Although we have driven for most of this road trip, we hopped on an Alaskan Airlines flight out of Anchorage to head to Kodiak Island, the “emerald isle” and second largest island in the United States. This post with pictures is dedicated to all of the reasons why that nickname is perfectly fitting. Emerald is for the green that covers the landscape, and isle because it is an island located south of the Kenai peninsula. There are many small islands surrounding it as well, creating an archipelago.
We left on a beautiful sunny day and the view from the plane was spectacular. I could see mountain tops and a large ice field that stretched for miles. Watching the island get larger and larger was the most exciting part of the flight.
We walked out of the airport and immediately started exploring the island. Sunny days are hard to come by on Kodiak, so we needed to take full advantage. And that we did!
Pillar Mountain overlooks town, the airport, both harbors, and the largest US Coast Guard facility in the United States. There is also a military presence on the island, but more about that in another story about the trip.
We traveled away from town after descending Pillar Mountain. The next stop was Monashka Bay. This pretty little bay has a beach and picnic areas, but no camping is allowed. There are a few private houses in the area as well.
There are very few roads on Kodiak island. The road system has approximately 70 miles of paved and gravel roads, leaving over two-thirds of the island (1.9 million acres) as a wildlife refuge for brown bears and other animal species.
Next we headed to Fort Abercrombie State Historical Park. This observation post for the military was built in 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, this station was manned by 150-200 members of the US Army.
Battleship guns were installed here in 1943, but the US troops eventually pulled out in 1944.
This part of the island is covered with towering sitka spruce trees. We walked along a few trails to see the tall trees covered in moss. It felt like being in pure nature with no sign of intervention by man. We were the only people in the park that morning and it was so serene and quiet.
My pictures don’t even come close to showing the extreme beauty of this park. We were in awe as we turned every corner.
One trail took us to a small pond. We finally saw other humans who were walking their friendly dogs. Two dogs jumped into the pond for a swim and then came over to greet us.
We headed farther away from town to Middle Bay to eat lunch at a remote restaurant. We saw these young deer beside the road. The foliage is very high along the road and animals can easily disappear in a flash, including the elusive brown kodiak bear.
In an effort to show more of the greenery on the island, I have included some pictures from other days of exploration as well. This is a picture of some of the houses in town, with the channel in front of it.
One day while out on the water, we saw this small inlet that was as smooth as glass. The sea planes carrying tourists across the island land close to this area.
One afternoon Darin wanted to take a hike so we headed to the North End Trail on Near Island. We walked 6 miles round trip from the hotel, but it was worth it to see more of these beautiful trees.
That’s enough for this post and I will share more about our trip to Kodiak soon, I promise. Since the island is surrounded by water, I still need to talk about fishing and marine life!