The World's All Right

 by
Robert W. Service

The World's All Right

Be honest, kindly, simple, true;
Seek good in all, scorn but pretence;
Whatever sorrow come to you,
Believe in Life's Beneficence!
The World's all right; serene I sit,
And cease to puzzle over it.
There's much that's mighty strange, no doubt;
But Nature knows what she's about;
And in a million years or so
We'll know more than to-day we know.
Old Evolution's under way --
What ho! the World's all right, I say.

Yes, yes - this mighty world of ours is most definitely all right.  It seems that in Alaska, nature's rhythms and cycles are more pronounced than ever. Or, perhaps it is just that we are lucky enough to take the time to notice them. The coming and going of the tides, and the return of Salmon to their birthplace are fine examples of nature at its best - and we are enjoying it all.

The King Salmon are finally running!! We have been fishing for 5 weeks now with not one Salmon on our line, until this week. First Ethan on Tuesday, and then Colton today (Sunday) have both pulled in a King Salmon. 15 pounds of solid muscle pulling the line around the lagoon fighting against the rod - but ultimately loosing the battle to two very persistent and happy boys!  We have read and been told that to catch and land a King Salmon takes approximately 10-12 hours of fishing with a guide or 20 hours on average without a guide; we are pretty close to the statistics. People come to Alaska, hire a guide, fish for days and can still go home without a King. We however, have experienced 2 catches...so far!


Colton and his 1st King Salmon



Colton getting a fillet lesson. He used some of his gift money and purchased a really nice fillet knife - hand made in Homer with a caribou antler handle.  Now he needs to learn how to use and respect it - it's very sharp!



Working the fillet off the carcass.



Ethan and his first King! Way to go E!!

We wanted to try fishing on the Kasilof River, so we packed up the van and went up the road about 60 miles for a fish/camping excursion. The trick is to find a campground right on the river so you can be out there anytime after midnight on the days when the river opens for Kings. As usual when we camp, it rained. Anna & Ethan slept on the bed in the "Alaska van" and Tim & Colton slept in the tent so they could get up at 5:00AM and go fishing without disturbing the two "less dedicated fisherpeolpe" of the family. Even though we didn't catch a fish, while eating a soggy muffin for breakfast by a smoldering fire, Colton pronounced that "this is the best camping trip ever!"

Tim did get a chance to go with a guide this week to try and learn a few tricks of salmon fishing on Alaska's rivers. He did learn a lot - but was not able to land a fish; he should have brought the boys for that! He had 4 different ones on his hook - but as Alaskans don't use nets to land their fish - all 4 got away. Alaskans have a pretty well established way of doing things.  Drifting clusters of salmon eggs in a deep "hole" in the river either with a bobber (or with a sinker if the hole is really deep) seems to be the most popular and most productive way to fish.  These holes are coveted spots (they are shown on all of the recreation maps), which you need to get to well before dayight (about 2:00AM; Tim saw some guys in sleeping bags along the river to save the spot they wanted) on the day the river is open (usually only 3 to 4 days per week), and if needed, elbow your way into a spot.  If you've got 2-3 feet on your left or right to the next fisherman, you're doing well and have about twice as much room as you will have when the river gets busy. 

When someone thinks they have a fish, they set the hook by yanking the rod tip straight up over their heads.  If there's no fish on the end, the bare hook & bobber rocket out of the water like they've been shot from a cannon, and woe be it upon you if you're in the line of fire. It is "combat fishing" at its best.  "Combat fishing" is a real term used by Alaskans for when the salmon runs are going strong and EVERYONE is on the river trying to fill their freezers. With the boys we try and avoid these bottlenecks, both to protect the boys from getting a hook in the head and to protect the other fishermen and women from them, especially as they love to fly fish when we are at the river. Though we only saw the "Hook Removal" billboard sign at the medical clinic in Kenai, we've been told there is a manequin in the lobby that is covered with all of hooks they've removed from people.

We had a great time camping and fishing - but came home without any more Salmon. We're going to try our luck again this week back on the Anchor and Ninilchik rivers.

MMMMM - cooking Ethan's Salmon on the soapstone.

We have really enjoyed eating our fresh salmon.  Ruby and Tim have turned us on to cooking on soapstone. We start a fire in the firepit and put the soapstone on top of the grate.  Once the soapstone is hot, scrape & wire briush it, then give it a light coat of olive oil and it is ready to cook on.  It stays hot for hours so both families can cook without having to keep the fire going. The Salmon has been delicious, and our grocery bill has been minimal! Even here in Alaska, King salmon costs $16/pound in fish markets.  We are now researching smoking some salmon to then freeze and send back to Vermont, but first we will need to catch a few more big ones.

We have also done some hiking this past week. Hiking around the Homer area is not at all like hiking in Vermont or NH.  It is mostly more beachwalking than traditional hiking, but we enjoy it all the same. Diamond Gulch and Beach was fun. We started up on the bluff and hiked down to the beach  (500 ft. elevation drop) where we found a cool driftwood shelter and firepit. We roasted hotdogs for lunch and did some tidepooling.

Cooking hot dogs on the beach






Ethan & Colton in the drift wood shelter on Diamond Beach

 

Geocaching has been another hiking activity that we have been enjoying. Ethan received a Geomate GPS for his birthday (Thank-you Mimi and Papa) and we have been putting it to good use. The Geomate works by simply turning it on (anywhere in the world) and it leads you to the closest cache, which is updated via the web; the closest geocache could be 1/2 mile, or 500 miles.  We use it on our hikes and walks around town.  Each cache is supposed to be in a water-tight box where you record your name and date in a log book, as well as take and leave a little 'treasure'.  We were very happy to find one at Diamond beach. Ethan took a Euro penny and left an unopened package of "Rosies Vermont Beef Jerky";  leftovers from deer season in Tim's hunting pack. You can check out geocaching at http://www.geocaching.com/



The boys and the cache!  If you
find this one, DON'T eat the jerky!



View of the Homer spit on our way down from Crossman Ridge

We also walked up Crossman Ridge, which is only about a 10 minute drive from our place. Here you hike up and then across the ridge. We ran into a fella grooming the trail (with a skid-steer Bobcat). Seems that 4-wheeling (riding "quads", for you Canadians) is much more popular than hiking here on the southern end of the Kenai Peninsula. The groomer was extremely friendly and did warn us about the few moose who were calving up on that trail. We didn't run in to any of them, but we were on the lookout.



A kite boarder catching some air

Under the heading  "Things you don't expect to see in Alaska" , the Alaska Kitefest was held in Homer last weekend. It was a beautiful day and really fun to go out and watch all the boarders.


Alaska Kitefest 2011

We have had an exciting moose week. One day we saw a big mama in our backyard and you could actually see her calf moving/kicking inside her belly - it was amazing.  Apparently she calved while we were away camping and paraded the babe down the driveway, but we missed it. Hopefully they will be back.






This smaller mama (above) has also been hanging out and Ruby thinks she is also going to give birth any day now. On Saturday the boys met the moose in the woods as they were collecting pine cones for Ruby.  The moose then came into the back yard/swamp area and laid down for 2-3 hours. Once the 4- wheeler (quad!)started to work, she tired of the noise and moved on.  We're hoping she'll also be back with her babe.

Resting right out our backdoor. This photo is taken from our deck.

The obligatory eagle photo- Bald Eagle on the Spit

Our days in Alaska are getting longer and longer and it hardly gets dark, more like twilight, even at 3 AM.  We are enjoying the ebbs and flows of nature, and especially the return of the Salmon. Yes indeed - the World's Alright.