Salmon Fishing and a Buffalo Stampede!

Salmon Fishing and a Buffalo Stampede!

Tom and I went camping at Pasagshak, a location that is the Southern most part of where the road takes you on the island. There we hung out with some friends, Tom went salmon fishing, and, yes, there was actually a buffalo stampede!

When we got to Pasagshak that night, the sun was out and it was gorgeous! I could not have asked for a more beautiful day.

Some of the locals were fishing for salmon by putting nets out in the bay (which you cannot do until you are a resident). The husbands would catch the fish and the wives would fillet them on the beach. The birds (including several eagles) would swarm around to get the leftovers.

This is the view from our SCAMP camper (that we took out courtesy of the Coast Guard - one of the perks of working for them). This is where Tom would be fishing the next morning (getting up at 4:00am...ugh). This is where the salmon spawn and go up that stream you see on the right.

The next morning it was cloudy, rainy, and miserable. Nothing was going to stop the men from going fishing, though. Around 11:00am they headed back to camp. Joe caught a "red" salmon and Tom had caught a smaller fish, but decided to let it go.

(The three pictures above, and some of the buffalo, were taken and provided by Joe's wife and Tom's co-worker in the Work Life Department, Debbie. Thank you, Debbie! They turned out great!)

Right after the men got back in to camp, I heard Joe yelling, "The buffalo! The buffalo are coming!" I thought he was making some reference to a name-brand boat or something. Little did I know he meant ACTUAL buffalo! They were coming right down the road and then decided to cross the river right where all the fly-fishermen were fishing. It was thrilling...to say the least!

We were shocked and then amazed at seeing a herd of about 50 buffalo go rumbling by, clippity-clop, clippity-clop.

Later, after Joe and Debbie had to leave to go to a wedding, Tom and I decided to go exploring some more. We had heard that Kodiak had a launch site that was being considered for launching space craft. We wanted to see if we could get a look.

The road went by the launch site (which you can see behind me in the next picture) and down to another beach. We decided to go beach combing and found some goodies...

The waves were rolling in and we noticed that although there were campers on the beach that had their surfboards, they weren't yet out in the water. It was really COLD! I had three layers on, including two down-filled jackets and a raincoat. I was just barely warmed by this! Brrrrr...

On the way back we saw a deer. He was much smaller than what I'm used to seeing in Kansas and he didn't seem to be too concerned with us.

Tom went back to fishing while I holed up in the SCAMP, and after too long he finally came back with his red salmon. He wanted to catch two of them, but was happy he caught what he did.

We stayed one more night at Pasagshak before we headed back home on Sunday. I told Tom that next time it was that cold and rainy I would be staying home...I needed the comforts of home more than I thought!

But, when the sun is out...it is simply gorgeous (and warm!).

Fun friends, fun times, and fun weekend...all-in-all.