our trip back to Anchorage:



my dad looks pretty comfortable and I think happy with the trip!!



and wouldn't you know... on our train ride back to Anchorage, the weather cleared up enough for Denali to come into view! I was a little saddened that my dad would not get a chance to see it, but was really happy that he got to see it with his own eyes... even stepping to the outside part of the train to get a nice view:



**** Take your bathroom and/or refreshment break now ****


Ok... so the following are links to a bunch of quick videos I took during our trip... I had wanted to put them in the correct sequence during the report, but it's going to be too time consuming to go back and forth and put them in the right place in my report.. so I'll just list them here with a brief caption in no particular order:

Our first day driving towards Soldotna along the Seward highway:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psld0krslh.mp4

one of many beautiful views along Seward highway:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psgfdwczkr.mp4

Guys fishing along Ship Creek in Anchorage:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...pspmir9py2.mp4

lots of smaller ? sockeye salmon that had turned already swimming in one of the many creeks you pass along the Seward highway:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psa0atdtnl.mp4

a bear right in front of me at the Wildlife Conservation Center:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psy90fw5b5.mp4

http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...pswyrqi8hc.mp4

view of Denali from the train on our ride back to Anchorage:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psotmfvztg.mp4

http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psi2yxodxs.mp4

awesome view from the train... kinda windy while filming from outside:
http://s654.photobucket.com/user/dki...ml?sort=3&o=42

why hello Mr. Bear! nice of you to walk right in front of our tour bus:
http://s654.photobucket.com/user/dki...ml?sort=3&o=38

more bear action:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psjftww7ko.mp4

cleaning the halibut from our trip in Ninilchik:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...pszxsnjvbh.mp4

quick vid tour of the private cabin:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psgmytneyk.mp4

http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...ps0wp1mnnj.mp4

short vid of my dad catching that salmon off of our dock:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psaior0ccq.mp4

great video of my dad holding that salmon caught off our dock in Soldotna:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psjzkw9ihz.mp4

at the end of Homer Spit:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...ps6wpyf57x.mp4

I could fish here all day.. I believe this is where the Kenai river empties into Skilak lake:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psy6x9zbrg.mp4

Our new friend Mike catching a really beautiful King Salmon at the mouth of the Kenai/Skilak lake:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psbwpui5qr.mp4

My dad landing a nice size Dolly at Crescent Lake:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...ps2zfz1btu.mp4

More Dad and Dolly action at Crescent lake:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psoxe0xjz3.mp4

here's a quick vid of that bear eating some salmon at Crescent lake:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...pslgdujkfk.mp4

my dad releasing a nice size sockeye salmon at Crescent lake:
http://s654.photobucket.com/user/dki...ml?sort=3&o=22

quick view from our plane on the fly-out:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psmeqztlqz.mp4

landing on Crescent lake:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...ps940ihcvr.mp4

quick vid at Exit Glacier just outside of Seward:

http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psmvomcwha.mp4

http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...ps1pwdm2wk.mp4

the boat's haul on our multi-species trip out of Seward:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psg9tgnwlp.mp4

my dad on a nice Silver:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psy8dfb5iz.mp4

my dad going full bendo on his King Salmon! You can hear my dad go "Whooooooo" when it makes one last pull :lol:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psyjvf3emx.mp4

what a magnificent King! I was really happy my dad got to actually catch one!
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...psyd2e1fmb.mp4

a sea otter chomping on some shellfish in Seward:
http://vid654.photobucket.com/albums...pseljmqxxs.mp4

************************************************** ***********

so, as you can see... this is probably the reason why I wasn't able to get around to writing this crazy long report with all these pictures and vids until now... but hope you guys enjoyed my report... we were first timers in Alaska and I was just blown away by how beautiful everything is over there..

no, my dad and I did not catch the biggest halibut ever or tons of huge salmon, but we sure did share lots of great memories together on this trip... and I hope my dad will always remember our first true father-son trip of this kind.. we really haven't been able to fish much obviously since Evan was born, but we're sharing far greater memories of my dad with his only grandchild so far right now...

edit: here are pics of the fish fillets that were shipped home to my parent's place.. and of course one of the nice meals we had: (my mom took these pictures, so not the greatest quality )







I'm hoping that this little guy will soon be holding a fishing rod in his hand soon... hoping to have 3 generations of the Kim family out fishing someday soon...



until next time guys... thanks for reading... and thanks again to those I reached out to and helped me out and gave me advice for this trip...

[REEL EZ]

Great detailed report, thanks for sharing.

I have Alaska on my to do list also.

[shinbob]

Wow, incredible report of an incredible trip! Congrats on the whole thing! I can't wait to go up there myself someday...

Thanks for taking the time for the write-up!

[Stumpknocker]

Thanks for sharing your trip of a lifetime! All those beautiful pics make me want to go there, but the pics of your meals mostly makes me want to eat!

[jaggerbub]

Only word I can think of is WOW!

[Fishnfun]

I second the WOW! You fit more into your one Alaska trip than I did in my 3. Great that you got to share the experience with your Dad. A threesome with Evan cannot be far behind. On the local scene, post online when the stripers are biting at Castaic dam again. I need to give that another try

[reservoir dog]

Epic experience + sashimi and crab legs = PRICELESS

Thanks for sharing the amazing pics!

[pargo lsb]

thank for sharing the trip, great report
double thank you for reminding me that i need to spend more time with my parents
best wishes to you and your family a healthy & happy 2016

[Mr T-rex]

Wow what a report and thanks for sharing
This is definitely in my bucket list
No better feeling than fishing with the old man