Kenai, Alaska

When I was a Process Engineer for Phillips Petroleum Companies Corporate Engineering, I was fortunate enough to work on several Kenai Plant projects including a major project to significantly expand the capacity of the Kenai LNG ( Liquified Natural Gas ) Plant to increase LNG production. So I made many trips to Kenai. Some of my experiences follow.

Kenai, Alaska

 

On one trip, I looked out of my motel room at 2 AM in the morning and it was still as bright as day outside. This gave me trouble sleeping while I was there. I came out of my motel room one morning about 6 AM , and there was a very large Moose staring me in the face. I backed up and the Moose just turned and walked away.

 

Well good morning Mr Moose, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be right back.

 

 

I was up there one day when the King Salmon season was open. The Fish and Game Commission had determined that there was a surplus of King Salmon that year so they were allowing the native Alaskans to dip net the Kings directly out on the river. I stood up on the hill and watched them pulling those giant salmon out with dip nets for a couple of hours. Some of the fish they pulled out were monsters.

 

Native Alaskans with large dip nets, netting the huge King Salmon as they swim by. This was fascinating to watch.

 

Some of the huge King Salmon they were netting in the Kenai River.

 

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I was up at Kenai for a Plant Capacity test and we had just finished the test with the desired results. A guy at the plant told us the Sock Eye Salmon were running up the Kenai River so Don and I decided to stay an extra day. He told us how to get to the upper Kenai River, and told us to stop at the first rest stop after a certain landmark. He said we should walk up the river about 3 miles until we came to the falls and we could see the Salmon jumping the falls. So we drove up there the next morning. The parking lot was almost full and there were fishermen lined up on both sides of the river. It turned out that it was opening day for the Sock Eye season. We talked to a game warden and he told us that the fisherman had to catch the salmon in the mouth to keep them. He said if they are foul hooked, they had to throw them back. We crossed over a bridge to the far side of the river and started our hike up the river to the falls. We probably saw 40 salmon pulled out by the fisherman. If there was no warden in site, they kept them no matter how they hooked them. We walked up the river about 5 miles and found no falls. We ran out of walking room on the far side of the river so we pulled our boots off and waded across the cold cold river. We decided to walk about three more miles up River and if we didn’t find the falls we would head back. After about four miles we left the river and found the highway. We walked the 9 miles back to the car. When we got back, Don pulled his boots of and he had two of the biggest blisters I’ve ever seen. My feet were fine, but they sure were barking. I think we were lucky we didn’t run face to face with a giant Kodiak Bear with all the salmon in the stream that day.

 

The fishermen were lined up on both sides of the Kenai River trying to get their share of the Sock Eye Salmon on opening day. I bet they had a lot of tangled lines.

 

 

This is the falls on the Kenai River we were looking for that day. We walked 9 miles up the Kenai River but never found the falls.

 

 

One of the really good things about staying in Kenai was the food. During King Salmon season, the restaurant would get salmon straight from the river. They would cut you off a steak about 1 inch thick and cook it up for you. It was divine. My favorite fish up there was deep fried Halibut chunks. I will say I believe this is my favorite fish I have eaten in my lifetime. Soooo Good.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading Kenai Alaska,
Bill