I made a quick stop at Tern Lake on the way to Coopers Landing. A moose was seen across the lake. An American Dipper was seen catching a sculpin in a stream coming out of the lake.
Turning off onto the Sterling Highway, I stopped at Coopers Landing Cliffs. Across the highway on the cliffs were mountain goats. Down the short trail is a view of the beautiful, turquoise water of Kenai Lake.
The next stop was hiking at Skilak Road. Bear mountain is a short but steep trail with great views of Skilake lake. There are camping areas and a cabin for rent there. Additionally, there is a roadside pulloff with a good view of the lakes for those who do not wish to hike. Black bears are common in this area and the next day I went back for another hike and did see a black bear with cubs.
The next activity was a bear tour out of soldotna with Natron Air. We landed on Silver Salmon beach to view brown bears. This was a very worthwhile tour. The scenery alone is worth viewing. The bears were seen eating clams and we were able to get very close to one of them. On the flight back, we flew over harbor seals, double glacier, and an area that was cleared of vegetation by a volcano.
Other activities around Soldotna include hiking, a river walk on boardwalks, and certain times of the year beluga can be seen. The activity I decided to do was Caribou watching along Marathon and Bridge Access roads. I did not have luck on Marathon road but I did see Caribou at the pull off just before the bridge on the Soldotna side. I also saw Moose on the other side of the river in the areas with more trees.