A Day Tour North of Deep Creek and More of the Last Frontier Gang Arrives

We headed out late in the morning to check an area about 20 miles north of Deep Creek.  As we were pulling out of the campground, we could see that the clam diggers were taking advantage of the minus tides in the area that started today.

We drove down to the beach at Clam Gulch north of us and they were digging clams there too.

After driving through the Clam Gulch State Recreation Area, we continued north and drove around the Cohoe Loop Road starting at the north junction with the Sterling Highway and returning to the highway at the south junction.  From there, we returned to Clam Gulch to Bakers Clam Shell Lodge which in the Milepost claims to be famous for their clam chowder.  We both ordered a bowl of clam chowder and it was very good.  I needed to get a new temporary change of address card from the post office which was next door to the restaurant and Ken took a photo of the building with the crossed clam shovels.

Getting back to Ninilchik, it was still raining so we decided to drive up Oil Well Road as far as possible.  It is paved for a little over 5 miles and then is gravel the rest of the way for a total of about 18 miles.  There are several trails crossing this road and at a parking area for vehicles hauling snowmobile trailers, I took a picture of these two signs.

Back at our campground, we found that more of the Last Frontier Gang had caught up with us and planned for a dinner out at the American Legion which was having a Chinese dinner.  From left to right Ken, Pat, Don and Sharon are busy eating.

When we arrived back at camp, some neighboring campers had brought in their halibut to the cleaning station down by the creek.  The big one in front was caught by…

…this first time halibut fishergirl on the right.  She seemed very modest about her catch although it was about 50 pounds compared to the others which were around 15-20 pounds average.

The girl in the next photo was an employee of the fish and game department who checks people at random to measure their fish carcass, determine the sex of the fish, and then extracts a bone from the brain of the fish that determines it’s age.

That little speck of white on her glove is the bone from a cod’s brain which is actually like a piece of ivory.

After watching all the hard work, it was time to relax by the fire.  Here are Carol, Marilyn, Larry, and Dennis all bundled up in front of the fire.

Don, Sharon, and Ken are all smiling and trying to look like it’s warm outside.

Tomorrow the Last Frontier Gang will be headed south to Homer and we will be going north to Kenai, but there’s a possibility that we may catch up with them again before the 4th of July.  After that, they will be moving along at a faster pace then us.