The Kenai Peninsula’s largest city became known for oil, but is famous for the wealth of recreation found in the area — from scenic views, interesting sights and a lot of big salmon. All this has travelers departing the Sterling Highway and heading north 10 miles to Kenai, population 7,134. The city sits on a low rise overlooking the mouth of the Kenai River while on the west side of Cook Inlet is a majestic view of the Alaska Range; Mount Spurr, Mount Iliamna and Mount Redoubt, three active volcanoes that make for a dramatic backdrop.
The main reason most visitors arrive in Kenai is for the world-class salmon fishing in the lower Kenai River and at its mouth. Four of the five species of Pacific salmon; kings, reds (sockeye), silver (Coho) and pink spawn up the river and are caught by sport anglers, including the world-record king, a salmon that weighed more than 97 pounds.
This wealth of salmon is the reason Kenai is one of the oldest continuously inhabited European settlements in Alaska. The salmon attracted Dena'ina Athabascan tribes who had a permanent village of more than 1,000 when the first Russian fur traders arrived here in 1741. A half-century later the Russians established a fortified trading post, Fort St. Nicholas, their second permanent settlement in Alaska that included the first Russian Orthodox Church on mainland Alaska.
Modern Kenai dates back to the 1950s when the first dirt road from Anchorage was constructed and, more importantly, to 1957 when oil was discovered at Swanson River, 20 miles northeast of Kenai - the first major Alaska oil strike. Today the oil industry is concentrated north of the city, around Mile 19 of the Kenai Spur Hwy, where you’ll find Alaska’s largest concentration of oil infrastructure outside of Prudhoe Bay while out in Cook Inlet are 15 oil platforms pumping out 42,000 barrels a day. But there are few signs of oil production in Kenai itself and none along the Kenai River, often referred to as one of the greatest sport fishing rivers in the world.
Instead of oil rigs, visitors in Kenai search the waters offshore for beluga whales from the edge of the bluff at Beluga Whale Lookout. The observation area overlooks the mouth of the Kenai River and in late spring and early summer whitish belugas are often seen ride the incoming tides to feed on salmon. Just four blocks away is the Kenai Visitor and Cultural Center (907-283-1991), not just a source of free maps but a attraction itself with historical exhibits on the city's Russian heritage.