967 June 26, 2023 Salmon Grove Fish Camp

In Tok there was a great paved walking path.  My walk was quickly accomplished as I talked with mom and my sister.

Our ride was much less harrowing than yesterday.  Driving still required careful attention.  There were lots of recent repairs to the road surface and crews were working.

In the ponds and lakes, we continued to see swans.  We saw families with fuzzy cygnets paddling across the water.  At this lake we saw a nesting swan on the far shore.

We were driving along when a large moose quite suddenly emerged from the brush.  He had his front two hooves on the shoulder when he halted abruptly.  Thank goodness he stopped because we wouldn’t have been able to.  In his side mirror, Tim saw the moose cross the road behind us.

Another pretty ride.

This extremely snowy peak is Mount Sanford and is part of the Wrangell Saint Elias Range.  This mountain is 16,237 feet tall and is one of Alaska’s tallest.   We were lucky to see it.  As we progressed on our ride, the view was obscured by thick clouds.

We arrived at Salmon Grove Campground on the Klutina River at about noon.  We were so happy to see Lee and Claudia and to spend the afternoon and evening visiting and chatting. 

The Klutina River was raging and we watched logs rush downstream in the swift moving current.  The river is much higher than usual because of rain and snowmelt.  We watched trees on the opposite bank lean and fall into the water.  The bank on the other side was being carved out and undermined as the day wore on. 

Sockeye fishing has not been so good this year but this fisherman did have a decent day.

The gulls were screaming and fighting over the scraps.

Fish bonkers or whackers…for you know…

We walked through Copper Center which really is not much of a town.  Tim enjoyed looking at the old trucks.

Later, we sat by the fire with the neighbors.  This is an intimate campground.  Lots of the folks have been coming here for years to fish for salmon.  There is a nice sense of community.  You can hear the people laughing and joking and teasing one another.  They share a lot; meals and camaraderie and of course competition for fish. 

Someone gifted Lee and Claudia with a beautiful freshly caught sockeye salmon and they grilled that for our meal.  We enjoyed time with Mike and Jan; also, from Arizona and good friends to Lee and Claudia.  It was such a pleasant evening and over too quickly!