From Homer we started working our back up the Kenai peninsula. First stop was Coopers Landing. Homer is a Halibut fishing mecca, but Coopers landing is on the Kenai river which is a mecca for salmon fishing. As RV parks seem to be getting ridiculously expensive and the facilities aren't necessarily reflected in the price we went for a cheaper option. We went to a US forestry service campsite which had 45 pitches - all of them full. The police were there as a brown bear had been seen on the campsite, the intention was to shoot it! We carried onto another forestry campsite a few miles further on down a dirt road - no Wi-Fi, no showers, no sinks, no hook-ups but there were drop toilets and it was only 14 Dollars a night. Even though the site only had 9 spaces and a self-registration and pay system there was still a resident warden! A camper in front of us drove round to inspect all 9 pitches, we went in the first empty one, when they went around for the second time they realized we had taken the last site - tough luck for them. There are so many people here fishing as it's salmon season that everywhere seems to be full. There are two creeks close to this site and we were warned that bears do wander through on their way to fish! We had hoped to kayak here but it was all guided tours and a very expensive day out. You can go rafting but you don't get to paddle as the river is so calm you just float down it - where's the excitement in that? We went to park up to walk to the Russian falls and they wanted 11 Dollars just to park, we turned around and found somewhere else to park for free. We still hiked up to the falls where there are viewing platforms for you to watch the salmon fighting to jump up the falls to reach their spawning grounds. Neither of us fish but it was amazing to see them leaping out of the swirling water at the foot of the falls. We could see hundreds of Sockeye Salmon seemingly awaiting their turn to have a go at the jump! I decided to leave the platform and wander down to the edge of the creek to get closer. I took the bear spray with me and whilst filming and taking pics was slightly nervous in case a bear came up behind me. We were very surprised to see some of the Alaskans didn't have bear spray but 44 magnums and ammo in holsters across their chest. On our walk back to Tilly we met a guy who went one better and had a rifle! Bears are a real threat here. The salmon are here and this is on the bears menu. They are coming for fish but they are quite partial to humans as well. Very recently a hiker in the Eagle creek area (just north of Anchorage) never came back. A search party was sent out for the hiker - they found his hands and feet, the rest of him was inside a bear. One of the search party also got attacked by a bear but survived. The Anchorage Daily News paper on another bear incident - Owner of a 1965 289 Shelby Cobra, worth around a Million US Dollars left a packet of Fig Newtons in the car. A bear ripped through the original vinyl roof and dented the bumper to get the food he could smell, an expensive repair to a vintage car. Anyway, we made it back to our camper safe and sound, the five-mile round trip waterfall walk turned into 11 miles for us with the free parking and a few other explorations! If you want to blend in around here then you need to wear a pair of waders and carry a fishing rod, or even better have your own boat to fish from on the river. We wanted to change campsites to the one with the bear on the prowl and the warden had said there would be spaces the following night but she would reserve us one anyway. The site was full and there was no space reserved for us, we were not impressed. We used the loos and topped up our water tank and hit the road in search of somewhere else. We headed towards Seward our next port of call. We spent a peaceful night at another USFS site, again no showers. We chose a spot close to the drop toilets to minimise the walk in an isolated, very quiet campsite where bears may be present. Then came wash time! After a day of hiking and no shower we made do with a bowl, a sponge, a jug and kettle after kettle of hot water. Donna was apprehensive about going to the loo because of bears and sang and clapped when she had to go. Great curry for dinner, so much of it that there was enough left for tomorrow - I volunteered to cook the following day! Now we have moved several hundred miles south it is actually getting dark for several hours, as we lay in bed reading you couldn't hear a road or any other signs of life except the occasional gun shot!