Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 159

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 159

Alaska

7/16/09-8/8/09 - Soldotna and Clinichik

Mount Redoubt

Clamming:  So Sam and I feel that instead of fishing, we should go clamming.  This area has great razor clams.  We go to Freddies and buy a shovel, ignoring the clam guns.  We check the tides. A minus 5 is coming up.  We read up on the best clamming beaches select to Clinichik. Clam Gulch is taking time-out to repopulate. We arrive early.  It is already pretty crowded, but off we go.  Our limit is 60 clams each. Yes, 60 clams each. After trying out, studying, talking to other clammers, Sam gets into the swing of things and we leave with about 30 big, nice clams.  We decide to return for more.  Of course that was before I read up on how to clean them, then actually had to clean them.  Yuck!  After several days, I agreed we needed to try for more.  Sam grabbed the shovel and off to Clinichik we go.  Sam starts in digging.  The technique that worked last time did not work.  The clams were deeper and faster.  We leave with about 30 more.  I was perfectly happy, as it took me a long, long, while to clean them.  Then Sam saw a used clam gun, available for rent from a beach side ‘what not’ store.  He rented it for $10 and we were back at the beach the next morning.  Within the first hour, Sam was back using the shovel.  The ‘gun’ was an old cast iron gun, that was rusted, hard to turn, very short (especially with the nice length of Sam’s back), and a very short handle.  The whole thingamajig was really a torture for him and his hands blistered – badly.  He finished the time with the shovel and we left with another 25 clams.  We have enough for two large pots of clam chowder, two dinners of panned fried clams and two big baggies of frozen clams for later.  One couple we talked to comes to Alaska every year just for the clams.  They had harvested 1000 clams at the time we talked to them.  I have no clue how they did it, but next time we plan to have a new and improved clam gun. To add spice to our last clam outing, Mount Redoubt was venting just across the water from the clam beach. Pretty picture.

Clinichik Beach - Clams Hiding

One of the bad things you should know is that Soldotna campgrounds are targets for thieves.  At our campground, the managers attempt to provide some semblance of security.  Even so, our large ice chest, full of fish soaking in brine for smoking, was stolen right from under our trailer.  Between the time we went to bed at 1 am and 6 am, when Sam got up to put it in the smoker.  Very few other incidents were reported at the Edgewater.  We talked to a couple that stayed at the Centennial Park.  They said that thievery was rampant there and no one seemed to care.  So beware – keep all your items secure.   

Sal's In Beautiful, Downtown Soldotna

We attended the Soldotna Bible Church, as we were invited by one of the couples that taught us the technique of fishing for Sockeye at Klutina.  We very much enjoyed the sermon/bible lesson, the people, and the music of this church.  Although a large church, they made Sam and I, as visitors, feel very, very welcome to share fellowship with them. 

Spenard Building Supply 'Wisdom'

The legal residents of Alaska get some sort of stipend every year due to the oil. To us, the more important benefit of being a fulltime resident of Alaska is their ability to dip net for salmon.  One couple set up camp behind us, and we were able to witness very, very closely, the results of resident dip netting and how personal use fisheries can be set up temporarily to process the fish.  Smoking, fishing and canning all going on in a temporary base camp.  Something to witness.  We drove to the mouth of the Kenai River, which is in the town of Kenai.  This whole process is something to see and is in addition to the natives use of fishing nets and fish wheels and all if this is in addition to commercial fishing.  What a large number of people.  What a vast number of fish!

It is time for us to start finding our way home.