Southcentral Community: Cooper Landing
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After skirting the north end of Kenai Lake on the Sterling Highway, you enter scenic Cooper Landing at Mile 48.4. The community actually stretches along several miles of the highway. A full-service center, the community was named after Joseph Cooper, a miner who worked the area in the 1880s. There is a five-building national historic district that includes the post office and a handful of homesteader’s cabins. It is situated right on the banks of the river and with the towering mountains overhead makes for a very photogenic stop.
Cooper Landing is best know for red salmon fishing in the Russian River and as the starting point for raft trips down the Kenai River. A number of companies run raft trips ranging from gentle floats to Class III whitewater in the Kenai Canyon.
If you are an angler, Cooper Landing is a good place to be. But even if you have no intention of baiting a hook, you can still enjoy the salmon runs on the Russian River. The Russian River Campground, a few miles down the road, provides access to the river by a set of steep stairs where you can see sockeye spawn in early June of mid-July.
Details
Fishermen in Stream at Russian River Falls - near highway mile marker 52
Population: 344
Location: Cooper Landing is at the west end of Kenai Lake on a stretch of the Sterling Highway, 30 miles northwest of Seward in the Chugach Mountains.
Access: By road via the Sterling Highway, air taxi and floatplane.
Accommodations: Numerous lodges, cabins, bed and breakfasts, campgrounds, restaurants and all services.
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