Exploring the Kenai Peninsula
Hi friends! The Kenai peninsula is a compact area in the southern coastal area of Alaska. This beautiful part of the state is surrounded by water, mountains and glaciers! We spent over a week exploring this diverse area. Here is a map of the area to help a bit with navigation!
Homer, Alaska – the Halibut Capital of the World
When I think of Homer, I immediately think of the infamous ‘Homer Spit’. The spit is a 5 mile strip of land that juts into the Kachemak Bay with beaches, shops and camping along one side and boat marinas on the opposite side. Mountains and glacier views surround the entire area. We camped in a beach-side spot and watched the sea lions and otters play in the bay with a backdrop of the snow capped mountain peaks.
It was fun to walk along the marina boardwalk to see people bring in their ‘catch of the day’. Fisher-people brought in giant halibut, salmon, and even an octopus from the bay. The marina waters host several species of marine life including giant sea stars and jellyfish!
Homer is a cute town with several galleries featuring local artists. If you find yourself in this charming town, then be sure to pick up a gallery guide and check out the local artwork. I splurged on some hand-painted yarn that was simply too beautiful to leave in the gallery!
Deep Creek is north of Homer on the Cook Inlet. Even if you haven’t heard of Deep Creek, you have probably seen pictures from this area of Alaska. Deep Creek is known for the salmon run (they come in from the ocean to Cook Inlet to Deep Creek for spawning). This makes the area very popular with fishing charters. At the end of each day, the charter operators clean the fish and leave the remains on the beach. As a result, there are bald eagles who live in this area and feed on the fish remains. We saw both mature and immature eagles during our time in this area – they were simply everywhere!
There are several trips outside of Homer that are on our ‘things to do next time’ list. Kachemak Bay State Park boasts having one of the most comprehensive backpacking trail systems in the state. One trail leads to the toe of Grewingk Glacier while another trail requires use of an aerial hand tram to cross a river! Halibut Cove is a quaint artist community. And finally, Seldovia is a famous and charming historic fishing village. All are a short boat ride from Homer and received rave reviews from several locals; we simply ran out of time to explore this area. We loved our time in Homer and will surely return one day!
Seward – Mile 0 of the original Iditarod Trail
While Homer sits on the western side of the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is on the eastern border. It’s a 3.5 hour drive from one town to the other, but they feel worlds apart. Homer is a [relatively] sleepy town filled with fisherman and galleries. Seward is generally busier and evidence of the historical significance of the town is everywhere!
Seward sits along Resurrection Bay, which is a deep water port that doesn’t freeze during the cold winter months. For that reason, the town was established as a transportation hub in the early 1900s. Gold miners and supplies arrived in Seward by boat and then moved inward via an extensive transportation system. The Iditarod Trail originated in Seward in 1908 as a way to deliver mail and supplies to villagers and miners using dog sled teams. Today the town of Seward serves as a cruise port with a fantastic Marine Center, small shops and restaurants, and tons of outdoor activities!
The entrance to Kenai Fjords National Park is just outside of the Seward city limits. We spent a day hiking to the Harding Ice Field (8.4 miles RT) and admiring Exit Glacier. The Harding Ice Field is over 700 square miles and spawns 40 different glaciers. The trail climbs 3,000 feet in elevation and from the summit, there is ice as far as the eye can see. It really is an amazing sight and worth the strenuous hike to the top. We also saw a bit of wildlife including a black bear with two cubs as well as a mountain goat!
Also during our time in Seward, we embarked on an 8.5 hour scenic cruise in Resurrection Bay to Northwestern Glacier. When we left the harbor, the atmosphere was overcast and foggy, but opened into bright blue sky when we reached the glacier. In addition to beautiful mountains and glaciers, we saw a plethora of wildlife on our trip. We spotted puffins, stellar sea lions, an orca hunting sea lions, breaching humpback whales, sea otters, harbor seals, and dall’s porpoise. We had a beautiful day on the water. If a trip to Seward is in your future, then a boat tour through Resurrection Bay should be on your ‘short list’ of things to do!
One highlight of our trip to both Homer and Seward were some new friends. We had dinner together one night and they shared their fresh caught salmon! The dinner was amazing and the company was even better. On our third day in Seward (when my legs were still burning from our hike to Harding Icefield), Mark and David hiked up Mount Marathon. From the top of the mountain, they both raved about the the views of Seward and Resurrection Bay. As an aside, for our adventure-loving friends, there is an annual race up and down Mount Marathon. It’s said to be the hardest 5K on the planet and the record race time is 41 minutes and 26 seconds. The guys took 2 hours to hike to the top to take a break for lunch!
Near Seward, in a town named Cooper Landing, is a popular spot to view grizzly bears. The Russian River (within the Chugach National Forest) has a salmon ladder to assist migrating fish over a waterfall. Local Alaskans told us that grizzly bears wait by the fish ladder and pluck out salmon during spawning season! We stopped here in late July and the salmon were in between runs (no bears!), but I am noting it here for any bear enthusiasts when planning Alaska. 😉
Turnagain Arm and the Bore Tide
A tidal bore (also called a bore tide) is a phenomenon where the tide comes in with a single wave and continues to move forward to fill a shallow, narrow channel. In the Turnagain Arm, the bore tide wave can be large enough for adventurous Alaskans to surf! We were lucky to experience a full moon that coincided with our time near the Turnagain Arm, which resulted in a noticeable bore tide wave. As with most things, the pictures don’t do it justice. It was a very cool phenomenon to witness in person!
There is really so much to explore in the Kenai Peninsula. Fishing, hiking, gold prospecting, watching wildlife, kayaking, scenic cruising, perusing art galleries … it’s all easily accessible in the Kenai Peninsula. Most cruise ships disembark in either Whittier or Seward and it’s worth the time to explore this area before returning to the Lower 48. We could spend more time here, but it’s time to keep moving! Next up is Katmai National Park!
Hope you had a wonderful summer and have grand adventures planned for this autumn!
Debbie & Mark