Alaska or Bust: Homer, Ak (Day 17)

Day 17 (July 28) Seward to Homer, Ak

This morning we woke up to a bright sun shining day, I’ve learned quickly that these days don’t happen all that frequently on the Kenai Peninsula. I had a hearty breakfast (thank you Tom) while watching the mountains and glaciers from my breakfast table. We packed up to head off to Homer. The trailer was parked up on a little hill so it was really tough to get it re-hitched to the truck. The same guy that helped us get it parked in the spot in the beginning helped us get it re-hitched. It worked well for him since his battery died and he needed a charge.

It was a gorgeous day so we stopped at Exit Glacier in the Kenai Fjords National Park. It is the only access road into the park. We kayaked in the park a couple of days ago but had to get there via water taxi. It was a short hike to the glacier, it’s a relatively small glacier in comparison to Root Glacier that we hiked to in Wrangell-St Elias NP earlier but there are many other glaciers that we could see, all beginning in the Harding Ice Field.

The drive to Homer was pretty mediocre in comparison to most of our other drives since we’ve been in Alaska. But today, there was not a single incident where I had to keep my eyes closed and use my imaginary brake while going down 9% grades with multiple S curves. We are at another campground overlooking the water; this time it is overlooking Kachemak Bay. The mountains across the bay are larger than those in Kenai Fjords across the water from our site in Seward, but there we were totally surrounded by mountains. Homer is built on the side of a hill, but the Homer Spit is where everyone hangs out, well the tourists that is… It is a tourist trap just like any other touristy area like Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg TN, Mackinaw Island, etc. There are all of the tee shirt shops, fudge stores, etc. But this is where all of the fishing charters, kayak charters, water taxis, etc are located.

Tomorrow, Tom is going out halibut fishing since Homer IS the halibut capital of the world. The limit is 2, but halibut can get as big as a barn door, seriously!! I hope he gets 2 but certainly not as big as a barn door. I cleared out the top shelf of the freezer that would be plenty!

I’m not certain what I’m going to do tomorrow, perhaps another kayak trip or I may take the water taxi over to Kachemak State Park and do some hiking. I can use all of the training I can get before we backpack Chilkoot (we start 2 weeks from today).

Saturday, we are flying over to Katmai NP to do bear viewing. I am so excited about this trip. It should be amazing!!!!

Kate