Sterling

Sterling has restaurants, grocers, bars, lodging, gas and private campgrounds with hookups, laundry and showers.

You can buy furniture, second hand items, antiques, gifts, handmade articles and at one shop you can watch an artist shape scenes featuring tiny, lifelike Alaskan wildlife using antlers or horns as the carving material.

A firestation on Sterling Highway just west of the school is staffed by volunteers with a record of quick response time.

The settlement and post office was called Naptowne until October 1955 when the name was changed to Sterling.

Oil was discovered in 1957 in the Swanson River area and a road was built to the development from Sterling. The gravel road also opened up the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge (then called the Moose Range) to more convenient camping, picnicking, hunting, fishing and other activities. Sterling remains the gateway to the northern portion of the refuge.

The original Sterling school, a log building put up by volunteers in 1953 and known then as Naptowne territorial school, still stands next to the new, modern school. The log structure serves as a meeting place for the Sterling Community Club, Sterling Homemakers, Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts and other groups. The Homemakers sponsor an annual auction, dance in the fall with proceeds going toward upkeep and refurbishing.

What to see and do:

Fishing, camping, boating. Ask at the sporting goods shop for lists of hunting and fishing guides, float trips and fishing camps.

Boat and canoe rentals are available at Moose River. The mouth of the river is the terminus of the Swan Lake Canoe Route, which, in its entirety, connects 30 lakes in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge with forks of the Moose River. The 60 mile route can be traveled in less than one week: however, most canoers prefer to extend the trip to allow more time for fishing, camping and photography.

You can charter aircraft for sightseeing or for transportation to a remote fishing spot. Sterling doesn't have an airport but there are numerous landing strips.

Playground and ball diamonds are at the Sterling School.

Raft races: Ingenuity and endurance pay off in the annual Moose River raft race which begins a mile up the river and ends at the bridge. The race takes place the weekend after the Fourth of July.