Homer Spit, Alaska, United States
Smell the sea – feel the breeze – hear
the ocean – be at ease
Welcome to the end of the road: Homer
Our first “view” or not on Homer was
from the Viewpoint – we should see vulcanoes, mountains, the spit … I mean the
fireweed is a beautiful flower đŸ˜Š. Our next stop was the library our backup
plan for a possible overnight staying.
The nice ladies in the Visitor info
told Gine, after she asked what happened to beach combing and sun tanning on
the spit: that we are in Alaska!!! And there is no Suntanning in Alaska. Also
we discovered there is no cheap way to see the bears and we decided 1000 US$
per person is a bit steep for us – as this could be a whole vacation by itself.
Wildlife rescue Homer
From here we wanted to go to the
Visitor info and found first the Wildlife rescue Visitor info – as it was free
we went inside and checked it out, but were not too interested in it so we quickly
read on what is going on
- We did learn that in the old days the locals were climbing up the cliffs to collect eggs, or that with the skins of 40 puffins sewed together they could make a parka
- We saw a raincoat made from seal intestines stitched together with grass, seal fur was used to make shoes
- That by 1800 the fur traders harvested around 600.000 sea otters on the south east coast and by 1899 they were close to extinct here (they got hunted because they have the densest fur of all animals with 650.000 hairs per square inch and the pelts are warm, plush and yes highly priced: when the Russians went back in 1742 they discovered 1 pelt in the Chinese market was worth three times their yearly pay) – yes Alaska was the heart of the Russian fur trade
- Once the otters got scarce – The Russians brought in the foxes for a new “crash crop of fur” – it thrived once the US took over: foxes were introduced to 455 islands to improve the “farming”: but they eat birds – by 1811 nearly all the Puffins and Comorant were gone on islands with foxes. They started a refugee in 1913 but it took them another 30 years to figure out that you can’t protect the foxes and the birds at the same time
- The same happened first they hunted whales in 1846 over 300 whaling ships entered the Bering strait. Once there were not many left, they went after the walruses from 1860-85 over 300.000 of them got killed – they then introduced new animals like cattle but this interrupts the local native plants
- During the Aleutian war the US army drained an entire wetland to built airfields destroying habitat for the animals
The town at the end of the road: Homer
- Discover Land’s Ending – it is just the beginning to your adventure
- The Homer Spit is the 2nd longest sandbar in the world: it got formed by terminal glacial moraine
- It is at the Kachemak Bay – you can only reach the park by air or boat
- It is named for Homer Pennock he was a gold miner and a con man and established the first development here on the spit in 1896 (by the way they never panned gold here)
- Coal was discovered in the 1890s: the town, the dock and coal mine was built – they mined until WWII
- In the 1964 earthquake it was hit hard, the spit dropped 6 ft and levelled most buildings
- Homer harbour is home to over 1500 boats in the summer
- Fishing is the economic engine here – you want to learn about the different kind of fishing boats – you are here in the right spot
A walk at Bishops Beach
Next stop for coffee was the Bishops
beach and here we walked along the beach, I said to Paul it feels like walking
on the beach at home in January – except the grasses they have here are
different.
Discovering Homer Spit
Time to head out to the famous spit:
here are the super pricy campgrounds and as we head out we discover some cute
shops on stilts, we stop and check them out and yes in Alaska it is never to
cold for ice cream – only we had coffee a few minutes ago – so not today. A bit
further down we found more shops, so we stop and check them a bit out.
Free Parking at the Spit
And then we discover the very best
sign: you can Park (but not camp) on the Parking lots here, so Paul goes and
gets’ the truck so we have a spot right along the harbour. That is cool – and
it is for free!! As we start along the boardwalk we see some blue in the sky
and a few minutes later we are in the sunshine – wow is that every cool. It is
a lot of fun to walk along the harbour – as we cross the road for a way back we
discover a even better parking lot: right at the water and with the sunshine it
is super nice, Gine gets the truck and we set up for the most perfect camping
spot – upps no we are parking.
Evening Sunshine on the Spit
We sit outside in the beautiful
sunshine – and see all the mountains and glaciers – where before we saw
nothing, it was super cool. Only downside it is a bit windy. And no we are not
real Alaskan people we enjoy it once it gets to cold from the inside. Here they
also have super cool stones: nearly perfectly round and flat – I would love to
bring a lot of them home – only Paul is not so eager to fill up the truck.
Gine then went for a short walk
towards the seafarers Memorial dedicated to all the once who died here at see
and then to the end of the road park, for more amazing views on the mountains.
What was super cool were all the gulls at the ferry station – they were also
super super noisy and fun to watch.
Nearly sunset at low tide
As the tide goes out, sandbacks emerge
– Gine went for a late evening stroll yes it is already 10.30 pm and the sun is
still up. You can get wet feet and you need a jacket, but the views are amazing
and it is super cool to see the sun setting. But the walk is not too long as my
feet get cold – Paul already went to bed to keep it warm.
A morning walk on the sand banks
We woke up and there is sunshine!!
Perfect – looks like we will have a nice day (joke!! The weather can change
within minutes we discovered). We could sit outside for coffee but not for too
long as the clouds came – what a shame. Gine went down to the water: yes it is
a walk down -the tide can fluctuate here quite a bit, so it goes around 24 ft
up and down. IT was super nice to walk out to the sandbank and check out the
views on the mountains.
The truck is not dirty anymore
Ok in the meantime the sun went away
and there went our relax on the beach day. We decided to head to town and Paul
got his favourite hobby: we go to the car wash and clean the truck. Paul is
super funny he said here you brush down and then he sprays the water!! Haha
like it is not already cold and wet enough.. so Paul needs to clean it all
himself.
At the end of the road and back
We decided to head to the end of the
road – find parking and see there what do the people do: they are fishing!! We
are not into fishing and it is getting colder and cooler so what are our
options: We said let’s head out…. And
that is what we did: again we stop at the Welcome to Holmer sign and viewpoint
and see there today we can see the Spit!!!
On the way out we had to quick stop
because at one point there were some super old boats and it looked like one of
those got converted into a house.
2025-05-22