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store. A shuttle service is also available. Drop your
boat in the water and Wildman’s will shuttle your
vehicle and trailer to your destination, where it will
be waiting for you. Gwin’s Lodge and Roadhouse has
cabins, a restaurant, tackle and souvenir shop and a
full-service bar. At the end of a long day on the river,
enjoy a cold beer while regaling your buddies with
stories about “the one that got away”. There are also
ice cream shops, gift shops, and restaurants that play
live music during the summer months.
Enjoy the best of Alaska when you visit Cooper
Landing and find out why they call it “the gem of the
Kenai Peninsula”.
Sterling
Location: Sterling Highway 1, between
mileposts 80 through 88, 10 miles east of
Soldotna. Population: 4700.

The Moose River is centrally located in Sterling,
a great birding area for migratory swans, sandhill
cranes and one of the exits of the Swan Lake canoe
Aerial view of the Russian River trail system. Sterling offers river access points to the
Kenai River at Bing’s Landing State Recreation Park,
Izzak Walton State Recreation Park and Morgan’s
Two showcase salmon streams converge at Cooper but has plenty of guides and information about the Landing State Recreation Park.
Landing. Readily accessible by road, these rivers communities on the Kenai Peninsula. The center is One of Sterling’s best-kept local secrets is the vast
provide anglers with some of Alaska’s finest yet very open mid May-mid October. In May, Cooper Landing Swan Lake canoe trail system and campgrounds. You
affordable sport fishing opportunities. The US Forest hosts a regatta on the Kenai River. Traveling seven can just paddle on the lakes or portage and loop all the
Service’s Russian River Campground, connects bank- river miles, teams compete in categories of drift boats, way through to the Moose River on a multi-day trip.
fishing anglers with the most productive sockeye which is a racing contest and rafts, which is a river Also located nearby is the Kenai National Wildlife
salmon fishery to be found. clean up competition. Refuge. Several businesses specialize in canoe trips
There are opportunities to float the river with Cooper Landing offers a variety of lodging (single or multi day trips) and rentals for this beautiful
several tour operators as well as hiking trails that options, including motels, bed and breakfasts, area.
wind through groves of aspens, spruce, and birch, lodges, apartments, and Airbnb cabins. An array of
passing by lakes and rivers rewarding visitors with businesses support the area, including Wildman’s,
spectacular summit views. which provides tasty, fresh food, including packed JCT. OF STERLING HWY 1
The Cooper Landing Visitor Center is unmanned lunches, also showers, laundromat and convenience & KENAI SPUR ROAD

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