Russian Lake & Falls Hike

Hi Blog!

On Friday, July 1, 2016, we drove north from Soldotna to Anchorage. It was a rainy, misty morning. We thought we were going to have to give up our plans to hike to Lower Russian Lake, but Mother Nature smiled on us and the rain let up the further north we traveled.

The trailhead for the Lower Russian Lake and Russian River Falls is located in the Russian River Campground. When we arrived at the Entrance Station, the park ranger advised that the trailhead parking lots were full. He told us we could still hike, but would have to park in the overflow parking area near the entrance. The trailhead was almost a mile up the road. While road walking is not our favorite way to start a hike, we didn't want to miss the chance to see the famous Russian River.

The Russian River is a 13-mile-long river on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. It flows northward from Upper Russian Lake in the Kenai Mountains through Lower Russian Lake, draining into the Kenai River at the town of Cooper Landing. Our walk to the trailhead took us right next to the Kenai River.

Decisions, decisions... do we hike to the Falls first or visit Lower Russian Lake then go to the Falls?

We opted to visit Lower Russian Lake first. The valley reminded us of the Shire in New Zealand.

There is a public use cabin on Lower Russian Lake that is available for rental. However, it books up fast. We chatted briefly with a family of six who were hiking out after spending a few days at the cabin. Just a few minutes later, we met a group of three who were heading in to spend a few days. How cool would it be to have a lake like this all to your yourself? Next time....

We came across this white-wing crossbill just sitting on the trail. We didn't see any other wildlife. There was evidence of bears in the area, but we never saw hide nor hair of Mr. Bear.

We crossed back over the bridge over the Russian River and then headed left up the trail to the Russian River Falls.

The Russian River flows over a series of steps. Between mid-June and July, the river is teeming with thousands of green-headed, red-bodied sockeye salmon.

There are viewing platforms where you observe the massive runs surge their way upstream through the powerful current and onto their ancestral spawning grounds. We staked out a spot to watch the show. Since the salmon run had just started, the leaping fish were few and far between. We tried over and over to catch of photo of a fish in mid-leap, but were unsuccessful.

We then began taking short videos every few minutes. We ended up with over 47 videos, out of which only four captured a salmon leaping up the falls. Here is a link to our best video - Fly, fishy, fly!