Day 2: Cooper Landing

Most people who visit Cooper Landing are here to go fishing. As you drive through the town, there are signs for bait, fishing tours, and how to freeze your fish - everything you need for catching salmon. At breakfast this morning we met one of these visiting fisherman. He was surprised to hear that we were planning a day of hiking!

Here we are at the start of the Resurrection Pass Trail. The weather was dry, cool and windy. We all set off together, but immediately Bill took the lead. Both he and Patty are "eager hikers", I am more of a stroller, and Pete was busy photographing all the different wildflowers so he brought up the rear. It seems like peak time for wildflowers. We saw wild roses with tons of pink blooms, lupine, bluebells, yellow paintbrush and a dozen others that we didn't know the names of. We hiked for a few hours and stopped to have a snack, then we thought we'd head back. But along came a mountain biker who told us we were about a half a mile away from the Juneau Creek Falls, a spectacular view spot. Well, we couldn't miss that! So Bill and Patty bolted off, Pete and I strolled along, and we weren't disappointed when we got to the falls. And then we did head back, because we had made reservations to go kayaking on the Kenai Lake in the afternoon. But we heard from the kayak leader that it was too windy on the lake, and that the swell was high. We opted not to risk getting wet and instead spent the afternoon relaxing. (Weather-permitting we will make up for it in Homer with a kayak tour of Kachemak Bay.) Alaska has beautiful scenery and we are having a wonderful time!