Captain Cook State Recreation Area, Alaska, United States

5Karen-Jim B 5:00 PM Mar 17, 2015

Good beachcombing, photography, tide watching
We live 6 miles from the entrance to Captain Cook State Recreation Area so we have visited many times. This review is about the June 22nd of 2014 when we went to watch the sun set then rise, see the changing tides, go beachcombing & check on fishing. Before midnight, a few very friendly people were fishing for salmon in Swanson River but we didn't try our luck. It was better an hour or two before we arrived. On other trips, we seen good runs of red (sockeye) salmon in early summer then silver (coho) salmon in later summer. Just before midnight (actually on June 21st), we went to the end of the Spur Highway to Discovery Picnic Area. It's on a bluff looking down on the beach. The view of mountains across Cook Inlet was breathtaking. High tide was around midnight, low was about 6 am. The difference was 17+ feet. Amazing! When the tide was out, we went beachcombing. Driving is allowed north on the beach but not south so we headed south. We saw more pieces of driftwood & pretty rocks than we could carry back up to the parking area. There were red, green, black, white, spotted & marbled ones plus agate. They were all sized from pea sized to boulders taller than our truck. We watched the sun dip below the horizon but it didn't get dark. At about 2 am, I couldn't decide if it was getting darker or lighter. So, I looked at a plant to see how light it was, closed my eyes for a few minutes then opened them. It was definitely getting lighter! In a little while the sun came back up a little to the right of where it went down. Another amazing experience.

3Mark H 5:00 PM Jul 10, 2022

If you want to get away from the other visitors for a short while, this is a relaxing place to go
While on a motorcycle trip of Alaska I had time to explore the Kenai Peninsula and I decide to go off the beaten track and avoid other tourists and check this place out. It’s about a 35 minute ride from the Sterling Highway in Soldotna. You’ll pass by the industrial side of the peninsula including a fertilizer plant an oil refinery before it becomes a narrow two-lane highway through the woods along Cook Inlet. I hung out at the small picnic area that overlooks the beach. There are restrooms and a trail that leads down to the water. It seem to be popular place with the kids to burn off steam and it was just a nice pleasant view. It was relaxing place to be