Kenai River Salvage Run 2011

Every spring I like to dust off my one man pontoon and float the river. It's a peaceful time of year and the only other watercraft I'll run into are other pontooners, canoers or kayakers. At the very most I have seen two other people when I've been out. The river is just too low for powerboaters. However, in the next week or two the river will begin to rise and when that happens the big boats will start to come out and play.People that float the Kenai in the spring usually do it to connect with nature. Yeah, that has little bit to do with it for me but the real reason is pictured above. I am proud to say I am a dumpster diver. Every spring when I get the itch I tell Jane I have go do my duty and clean up the river one anchor at a time. Lures are child's play and they're fun to find but the holy grail of Kenai scavenging is finding an anchor. As you can see, I found three this year. No pun intended but the King of scavenging is my buddy Jeff King. He mostly searches around his boat launch but has no need to go any further than that. With his trusty metal detector he's been able to fill half his garage with stuff other people have lost. He's found lots of tools, rod holders, oars, and one year found a 15hp Johnson outboard. The two keys to his success are location and the fact that he gets out before anyone else can. That is why I float the river. I have to get to spots that other people can't get to easily.

So, I thought I'd include a few photos of the "nature" part of the float. Above is a cormorant mid flight. Below is the ever present bald eagle.

If any of my Alaskan buddies want to join me in the future I'd be happy to have the company....and the extra set of eyes to scan for more treasures.