Activities Around Homer

Raven’s eye view of Kachemak Bay

Topo map. There is a nice aerial photo of the lower Kenai Peninsula, topographic maps of all Alaska, and higher resolution maps of the immediate area around Homer and across the bay in your apartment.

The Kulik River between Kulik Lake and Nonvianak Lake across Cook Inlet

Bears on the Kulik

Bears at Brooks Falls

A calm day off Gore Point on the southern Kenai Fjiords coast

Float plane trip to Twin Lakes in Lake Clark National Park

Lake trout

Homer has many attractions to entertain visitors with varying interests. Although there is more going on in the summer, winter provides good opportunities also. Our new modern library aimed at Grewink glacier is a welcome place to explore or sit around the fireplace with a good book. The Oceans and Islands Visitor Center offers exhibits and live bird viewing cams with trails leading down to the slough and Bishops Beach. The Pratt museum has outdoor and indoor exhibits that showcase local history. There is a fantastic network of cross country ski trails and a rope tow for downhill skiing and tube sledding at Olson Mountain. Trolling for Winter Kings has become increasingly popular.

In summer, Pier One on the spit offers local theater. The annual shorebird Festival occurs every spring and the Wooden Boat Festival happens in the fall.

Across the bay is the 400,000 acre Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park which is accessible by boat taxi for those who enjoy hiking among mountains, rivers, lakes, and glaciers. Seldovia and the artist community of Halibut Cove are also easily accessible by boat, ferry, or plane.

Although the Homer Harbor is primarily home to a local fishing fleet there are also many excellent charter operations for bird and sea creature viewing as well as Halibut and Salmon fishing.

Three photos of the Grewingk Glacier Valley

Plant identification hike led by local geologist, Ed Berg.

The scar on the mountain slope at the top of the picture is from a rock slide described here by Ed Berg: “MASSIVE LANDSLIDE-INDUCED FLOOD In October 1967 A.D., a large rockslide from the steep mountain slope above the terminus of Grewingk Glacier crashed onto the glacier terminus and into the terminal lake and initiated a massive flood of fault-shattered bedrock and lateral moraine debris (fig. 85B). The massive impact produced a gigantic flood wave that scoured bedrock and glacial drift up to ~60 m (~200 ft) above the southern lake shore and crashed against the 1914 A.D. moraine. Some of the flood waters reflected back into the lake basin, depositing a 10-m- (33-ft-) high gravel berm between the moraine and the lake shore. However, much of the surge overtopped the ~14-m- (~45-ft-) high Holocene moraines and scoured a 12-m- (39-ft-) deep, 250-m- (820-ft-) wide channel through the moraine belt, which was the major conduit for floodwaters headed for Kachemak Bay (fig. 85B). At a distance of 3.5 km (2.2 mi) beyond the outer end moraine, measurements of high-water limits indicate that the maximum depth of the surge was still ~6 m (~20 ft). Flood-related features on the braid fan include scour channels, uprooted alder clumps, large trees aligned parallel to surge flow with root masses toward the flood source, numerous scattered large boulders, and pits left by the melting of large ice chunks carried by the flood.”