Salmon spawning in Tonsina Creek
Once again it was another another beautiful day in the Seward area. Originally we had planned to hike in to the Exit glacier, which is about 8 miles out of town, but when we got close, the road bridge was closed, and it would have been a couple of miles extra to hike in. Having seen a lot of glaciers, we declined, and instead went on into Seward, and to the south of the town where there is a trail along Resurrection Bay.
Yesterday when we checked in the morning with one of the kayak rental companies they indicated that they did a tour for half a day to Tonsina Point, where you could see the spawning salmon in the creek. Since there is a hiking trail to the point we felt that that this would be a good hike to take, and it’s only about five kilometres return. We hiked in to eat our lunch, and when we got to the stream we could see the salmon spawning in the stream. There were about 50 or more fish, all in the last stages of their life. Here they were only about 200 metres in from the ocean, but they were obviously not going any higher upstream. The water was very clear and shallow, and so you could clearly see the exhausted salmon. There were also many dead carcasses in the water, and there were some gulls and magpies present. While we were there a bald eagle flew overhead and landed in a tree not far away. However, it didn’t try to eat any of the fish, probably because there were quite a number of people there.
We also waded out into the braided stream where it entered the ocean, then after that we sat on some large rocks on the beach and ate our lunch. Now we are preparing to leave Seward. We will be driving north, and this time will be able to see the mountains along the road as it is perfectly clear. We are going to Homer over the next couple of days, and that will be as far as we get, as it’s the end of the road.