A Rainy Day in Kodiak

Friday, 13 August

The rain that welcomed us to Kodiak this morning was our constant companion throughout the day. Since sunshine and blue skies didn't look to be in the cards, we counted our blessings — namely, that we had made it this far — and went on with our day.

Kodiak is an archipelago. Kodiak is an island. Kodiak is a town. It gets a bit confusing, but I’ll try to help keep things straight by referring to the island as Kodiak, and the town as the town. Notice I said, I’ll try … there may be some lapses.

Left: Map of Kodiak Island in relation to the Katmai peninsula. right: The red route is the main north-south road on the island. [scanned from the Kodiak Visitor Guide]

Keeping Alaska’s (and Kodiak’s) fickle weather in mind, we’d built in two buffer days at the front end of our vacation to get to Kodiak before our first-planned adventure, a boat trip to the Katmai Peninsula. If all went well, then we’d use the buffer to explore Kodiak. Despite the travel snags that delayed our arrival until this morning, those days were now ours to do with as we saw fit: explore the island by car on Day 1 and wander around town on foot on Day 2. But first, a couple of stops in town to gather information.

This map of downtown makes it easy to find places of interest. [scanned from the Kodiak Visitor Guide]

Geared up in our rain togs, we left the car parked at the hotel and headed into town along the Shelikof Waterfront, stopping every other step to read the interpretive signs along the boardwalk. Maybe it was the early hour; maybe it was the rain. Whatever the reason, it was quiet and we felt like we had the entire town to ourselves.

St Paul Harbor is convenient to the town center.

Pano stitch of St Paul Harbor … hence the fisheye effect.

On a slow wildlife day gulls count too!

Our path dropped us in front of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge Center (#23 on the map above). The ranger on duty was very helpful, making recommendations on trails to hike and places to visit in and around town. The interesting exhibits encouraged us to extend our brief visit, but we had a drive around Kodiak to get to.

Of interest to us is this exhibit of bears fishing for salmon.

will we see yearlings nursing? That question is yet to be answered.

After a brief conversation with the staffer at the Kodiak Visitor Center (map reference #1) we had a plan in place to drive the Chiniak Highway/Pasagshak Road route (part of the long, wiggly red route shown on the map at the top of this post). I’m sure the drive is picturesque, but we didn’t see much of the coastal Pacific scenery en route since it was mostly shrouded in fog. We did have occasional glimpses of the bays and marshes, however, as well as an eagle perched in the wetlands; distant (really distant) Kodiak brown bears fishing or clamming; and anglers at almost every river and creek pitting their skills against the salmon.

Downtown Kodiak from the scenic overlook on rezanof drive. the Fred Zharoff Memorial Bridge connects kodiak and near islands.

At Bell’s Flats, we pulled into a small coffee shop that was recommended by the ranger at the Wildlife VC. We will remember our lunch at Java Flats as being a highlight of this trip. Having left my camera in the car, I wasn’t willing to run out into the drenching rain to get it. Now I regret not having some images to share with you. (The photo shown to the right is borrowed from “Flats Rat Rants,” a blog that popped up when I searched for more information about this funky coffeehouse.)

We made our picks for lunch from the colorful chalkboard menu that listed breakfast burritos, salads, and sandwiches. Mui ordered a coffee, which he deemed excellent; it certainly smelled heavenly. We were both pleased with our selections — an asiago bagel with a scrumptious walnut cream cheese spread, green apples, brie, and lettuce for me; a croissant topped with a delicious salmon cream cheese spread, capers, and onions for Mui.

If you find yourselves in Kodiak, drop in at Java Flats; you’ll be glad you did. A word to the wise — the sandwiches can easily be shared!

After our tasty lunch break, we continued our drive down the coast, taking a right at the T-junction to follow Pasagshak Road to the Kodiak Launch Complex and Fossil Beach beyond. Along the way, we kept our eyes peeled for bison, but none were to be seen (smart animals; they must have found a place to get out of the rain).

I understand these cliffs are a treasure trove of fossils.

The rain that had been switching between misting, drizzling, and pouring, was now coming down in a heavy drizzle. The wind-driven raindrops stung our faces as we walked on the beach. We would have gone fossil hunting in the cliffs, but we weren’t up to navigating the rain-slick rocks. Instead, we wandered around the black-sand beach, searching amongst the driftwood and bundles of kelp to see what we could come up with. Two seal carcasses, largely intact except for the heads, wasn’t what we expected to find!

Left: strong storms bring bundles of ocean kelp ashore. Right: rip — One of the two seal carcasses on the beach.

With the rain increasing, we headed back the way we came. At the T-junction of Pasagshak Road and Chiniak Highway, we had the day’s only close encounter with wildlife (the dead seals don’t count). It was a tiny white dot in the distance of some marshlands that had us scanning the area with our binoculars. That dot turned out to be a bald eagle. In an instant, he was in the air, flying towards us. As he whizzed by overhead, we turned to follow its path. He landed on a tree on the other side of the road. Now, there were two eagles not one — he had joined his mate. Later, when we finally moved on from this sighting, we came across a second pair of eagles just a little ways down the road. One of the second pair flew off even as Mui brought the car to a stop, but that didn’t diminish our pleasure in the sighting.

the name bald eagle didn’t make sense to me until I learned that at one time “bald” used to mean “White.”

Except for those multiple eagle sightings, the return trip was uneventful. The rain let up briefly and the fog lifted long enough for us to catch momentary glimpses of the coastal scenery, but the dull light didn’t make getting cameras wet worthwhile.

Fireweed blooms add color to an otherwise gray landscape.

I don’t know what it is about Mui’s video cameras and Alaska! In 2001, his camera stopped functioning after filming some black bears playing in the mountains near the Whittier Tunnel. We were still on day two of our 17-day trip. Luckily, he managed to find a setting that allowed him to tape the rest of our trip.

This time, his camera stopped functioning shortly after he taped the eagles. He had a back-up camera at the hotel, but this was his main gear we’re talking about. He tried a couple of different things, but nothing worked. Hearing us discussing the problem at an overlook, a local woman kindly offered to call someone she knew to see if there was a repair shop in Kodiak. No, there wasn’t.

What to do? The chances were small, but would the Exchange at the Coast Guard Station (the biggest in the US, by the way) have something to replace this one? Holding onto that small glimmer of hope, we stopped at the station on the way into town. Yes, there were cameras, but they weren’t all that different from his back up camera; nor were they worth investing the dollars listed on the price tag!

(A small tidbit about the Coast Guard Station we visited — it’s the one that was featured in the Kevin Costner movie, “The Guardian.”)

A little down in the mouth, we returned to the hotel, made reservations for dinner, cleaned up, and headed back out again. Wouldn’t you know it? Our day was almost coming to a close and the sun was out!?! Taking advantage of the change in weather, we walked to the Old Powerhouse Restaurant, another recommendation from the ranger at the Wildlife VC.

I expected a lot of things from this Japanese-influenced seafood restaurant, but I didn’t expect to taken to task for being five minutes late for our reservation. You can believe that the apology on our lips dried up real fast when the hostess greeted us with a reprimand for not calling to tell her that we were running late! I’m not sure why we didn’t just leave right then and there — our grumbling tummies probably had something to do with our decision to stay.

While the service could be improved, and the décor could certainly be made more charming with just a little work, the food was very good. We skipped the extensive (and popular) sushi/sashimi menu and ordered the grilled halibut special instead. Served with a lemon-butter sauce on the side, it was really scrumptious. (The appetizer-size was just right for me.) A local brew, appropriately named “Liquid Sunshine,” washed the food down quite satisfactorily.

Our quest for some after-dinner ice cream from the place next door was a bust (it apparently closes at 7:00p). Oh well … the sunshine that accompanied us on the walk back to the hotel made up for that bit of disappointment.

Here’s hoping for blue skies tomorrow.