ADVENTURES IN OUR BACKYARD TAKE A HIKE The Best Walking & Hiking Trails in the State 25 FAT TIRE Biking on Kenai's Beaches 22 DAY TRIPS Heading South & East from Your Kenai Basecamp 66 2019 official guide to kenai KENAICHAMBER.ORG I VISITKENAI.COM TABLE OF CONTENTS WELCOME TO KENAI 4 LIVE LIKE ARTS & 31 A LOCAL 42 ENTERTAINMENT 42 A Day of Kenai Pickin' 43 Coffee WiFi 31 Live Music HISTORY & 43 Saturday Market CULTURE 8 44 Local Flavor 8 Village with a Past 45 Kenai Restaurants 10 Walking Tour of Kenai 46 Kenai Four Ways 12 Original People CALENDAR OF EVENTS 48 WILDLIFE 32 32 Watchable Wildlife 38 Birding Girdwood Sunrise Hope Turnagain MAPS 34 VISITOR Pass 34 Kenai Peninsula Map To SERVICESAnchorage RECREATION 36 City of Kenai map 50 16 Summit 50 Getting Here SewardHwy Lake 16 Local Fishing Hotspots Chugach Captain Cook ¡State Park 52 NationalDaytrips South & East 21 Hunting: Moose Pass Swanson Forest 53 RVing on the Kenai Make Kenai Your Basecamp River Nikiski ¡ Cooper Landing Swanson River Rd. River Swanson 54 Relocation 22 Captain Cook State Park Hwy Sterling Hidden Lake River Moose River Kenai Spur Sterling Kenai Lake 55 Kenai Senior Services 22 Fat Tire Biking River Cooper Hwy on Kenai's Beaches Skilak Lake Lake 56 Kenai Community LibrarySeward Hwy KENAI Kenai See KENAI Soldotna 24 Hiking Trails City Map 71 Helpful Information 28 Choose Your Park Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Seward Resurrection 30 Outdoor, Indoor, Outerspace Kasilof Cook Inlet DIRECTORY Bay Tustamena Lake 2019 OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE CITY OF KENAI is published annually by the Kenai Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Center. Harding Ice Field 57 KCCVC STAFF: Johna Beech - President/COO, Kim Stallings - VisitorClam Gulch Services Coordinator, Louanne Stanton - Visitor Services Manager, Chastity Swafford - Marketing & Sales Coordinator, Gloria Ungrue - Administrative Assistant. All photography is copyrighted by listed photographer or agent. Publication Design: Jenness Graphic Design Ninilchik River Ninilchik Creek Sterling Hwy Deep River Anchor Point Kachemak Bay Anchor Halibut Cove Homer ¡ Seldovia NIKISKI KENAI SOLDOTNA KASILOF STERLING COOPER LANDING HOMER SEWARD ANCHORAGE NIKISKI 0 16 27 35 37 75 105 122 173 KENAI 16 0 11 19 21 59 89 106 156 SOLDOTNA 27 11 0 18 10 48 78 95 145 KASILOF 35 19 18 0 28 66 70 112 163 STERLING 37 21 10 28 0 38 88 84 135 COOPER LANDING 75 59 48 66 38 0 147 46 97 HOMER 105 89 78 70 88 147 0 173 224 SEWARD 122 106 95 112 84 46 173 0 127 ANCHORAGE 173 156 145 163 135 97 224 127 0 MILEAGE CHART MILEAGE WELCOME TO THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKA IS A THRIVING COASTAL CITY of 7,100 residents situated at the mouth of the world-famous Kenai River and named a “Top 200 Town for Sportsmen” by Outdoor Life magazine. Kenai was first inhabited by the Dena’ina people 3,000 years ago and is still a destination today for its exceptional fishing, wildlife, and abundant natural resources. Once deemed the “Oil Capital of Alaska”, this small fishing village and oil boomtown has developed into a diverse community that celebrates its rich history in one of the most spectacular natural settings in America. Visit historic Old Town and take in the views from the bluff where you can see the Four Sleeping Giants across the Cook Inlet as well as the com- mercial drift fleet and personal use dip netters. Enjoy a walk on the beach, play a round of golf at our 18-hole municipal golf course, recreate in our over 350 acres of parks and open space, or view belugas from Cunningham Park. Discover the unique fishing, fat-tire biking, paddle boarding, and wildlife viewing that are all a part of our daily lives. Visit in winter to take in the snow scene, icefish, snow machine, figure skate, or play hockey under the northern lights. No matter the season, make Kenai your gateway to exploring the Kenai Peninsula! Photos @ 2018 by Koopman/istockphoto.com, Justin Wesselhoft, City of Kenai, Mike Haring/istockphoto.com, Natasha Ala WELCOME TO THE CITY OF kenai Your Alaska Adventure begins here! AspenHotelsAK.com Anchorage Juneau Kenai Soldotna Haines Sitka Homer PCHS 6 visitkenai.com / kenaichamber.org Located in the Heart of Soldotna, Alaska on the World Famous Kenai River! *Kenai Riverfront Suites [email protected] *Full kitchens, 2 bedrooms www.kenairiversuites.com *Jacuzzi Suite (907) 262-1992 *Private River access for Fishing *Open year round • Kenai Riverfront Cabins • Bank Fishing • Over 700 ft. of River Frontage 907-260-FISH (3474) [email protected] | www.kingsalmondeauxlodge.com Village with a Past... KENAI’S MOTTO, “Village with a past, City with a future,” reflects the link between the community’s long rich history and its opportunities for sustainable growth and development. People of the Flat Land The Dena’ina people lived in the region long before the first Russian explorers arrived in Alaska in 1741. While they do not measure their history in years, the Dena’ina consider they have lived in the area since time immemorial, a period that is beyond the reach of memory or record. When the first Russians arrived, there was a thriving Dena’ina Athabascan Indian Village on the high bluff overlooking Cook Inlet near the mouth of the Kenai River. At that time, about 1,500 Dena’ina lived in the Kenai River drainage with several hundred in the village of Shk’ituk’t on the bluff above the Kenai River mouth. The local Dena’ina people called themselves Kahtnuht’ana – “People of the Kenai River” (Kahtnu). The Russians, however, called them Kenaitze from the Dena’ina stem “ken,” which refers to the flat wave cut terrace Kenai is built on, and the Russian “-itze,” which means “people of.” Underwater People The Dena’ina called the Russians “Tahdna,” which means “underwater people,” from the image of their ships coming up Cook Inlet. When viewed from afar, it looked like the ship was emerging from underwater. 8Old Russianwww.visitkenai.com Chapel as photographed by Will Thompson in 1968 The Russians built Fort (Redoubt) St. of Kenai in 1952, was later converted to nearby Swanson River. The City of Kenai Nicholas at Kenai in 1791, the fifth Russian an Air Force base. During the Cold War, incorporated in 1960, and offshore oil was post in Alaska. The fort was an outpost it served as a communications and Russian discovered in Cook Inlet in 1965. for trading fish and furs. The log wall and surveillance base. Today’s economy reflects the importance blockhouses were built by the Russians as A new economy took root with Alaska’s of the fishing, oil and gas, visitor, and service part of Redoubt St. Nicholas. first major oil strike in 1957 at the industries. By the time British explorer Captain George Vancouver visited in 1794, about 40 PRE-1700’S: 1778: 1791: 1795: Russians occupied the outpost. The Russian The Dena’ina Athabascans English Captain James Cook First Settlement of Kenai Nikolaevsk Redoubt built on Orthodox religion took root, and Kenai’s trace a long history of tradi- sails up Kenai Bay (now by Russian fur traders. Ap- the Kenai Bluffs in present day oldest buildings are Orthodox-related: a log tional use for sustenance and Cook Inlet) in search of the proximately 300 Dena’ina Old Town Kenai. trade in the Kenai area. Northwest Passage. inhabitants reside in Kenai rectory (1886), the Holy Assumption of the Russian Orthodox Christianity is at this time. introduced to the Kenai area. Virgin Mary Orthodox Church (1895), and the nearby log shrine (1906). The United States established Fort 1797: 1838: 1848: Kenay in 1869, two years after the The Battle of Kenai between the A major smallpox epidemic Gold is first reported Dena’ina Athabascans and the devastates Kenai. Despite in Alaska by Russian Alaska Purchase. Most of the Russian Lebedev Company. vaccination efforts, about mining engineer Peter buildings were in disrepair by the time the It was the first defeat of Russian 50% of the Cook Inlet Doroshin at the Kenai American Army took over, and the post fur traders in Alaska. Dena’ina dies of smallpox. River. was abandoned in 1871. Commercial Fishing and the Discovery of Oil 1864: 1867: 1869: 1899: Father Nicholas The United States The U.S. military builds a Kenai’s first post office brings Commercial salmon canneries became a starts the first of America fort close to present site regular service to the area. significant economic factor in the late 1800s. school on the purchases Alaska of Fort Kenay- near the Mail delivery is via peninsula in for $7,200,000 from Russian Orthodox Church dogsled. The first cannery at Kenai, the Northern Kenai. Russia. in Old Town. Packing Company, was established in 1888. During the 1920s, commercial fishing and fish processing became important local 1934: 1947: 1956: 1957: 1959 & 1960: industries. Opportunities for homesteading The Indian Reorganization After World War II, Kenai saw its Oil is discovered at Swanson Alaska becomes in the 1940s led to further development. Act paved the way for Alaska growth in Kenai expand- first pavement River, which begins a period the 49th State, The first road connecting Anchorage and Natives to have a legal voice ed when homesteading – the Kenai of great economic growth and Kenai formally in the U.S. government. The was opened. Soldotna, Spur Highway. and population increase. The incorporates with a Kenai opened in 1951. The resulting access Kenaitze Indian Tribe I.R.A. has Sterling and Nikiski have Kenai gas field is discovered mayor/council form helped expand the community.