Introduction:
What? : Homer is a
small touristic town located in the ocean opening of Kachemak Bay at the end of
Kenai Peninsula. The town is known for its Homer Spit, a 4-mile-long land
narrow strip getting into the bay, outdoor adventures and fishing activities.
Where? : The town of
Homer is located at the south end of hwy 1, 220 miles south of Anchorage
(around 5 hr drive, depending on road conditions).
Google Map Link
My thoughts: I really like our
stay at Homer. Although it is located half a day drive south from Seward area on
hwy 1, the visit there is worth it. There are interesting things to see in
Homer, along the spit and at Kachemak Bay State Park (need a boat Taxi).
Links to the other Alaska blogs:
Alaska - Overview, Visit Planning and TipsRV Park: We stayed 2
nights at Heritage RV Park (made a reservation in advance although we had to
delay it by one-night at last minute, road blocked).
I highly
recommend staying in this place, prime oceanfront location, walking distance
from restaurants, shops, pub and the harbor (water Taxi) so you do not need to
move your RV when doing day trip across the bay.
https://alaskanheritagervpark.com/
The visit:
We stayed for 2
nights at Homer, the town and the surrounding have a lot to offer.
The town is
known as the "Halibut Fishing Capital of the World" or by the nicknamed
"the end of the road".
If you are a
fishing enthusiast the is the place to be, fishing from the shore or take a fishing
boat tour.
Overlock viewing point: when you are
approaching Homer from the north on hwy 1 you will find on your right the Homer
Overlook point. Excellent viewing point overlooking the ocean to the north and
Homer Spit on the left side.
Homer Spit:
It is 4.5 miles
of narrow land penetrating into Kachemak Bay, the mountains of the Kenai chain on
the other side of the bay stand before you and the waters of the bay surrounding
you.
At the end of
the Homer Spit you can find many shops, art galleries, seafood restaurants as
well as the main harbor for fishing and tourist boats.
Visit the Salty
Dawg Saloon: When people visit the historic Salty Dawg Saloon, they grab a dollar
bill, write a message on it, and tack it up on the wall among the thousands of
other dollar bills.
The Homer tides
are usually remarkable, during low tide you can explore and discover all sorts
of marine life at the exposed beaches. The Homer beaches are a excellent place
for stretching your legs with long afternoon walk.
There is a
paved bike/walking trail along the side of the road. Midway in the spit you can
find a large tide marshland and few small harbors, you can also visit a large Fishing
Hole near the RV park.
Wild bald eagles can usually be seen here, flying overhead or walking on the beaches, typically fed of dead fishes they manage to find on the shores or at nearby fishing boats.
Kachemak Bay State Park:
The first
Alaska state park cover 400,000 acres of mountains, glaciers, forests and ocean
shorelines and is located on the other side of the Kachemak Bay.
The park's has outstanding
scenery and wilderness experience, Park visitors will find opportunities for
fishing, boating, kayaking, hiking, camping and other outdoor activities.
Kachemak Bay is
an important marine life habitat area, supporting many species of marine life.
Visitors frequently observe sea otters, seals and whales. On land, you can see
large mammals include moose, black bear, mountain goats, coyotes and wolves.
Boat Taxi service:
Except flying,
the only other way and the most popular one, to reach the park is by “boat taxi”.
There are many companies that provides water taxi services from the main harbor.
We use the
water Taxi service of ColdwaterAK
family-owned company with several boats and where pleased from their service.
https://coldwaterak.com/
Before making
the taxi reservation you need to decide what you want to do at Kachemak Bay park.
Once you chose your hike you need to decide your departure time (usually it
take ~30 min to cross the bay) and destination and set the pickup location and
time (in our case dropping and pickup were not at the same location).
The small taxi boat
crosses the large bay open water so it may have waves and can probably be ruff,
for us the ride conditions were good.
Our hike: Glacier Lake Trail
This is
all-family hike that will take you to a nice small lake at the end of the
glacier. This hike can easily be accomplished in few hours visit so it is
relatively popular trail destination.
Distance (total
of 4.2 miles): 3.2 miles one way to Grewingk Glacier Lake from Glacier Spit
Trailhead and from there additional one-mile hiking Saddle Trail will take you
to the pickup point at Halibut Cove lagoon.
We planned for
around 4 hr hiking, this will give us plenty of time for the hike and allow us to
have long stops for lunch and exploring the surrounding.
Our starting
point was at Glacier Spit Trailhead, the boat will drop you on the TH. After
registration you will hike into the forest section of the trail, later the landscape
transform to be more open retrieving glacier gravel land with open vegetation.
At some point after
walking for 2.5 miles you will reach trail junction, turn left into the trail
heading to the lake, this trail will take you to the lake open beach.
From the lake
shore you can enjoy the views of the glacier on the far side of the lake and
its surrounding mountain peaks.
When we visit
the lake during June there were many bluish icebergs floating near the beach, this
adds to the overall beauty of this place.
After enjoying our
lunch near the lake and exploring the beaches in both sides, head back the short
trail that took you to the lake and turn left. The Saddle Trail will climb the
moderate hill and will drop down on the other side, after short hike it will take
you to the small bay, this was our pickup location.
4 hr is more
than enough time for this hike so we took it easy and just enjoy the warm
weather day, if it is cold rainy day it is less fun to be at the lake or wait in
the rain for the boat to pick you up.
http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/aspunits/kenai/kachemakbaysp.htm
http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/brochures/kachemakbaybrochure.pdf
http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/maps/KachemakBaySPMap2016.pdf
Additional thing to do in Homer:
- Many
additional hiking options including overnight back camping at Kachemak Bay
State Park
- Alaska
Islands and Ocean Visitor Center
- Boat fishing
trip
- Whale-Watching
Tours (during the months of July and August)
- Airplane trip
to bear watching at Katmai National Park or Lake Clark National Preserve.
Pictures:
Nice informational blog. Visit Moshe Strugano
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