Both highways skirt the turquoise waters of Kenai Lake. The silt-laden water recalls glaciers that once covered this part of Alaska.

Take the Seward Highway into Seward and dip your toes in the icy waters of Resurrection Bay. Take the Sterling Highway to its terminus Homer and your journey ends at Kachemak Bay.

Visitors to the Kenai Peninsula leave the state's heavily populated areas behind to experience the wonders of Alaska's wilderness. Watch for long-legged mama moose teaching spindly-legged calves the ways of the wild. Scan the craggy mountainsides for Dall sheep and mountain goats scaling the rocky heights. Stately swans skim across peninsula lakes. Bald eagles soar through the air above. Whales navigate the depths off shore.

Hope is the first community to visit when heading south on the peninsula. A 17-mile detour leads to this tiny community founded by gold seekers in the late 1800s. Today, the quiet settlement is home to few more than 100 people.

The Seward and Sterling highways separate 90 miles from Anchorage. Taking the Seward Highway another 37 miles leads to Seward, with its face to Resurrection Bay and its back to 4,063-foot Mount Marathon. Founded in 1903, it is named for William H. Seward, the United States secretary of state credited with the purchase of Alaska from Russia. In the 1940s, Seward was Alaska's "gateway." Today, it is the terminus of the Alaska Railroad and the arrival and departure point for visitors traveling by cruise ship. One of its premier attractions is the Alaska SeaLife Center.

As the Sterling Highway heads to Homer, Cooper Landing is the first community visited. Its 300 residents are settled where the Kenai River empties out of Kenai Lake. According to archaeologists, prehistoric people settled in this area thousands of years ago. In the 1800s, gold brought a wave of activity. Today, Cooper Landing is busy with visitor-related activities, including fishing, hiking and rafting.

Sterling and Soldotna follow, as drivers head south. Near Sterling, a web of lakes offers scenic camping and canoeing opportunities for outdoor recre-ationists. Soldotna is bisected by the Kenai River, home to king salmon of record-breaking size.

A 10-mile drive from Soldotna leads to Kenai. Situated at the mouth of the Kenai River, it was established by Grigor Konavalof, commander of the Russian ship St. George, in 1791. It is from the Kenaitze Indians that Kenai gets its name. The Kenai Visitors and Cultural Center offers information on the area and a schedule of informative programs.

Continue through Kenai to reach Captain Cook State Park. Camping, wildlife viewing, boating and beachcombing are some of the activities the area offers.

South of Soldotna, Kasilof bustles in the summer with fishing. In the winter, however, attention turns to racing sled dogs. The Tustumena Lodge is headquarters for the Tustumena 200 Sled Dog Race, a qualifying event for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Clam Gulch, eight miles beyond Kasilof, is known for excellent razor clam digging, as are the Ninilchik and Deep Creek areas, 12 more miles to the south. (For more details about Ninilchik, see related story, page 52.)

Anchor Point is the final community before reaching Homer. It offers excellent fishing and beautiful scenery. (For more details about Anchor Point, see related story, page 52.)

From there, it's a 15-mile drive to Homer, on the edge of Kachemak Bay. Before descending to sea level, take advantage of a pullout area at the top of the hill overlooking Homer and the bay.

You'll want to snap pictures of the view before you, complete with glacier-laced mountains, sparkling blue water and distant volcanoes.