When it was announced that the east side of Upper Cook Inlet would be closed this year to clamming, I immediately got a hold of Big Will and asked if I could get on his waiting list for the next time he would go clamming on the west side of the inlet. I told him Jane, Todd, and I would like to go. I got the call last week and was told we would go on Sunday, May 17th.
We met Big Will at the Kenai City dock at 6:30 in the morning. The clammers would be Big Will, his daughter Amy, Tula, Amy's dog, Jane, Todd and I. Our destination was Polly Creek and it would take an hour and a half to get there.
There are two ways to reach Polly Creek; by boat or by plane. When we arrived there were 12 boats and just as many small planes on the beach. Since this is a remote area there are no limits on how many razor clams you can take. Until the tide went out and until it came back the five of us dug approximately 300 clams. It was a lot of physical work to get them, and it took a lot of time to clean them as well. When it was all said and done it was 7:00pm when we finished.
It's an incredible resource at Polly Creek. All the years clamming on the east side with Todd we realized we did more hiking than clamming, just because there weren't many there. At Polly Creek, clams were everywhere and we didn't do any hiking. I kind of missed the hiking part of clamming because when it's 100% clamming the work is arduous (a nicer word than saying back breaking). All in all, since Todd, Jane and I had never been to the west side of the inlet to clam, we agreed it was a fantastic experience and we're happy Big Will called us to go with him.
Thought I'd end this post with this photo. It's starting to feel a lot like summer now that the dock is in. Todd and I tried to get the dock in Sunday, but the tide was not high enough. Worried that it could be a month or two before the next large tide cycle, I called Jeff and Mike to lend Jane and I a hand in putting it in this morning. I'm glad I did. We needed their muscle to get the dock over the ridge. Always nice to have friends to help you out in a pinch......
Next weeks post: Road Trippin' to Talkeetna.
2 comments:
Interesting as we did a fly over one trip and fished Polly Creek. Landed at low tide and returned 12 hours later. What I call the Mexican Squaller Village complete with that coral pink color. It was explained to me as where the Mexican's would stay during the clamming season because the flats were so large and the clams plentiful. It was also explained to me that this is typical Alaska, where there's people there's junk! It was fun and thank God the silvers kept the bears well feed.
Since the silvers aren't in yet Big Will told us all to keep our eyes open for bears. He said in the spring the bears will be on the beach digging for clams as well. Luckily, no bears the day we were there.
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