Paddling at Johnson Lake on the Kenai Pennisula

We left our beachfront site at Homer and drove up the road a little to Johnson Lake.near Kasilof. It is also just south of Soldotna,  the  Johnson Lake Campground, another great state campground for only 15 dollars a night. The lake sites were filled but we got another nice site in the trees.

It was actually pretty nice weather when we got there. We drove up to Captain Cooks Recreation Site as we heard it was suppose to be pretty nice. The drive wasn't that great as there is a lot of industry and oil companies on the road to the end of the spit. It was pretty full though there were a few spots we could get into. We decided to pass on this as a future site.
The next day was cloudy again but we decided to be brave and actually get our kayak into the water.
We inflated the boat and got everything into the Jeep and drove over to a place we could launch from.
The Johnson Lake is not real big but very lovely.

We did get a few drops of rain but that was it. We wore our wet suit tops and light jackets and we were comfortable. It was nice paddling through the lily pads. There were some other people paddling as well. Also a few fisherman.

It was so nice to finally get out on the water in Alaska. It was an easy paddle where we just glided along the water. Our next paddle would be a little more of a workout. Anyway before we get to that, we stayed for three days here. One day we drove to a seafood processor and market and bought some more fish. We bought some smoked salmon that was reduced in pricing and so we bought a number of packages of it. We also bought some halibut and some razor clams. Clam Chowder is in the future.
The last two weeks of July is one of the big runs for Red and King Salmon on the Kenai River. There area fishermen everywhere. That is why we made sure to get a spot during the weekdays. I am sure it would be hard to get a spot anywhere in the area on the weekend. In fact in some of the campgrounds you can only stay for 3 days or so. I guess it is fish your butt off and get out so someone else gets a chance. We enjoyed our three days and are now headed back to the Anchorage area and later onto Valdez.
Below are some more pictures taken on the drive to Eagle River Campground(Chugach State Park) which is just north of Anchorage.
As we drove pass Bird Creek, where we stayed before, we came to an area where we had seen some dali sheep on the rocks. There were a lot of people taking pictures and we weren't able to stop to take pictures. This time we stopped and I did get some good shots.

Just some of the many people out fishing

Lovely spot at the Tern Lake Junction