Swanson River

This weekend my father and I decided to paddle and camp the Swanson River located on the Kenai peninsula here in Alaska.  The Kenai is a pretty popular spot here in Alaska mostly due to the fishing it affords but also the beautiful blue water that runs through it.  I had never been down on the Kenai in my other visits to Alaska so it was all new to me.  My father had actually done this trip before down the Swanson without camping but said it made it a grunt of a day trip.

We didnt leave the house until about noon and we still had to pick up groceries for the trip.  By the time we got on the road it was one but you don't really have to worry about burning daylight here.  We got on the river at 5 and we planned to paddle about 4 hours until we started hunting for our campsite.  On my Dad's previous trip he had marked potential campsites into the GPS as the river goes through a stretch of nothing but marsh that offers little to no campsites.

On our way we saw two moose actually in the river, once coming within 5 feet of one of them.  I could of honestly stuck out my paddle and smacked it.  The river was pretty tame with small spots of swift moving water.  It luckily had enough water also to prevent any portaging but we were still scraping the bottom in a few spots. 

Our campground was 10 feet up a bank nestled around a bunch of spruce trees.  It looked like it gets plenty of use and there was already some firewood chopped from the previous tenants.  We had stopped along the way to collect firewood anyways as that was our only source of cooking.  My dad isnt into ultra-light camping so we camp luxuriously air mattress and all.  For dinner it was steak and potatoes and for desert apple pie.  My mom thinks its ridiculous cooking steak out in bear country but at this point there are no salmon in the Swanson.  

The next day we cooked up some eggs and potatoes and headed out.  We were hoping to get some cell phone service so we could call my Mom to tell her we were going to reach the take out point earlier then our 6 o'clock arranged pickup time to no avail.  We arrived at 3 o'clock and decided to setup our tent and catch a nap before she came.  She arrived 30 minutes early and we packed up and left making it home around midnight.  It was a great trip with tons of wildlife from osprey's, to great horned owls, to moose, and even a black bear on our drive out.  All and all we paddled 28 miles in about 8 hours.  Hopefully I can do a few more of these float trips before I leave.

Photos