Homer Area

July 9- 13, 2024

We had heard how scenic the Homer area was, and it didn't disappoint. It's definitely a fishing mecca, especially Halibut. Harold couldn't wait to get some fish and chips.

We had talked about flying over to Katmai or Lake Clark National Parks for bear viewing. However, with the cost and uncertain nature of the bear viewing, we hadn't made any plans. When we saw the bear cam at the Homer visitor center, we quickly changed our minds and started calling around. You never know. Sure enough, we stumbled onto a cancellation and quickly booked it. However, when we showed up early for the flight, Mary Jo at Bald Mountain Air informed us that the pilot had just declared the afternoon run a no-go due to high cross winds at the landing site. She worked with us to get another flight during our short stay here. We'll share that experience in the next blog entry. She also gave us some sightseeing tips for our days in Homer.

Thanks to her and the photos she shared, we opted to take a water taxi to Grewingk Glacier and hike to the glacial lake. The hike wasn't difficult for the most part, only the last stretch had us glad we were going down instead of up. We enjoyed the hike, going out of the way to ride the hand-operated tram, before lunching at the lake. The water taxi over and back was part of the experience. The whole day felt like one of those only-in-Alaska things.

Coming in for the day

Using a tractor to launch/bring in boats

Anchor Point, North America's most westerly highway point

River otter in the harbor

Water taxi arriving at trailhead

Tropical-like vegetation

Hand tram across the river

Working hard to get us to shore

Lunch spot

Grewingk Glacier

Where Are We Going Next?