Day 27
7/17/26. Friday
Mosquito count: moderate at camp this evening. Headnet to grill.
First… Happy Birthday to my 3rd sister Mimi! (I have 5 sisters and 2 brothers… I’m last) Trust me they all make getting older look pretty good😊
We took good care of Jana’s front yard last night. Nice neighborhood and she has the high school tennis courts and practice fields in her backyard.
Makes dreary days look good.
Breakfast with Morgan. As planned we met up with a “crew member” friend from our years of volunteering and riding Cycle Greater Yellowstone and Montana Road Tours. For years Morgan was the greatest sag driver, ham radio operator and just overall fun spirit on the crew. She has the greatest smile too! We haven’t seen each other for a handful of years but we sure had a fun breakfast and she’s lived in Anchorage for years so she knows quite a bit of the state snd Kenai Peninsula well. Lots of ideas of places to checkout. That was a treat to see her. She’s off to gillnetting on the mouth of the Kenai River this weekend. Only Alaskaresidrnts get to gillnet. We will be seeing this soon. Also something the locals refer to as “combat fishing”!
Alyeska. After breakfast we headed west along Turnagain Arm to the Kenai Peninsula. We had our sights on Hope for the night. Everyone says it’s cool little place. It’s also on Turnagain but across from Anchorage. Before Hope we went to Girdwood to see Alyeska Ski Resort. It was pretty busy in the summer too. Mountain biking and hiking and just staying in the Alyeska Hotel. We walked around and inside and checked it out. The ski maps make it look like there is a lot of extreme skiing! AI tells me 37%. It’s a nice village.
Six Mile Creek. Once you get to the end of the arm you climb over Turnagain Pass and drop down the other side and follow the Six Mile creek. This is really popular for river rafting & kayaking. There are several whitewater guide services out of Hope. We happened to catch’s few groups taking off and downstream.
Hope AK. Just a bit further downhill to Hope. She’s a very tiny old gold mining town. A few buildings are still there and some still being used. We stopped at one place to check it out but they were closed. Getting ready for s as big music songwriter event tonight. People were rolling into camp and stay for the music.
Tidal Bore. Expecting a crowd for music was our cue to go find our wild camp for the night. First we tried this great turnout on the highway that goes down to the water. There was a huge tidal flat at the lowest place. Unfortunately everything was already claimed.
We decided on a turnout on the highway above the tidal flat. We were hoping to see the tidal bore between 7-7:30pm. The chart was expecting it to be BIG. On the Hope side the waves will be smaller because it’s not as deep. At Beluga Point near Anchorage they can get 6-10 ft high (surfers delight). There are also lots of warnings about walking on the mud in the flats. It’s like quicksand! People have died surfing the tidal bore getting stuck in the mud flats so deep they can’t get out and the tide keeps rising😱
Anyway… we were sitting watching and waiting and sure enough this ripple of waves bringing the tide in formed right in front of us. There was a roar of the water too.
It can build up to 6 – 10 feet tall and can reach speeds of 10 to 15 miles per hour. It takes not just a low tide but also about a 27-foot tidal differential (between high and low tide) for a bore to form in Turnagain Arm.
This picture does not do it justice. To see video you need to go directly to the blog website: http://www.cinnicrew.com/alaska
As I sit here and write this the tide has come in and covered all the mud flats. We’re all alone on our highway pullout.
Tomorrow we travel to the community of Seward. While it is a cruise ship port it also has glaciers, hiking and sea kayaking. Hoping to do any of the above.
cinnicrew 