Photos From Alaska's Kenai Peninsula

Created OnJuly 3, 2014

Last Updated OnOctober 12, 2021

byBob

I went bear viewing from the Kenai Peninsula! This is only a teaser, i got a lot closer to bears than this! Stay tuned, I'll tell you all about in a coming post!

I went bear viewing from the Kenai Peninsula! This is only a teaser, I got a lot closer to bears than this! The only thing between me and them was my camera. Stay tuned, I’ll tell you all about in coming posts!

I’m writing this from Talkeetna, AK waiting for the weather to clear so I can take a flight-seeing trip around Mt. McKinley (commonly and incorrectly called Denali; the National Park’s name is Denali, the mountains name is McKinley). We’ve been in Alaska for 22 nights and of those nights 16 were on the Kenai Peninsula: three nights in Hope, six nights in Seward, four nights in Soldotna and three in Homer. If and when you come to Alaska I think you will probably want to spend most of your time there as well. Here’s why:

Mountains: The northern part of the Kenai Peninsula is covered with thick, beautiful mountains! You spend all your time driving in them and through them and it is breathtaking! They aren’t very tall mountains, less than 6000 feet, but because you are usually right at sea level, and you’re right beside them, they look very tall and majestic.
Glaciers: In Alaska, if there are mountains, there are also going to be many glaciers and the Peninsula has lots of them! Its home to the Kenai Fjord’s National Park, home to the Harding Icefield a 714 square-mile vestige of the last Ice Age. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to see the Harding Icefield, short of flying in. On the other hand, every few minutes of driving brings you to a new hanging Alpine Glacier on the side of some mountain! I never get tired of looking at glaciers!
Rivers: There are many rivers on the Peninsula, including the Kenai and Russian which are big and beautiful, and flowing right along the mountains.
Ocean: Because the Peninsula extends out into the ocean, there are many miles of ocean beachfront property. Seward is the northern-most ice-free port in the US so it is a major seaport serviced by the Alaska State Ferry and many Cruise and freight ships.
Fishing: Because of its abundance of rivers and ocean coastline, the Kenai Peninsula is probably the very best fishing anywhere in the world! Every weekend of the summer Anchorage empty’s out as its residents head south for trophy, world-class salmon and halibut. It also has an abundance of trout, grayling and clam fishing.
Whale Viewing: All summer, many small ships leave Seward and Whittier full of tourists wanting to get close to the abundance of glaciers nearby and hopefully spot whales, seals, sea lions and other marine mammals; and most do!
Hunting: There is a very large moose and bear population on the Peninsula and even more just a short flight across the inlet. The Kenai is a very hunting oriented place!
Gold Prospecting: The reason Europeans first came here is because of gold strikes back in the early 1900s and there is still a lot of small-scale and recreational mining going on today. Our camp in Hope was literally beside an active gold mine on Palmer Creek.
Bears: Homer is as close as you can get to Katmai NP home of the very best bear-viewing in the world. Every day many small planes leave Homer taking people in to see bears across the Cook Inlet.

As soon as you make the circle around Turnagain Arm you climb a long hill into the Peninsula. This is looking down the hill toward the Inlet.

If you ever come to Alaska, plan to spend at least half or more of your visit on the Kenai Peninsula because it has the best scenery and wildlife viewing packed into the smallest area. Of course Denali NP must be included on any trip, but it’s further away from anything else and is difficult to see because you can’t drive all the way back. Plus, it has much more fickle and rainy weather than the Kenai has.

Flowers near Summit Lake the highest point on the Seward Highway.

There are two main roads; the Seward Highway goes from Anchorage to Seward and the Sterling Highway Ys off at Tern Lake and goes down to Kenai-Soldotna and then all the way down to homer. On your trip I recommend following the basic route we took. To further entice you, I’ll give you some photos of the Kenai Peninsula from this trip. I’ll reserve more photos from the specific towns we camped at. First, here’s a map give to you a reference point.

This is the Kenai Peninsula. I've marked the towns we camped in and put in arrows along the road we took.

This is the Kenai Peninsula. I’ve marked the towns we camped in and put in arrows along the roads we took.

This is Tern Lake, named after the abundance of Arctic Tern that nest there.

This is Kenai Lake. The blue shade is pretty typical of glacial lakes.

This is Kenai Lake. The blue shade is pretty typical of glacial fed lakes.

This is really typical of the scenery you will see. Roads winding their way through the mountains. Those are motorcycles ahead of us. Lots of guys on big Adventure bikes (mostly BMWs) all over Alaska and the Alcan.

There are lots of pull-outs for you to stop and enjoy the beauty. Judy and I felt like David to all the Goliaths on the road.

There are lots of pull-outs for you to stop and enjoy the beauty. Judy and I felt like David to all the RVs Goliaths on the road. Notice we are right at tree-line and we are only at 1300 feet. Alaska is so cold the tree-line is often very low.

Summit Lake again.

Unfortunately, rain dominated my trips around the Peninsula.

Unfortunately, rain dominated our time on the Peninsula. For every pretty day shot I had 10 in the rain. We probably spent half our time just sitting in the van waiting for it to clear up.

16 Comments

Jo L on July 3, 2014 at 5:22 am

Breathtaking! Thank you so much for sharing your trip and photos!
- Bob on July 4, 2014 at 11:15 am
  
  Jo L you are very welcome! It really is my pleasure!
  Bob
Calvin R on July 3, 2014 at 5:56 am

The Kenai Peninsula certainly has beautiful scenery, and I have yet to see a glacier. However, it seems to have quite a few tourists, which is really not my picture of scenic Alaska.
- Bob on July 4, 2014 at 11:14 am
  
  Calvin, there are lots and lots of tourists here–kind of like mosquitoes; they are everywhere and thick as thieves!
  There are so few roads that we are all on those few. You can get off the road and be alone, but that will be very expensive.
  One of the main reasons I came in June is there are less tourists. From now on it just gets WORSE!
  Bob
Openspaceman on July 3, 2014 at 8:06 am

Bob_
I’m never been a judge in a photo contest….but if I was I would give your Tern Lake photo an award. Nice!
- Bob on July 4, 2014 at 11:09 am
  
  Thanks Openspaceman!
  Bob
jonthebru on July 4, 2014 at 2:13 am

I’m really liking your tour descriptions and photos!
- Bob on July 4, 2014 at 11:09 am
  
  Thanks Jon!
  Bob
Al Christensen on July 4, 2014 at 1:32 pm

The first photo is the best one of the whole trip.
- Bob on July 5, 2014 at 11:40 pm
  
  Better ones on the way Al!
  Bob
Scott Cotner on July 4, 2014 at 5:27 pm

Amazing bear shots Bob! I’m jealous!
- Bob on July 5, 2014 at 11:35 pm
  
  Scott, more coming up!
  Bob
Ming on July 5, 2014 at 7:05 pm

wow, look at those bears, they are massive! It’s so interesting to see them come in so many shapes and sizes. I saw one once in spring that was so skinny, he looked like a kid in a bear suit. These are so big in comparison.
- Bob on July 5, 2014 at 11:21 pm
  
  Those are Brown bears, so they are larger than Blacks. She was also female and they are smaller than males but rounder, making them look bigger. And they were very close!! Making them look even bigger!
  Bob
hot rod on July 7, 2014 at 10:24 am

damn Bob is that a sandwich in your hand near those bears? please explain yourself!:)
- Bob on July 11, 2014 at 9:03 pm
  
  hot rod, hard to believe isn’t it!! The guide insisted I eat my lunch! More to come!
  Bob

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Photos From Alaska's Kenai Peninsula

16 Comments