Alaska’s allure lies in its untamed wilderness and stunning landscapes, offering adventures that leave lasting impressions. Our most recent journey combined the charm of the Homer Spit, the thrill of a bear tour in Katmai National Park, the meandering hike to a blue, ice-filled lake that’s glacier fed, and friends to share it with.
The Homer Spit, a narrow 4.5-mile long strip of land jutting into Kachemak Bay serves as a vibrant hub for outdoor enthusiasts and curious travelers. We were immediately smitten with its picturesque views of snow-capped mountains and the serene waters of the bay.
We grabbed a camping spot with a beach view and hopped on our bikes to check in with our tour group for directions on a bear tour we’d scheduled as far back as January of this year.
We woke to low clouds and rain. The call from the tour group to say that the weather wasn’t cooperating with our small plane flight from Homer to Katmai National Park was not a surprise. They were hoping the clouds would lift so asked to come to airport at 9am instead of 7am. We went at 9am, only to be told that they’d way two more hours to see if they could get the planes out that day or not. Sadly, the tour was cancelled. We were supposed to end up at Brooks Falls. You may never heard of Brooks Falls but if you like wildlife, you’ve probably seen plenty of photographs of it with bears standing in the water catching salmon as the fish attempt their treacherous upstream journey.
Due its popularity, the tour was sold out and but they were able to book us on a different bear tour to see coastal brown bears that would happen a week from our original tour date. Luckily, living full time in an RV provides a lot of travel flexibility and with rainy weather expected all week until the date of this next tour we decided just to hunker down in Homer.
My step-sister from Soldotna (link to blog post here), mentioned that one of her favorite things to do in Homer is to take a water taxi to the Grewingk Glacier and hike the well-marked trail towards it, so we did. This a fantastic day trip from Homer. The water taxi was not that expensive and part of the fun. Typically the water taxi drops off at one dock on the island and hikers make the half circle loop, past the glacier and its wintery lake to the other dock, but rainy weather was creating awkward tides, so the day we went, the taxi could only use one docking location. Our hike would have to be an out and back, instead, but it all worked out. From the shore, we climbed straight up a few dozen wooden stairs to the lush green lined trail. As we neared the glacier there was a slight drop in temperature from the breeze kissing the top of the icy lake. Large, deep-blue chunks of ice floated along the lake’s surface and it felt like we’d been transported into the scene from a fantasy book. The vibrant blue hues of the glacier and its ice created by it excessive weight that squeeze out every ounce of air, never get old.
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Meanwhile, my step-sister Tara, with family and dog in tow, spent all day getting her trailer out of storage and loading it up for the trip from Soldotna to Homer to spend extra time with us over the week while we waited for another shot at the bear tour.
It was so fun to spend more time with them. We strolled the spit’s charming boutiques and ate Fin’s pizza toasting each other with IPA and rootbeer. We tasted a few wines and bought several bottles at the Bear Creek Winery. Some of my favorite moments cycling over from our campsite to theirs for dinners around the campfire followed by tales of days gone by. We walked our dogs along the beach. We threw the ball for Banjo into the water. We tried a taco restaurant Tara and Gary had never been to and an ice cream shop and bagel shop they frequent. We spent our last night at the Salty Dawg Saloon, a rustic bar with a rich history and a collection of dollar bills pinned to every available surface, where not only did Tara immediately make new friends, but she ran into someone she’d attend high school with, who may or may not have had a crush on her.
Despite the daily drizzle and sometimes heavier rains, we had a low-key, wonderful week!
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Tara, Gary, Addy and Banjo made a wet and waiting week into a memorable one instead. After our bear tour (which deserves its own blog post), we’d get one more day and evening with them back in Soldotna where their son, Jared, made a special grilled salmon dinner for us and took us to the river so we could watch him fish for more. They sent us off the following morning with more food than we had room for and more smiles on our faces!
Homer is a wonderful town with so many things to see and do. We were lucky to have locals with us and, more than that, to have friends there to share this pretty part of the world.
Next post? We’ll tell you about our bear tour…which was epic!
