Spent a little time in the city this morning then headed to Bird creek for some more salmon action. Bird creek is probably the closest, best salmon spot to Anchorage, because of that, it can get pretty crowded. All the tour buses stop on the bridge and announce to the masses, “See? real fisherman fishing for salmon in Alaska” before shuttling them onward to their next canned destination. When I arrived it was obvious that no one was catching anything. Most of the shoreline was covered with mud that was super slippery…..people were slipping and sliding all over the place. It was a comedy show because everyone was getting a kick out of watching everyone else slip around……..I don’t know why I think that’s funny but I just do.
Anyway, again people were catching nothing…….so I walk…..and when I’m far enough away from the crowd I’m catching them one after another……all pinks, no silvers….I walked to the car with a guy who had the fiercest southern accent I’d ever heard, and it was fun to chat with him……he thought he had caught a silver and asked me what I thought as he hoisted it skyward…..it was just another pink. When we parted he told me to go on and have a blessed day…..so I did.
The ride back to Anchorage runs along Turnagain Arm on one side, a large extremely tidal body of water, and mountains that shoot strait up to the sky on the other……when the sun get low in the sky it’s a very beautiful ride….blessed if you will. This road is the only way to get to the cities and towns south of Anchorage, so it is heavily traveled and, unfortunately, is a haven for severe traffic accidents. Just yesterday 14 people were injured and 3 were killed. One guy, attempting to get some gory photos, started climbing the rocky cliff on the side of the road to get a better angle and fell, breaking both his legs. I could easily see how drivers could be distracted. There’s the overall beauty, there’s texting, there’s even this cool tourist train that runs along the roadway. From what I hear, the primary reason for accidents is impatience with slow drivers. With the single lane the cars stack up and sooner or later some yeehaw pulls out in an attempt to pass 20 cars at once. In almost every case, the accident is caused by a vehicle crossing the center-line and crashing head on with cars in the other direction at about 70 miles and hour.
Fortunately for me, I made it back alive……I guess it was a blessed day.
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