Chiniak

Chiniak, Alaska is about an hour and fifteen minute drive southeast of Coast Guard Base Kodiak, and it has a population of about 50 people.

I actually took this one on another drive we took
out here last summer. - That's why it's so green.

It's a pretty unique place.  Talk about getting away from it all.  The houses are all along the coast line, and my impression is that people pretty much do whatever the hell they want out there!

Some of the houses are Clampett-style compounds with all sorts of rusted out junk all over the yard.

School buses with no wheels, crappy old cars that look like they haven't gone anywhere in decades, and abandoned motors and electrical equipment strewn around.

Imagine a junkyard, but on the front lawn.  Minus the grass.  I wanted to get a picture of some of them, but we weren't about to stop and start snapping pictures.  Didn't feel like getting shot!

Now don't get me wrong, not all of the houses are like that.  There are some that are on beautiful, sprawling properties with huge, mansion-like cabins. - And million dollar views of the bay and mountains.

The interesting thing is that all the houses have million dollar views.  The ones with curb appeal right along with the ones that have engine blocks in the yard and blue tarps as decor.  It's just a very unique combination of people who have the shared desire of wanting to be isolated.  Right, because the hustle and bustle of Kodiak is just too much activity.  Ha.

We drove down to where the road ends and took a nice long hike along the coastline, and it was a beautiful day.  After so many weeks of gray, overcast, misty weather, this was a much needed sunny escapade! 

This is where we parked and started our hike.  Look at how still that water is...

I mentioned this in a prior post, but there are all kinds of bunkers and left-over structures from WWII along the coast lines all around Kodiak.  We saw this one up along an ATV trail, so we made it our first stop:

Hubby and Pug dog are kind of tiny & camouflaged in the lower center of the pic

Gun Emplacement

Once we made our way up to the fort, we walked around the back side of the building where there was a rusted out old gun emplacement.

It was full of water from all of the rain we've been getting, just screaming with WWII history.  What a view those men had while they were stationed there!

We hiked all along the coast, down to one of the beaches, and then back up through the forest along one of the dirt logging roads.

We probably did anywhere from 7-10 miles, & it felt great to get out and get some fresh air.  You just can't beat the scenery.  It's breath taking and rejuvenating all wrapped up in one.

I saw a huge flock of Black Oystercatchers here.  There were a ton of them! But, too far away for a good picture.

This was the view from the trail we followed around the shore line.  Hubby managed to get a shot of me taking a PB&J break, and Cheety taking a "roll in poo" break.

He literally was rolling around in poop in this picture.  We think it was either cow or buffalo poop.  Good times.

But, he did take a few quick dips in the water down on the beach and washed a little bit off. - It was a very stinky car ride home!

One of my favorite moments from that day was watching how freaking happy Cheety was while he was frolicking along the shore at the beach.

I was surprised he went in the water, but he was having a ball chasing the waves as they crashed along the shore.  He dug in the sand, he swam in the cold water, he rolled in poop.

It really doesn't get any better than that for the Puggyboy.

It's such a privilege to be able to go out & explore this island, and the things we get to see are so exceptional - I love being able to share it here...

Another fort we saw along the way

So much energy!  Happiest pooch ever:

I love this one of the two of them on this rock outcropping they climbed. - Great light:

So, another Kodiak exploration day in the books.  The gray skies that have been prevalent these last few weeks has forced me to anxiously await the next sunny weekend day to get out and do something outside.

I love my couch, but when the sun is shining and this type of landscape beckons, I gotta get out and hike!

Ta-ta for now.