North to Alaska 2010

Ninilchik to Homer, AK

Heading further south along the Sterling Highway, it took us 2 hours to drive 37.8 miles. As you can tell we are not into making a long day of it!

We passed through Anchor Point - population 1,814. Anchor Point was originally named "Laida" by Captain James Cook in the summer of 1778, when the Resolution and Discovery sailed into Cook Inlet looking for the Northwest Passage. It was later renamed Anchor Point by early homesteaders to commemorate the loss of an anchor off the point by Captain Cook. This area is noted for its excellent seasonal king and silver salmon, steelhead and rainbow fishing opportunities. This is also an area where they use tractors to launch the boats. The road that goes into Anchor Point is the most westerly road that you can drive on in North America - as the sign here says.

There is another Russian village - Nikolaevsk - population 297 - just 9 miles east of Anchor Point. This is a settlement of "Russian Old Believers" who arrived in the United States after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. The community included Russian Orthodox, Russian Old Believers (Old Right Believers) and some non-Russians, living in 3 distinct settlements. The Old Believers in this area lead a family-oriented, self-sufficient life-style. They use modern utilities, and food sources are from gardening, small livestock, fishing and hunting. Families are typically very large - 8 to 12 children. Traditional clothing is worn, Russian is the first language and the church dictates that males do not shave. Some of the houses were very ornate - Victorian in style - but most of them were small, and not very well taken care of. The exception were the farms we saw - they seemed to be neat and clean. Again a very interesting stop. The church wasn't open and the gate to the yard was closed so we only took pictures.



We stopped at the Kachemak Bay rest area on a bluff overlooking the bay. Beautiful! Locals often say "Homer is where the land ends and the sea begins" and this viewpoint explains this saying. There are expansive views of the Homer Spit and the highway as it descends Homer Hill. Once in Homer we passed several camping areas along the water but we wanted to find a place on the Spit. This is a huge sand bar that extends out into the Kachemak Bay by 4.4 miles. As we were driving along we spotted an immature Eagle sitting on buoy marker looking for dinner - a wonderful sight!

Homer has a population of 5,504 and was established on the north shore of Kachemak Bay at Homer Spit in 1895. Kachemak, the Russian name for the bay, means "high cliffs on the water." Another interpretation of the name suggests it means"smoky bay" and is derived from the smoke which once rose from the smoldering coal seams jutting from the clay bluffs of the upper north shore of Kachemak Bay and the cliffs near Anchor Point. In the early days many of the exposed coal seams were slowly burning from causes unknown. Today the erosion of these bluffs drops huge fragments of lignite and bituminous coal on the beaches, creating a plentiful supply of winter fuel for the residents. There are an estimated 400,000,000 tons of coal deposit in the immediate vicinity of Homer.

Jutting out for 4.4 miles from the Homer shore is the Homer Spit, a long, narrow bar of gravel. The road along the backbone of the Spit is part of the Sterling Highway, which is the main road through Homer. The Spit has had quite a history and it continues to be a center of activity for the town. In 1964, after the earthquake, the Spit sank 4 to 6 feet requiring several buildings to be moved to higher ground. Today Homer is the site of a major dock facility for boat loading, unloading and servicing and is a deep-water dock that can accommodate 340-foot vessels and 30 foot drafts, making it accessible to cruise and cargo ships.

The local part of Homer is not on the Spit - it is before the Spit begins. The Spit consists of mostly tourist places - shops and restaurants - and the fishing and boating activities. We camped on the Spit and enjoyed the view as it was looking westward across the bay at the Cook Inlet and the many volcanoes that line the inlet.

We didn't do much while we were there except do a lot of looking around and relaxing. We plan on coming back to Homer in a couple of weeks when our son Jason comes to visit - then we will do some of the more touristy things.

North to Alaska 2010

Soldotna to Homer and back again!

Destination today is towards Homer, AK/. This is south of Soldotna by about 85 miles. First stop is Ninilchik - population 778. On Memorial Day weekend, Ninilchik is referred to as the third biggest city in Alaska as thousands of Alaskans arrive for the fishing. The area is well-known for saltwater king salmon fishing and record halibut fishing. In fact, they have a fishing tournament that continues for 3 months - the rules say you have to register for $10 then if you catch the biggest fish - I believe it is for Halibut only - you will win the prize. There have been two people in the past two seasons that have brought in the biggest catch and weren't registered. Prize money is usually over $100,000. Now why wouldn't you spend $10 on a chance that big??

We stayed at Deep Creek State Recreation Area which is right on the beach. You can watch the commercial fishing boats go out from the lagoon behind the campground at high tide, and you can watch the private smaller boats launch from the beach. Interesting way to do this - they use specially designed tractors to take the boat and trailer into the surf and launch them from there. When the fishing boats start coming back into the beach, they wave a big sign with the number of their trailer on it, the tractor goes and hooks up to it, takes it down to the beach, backs into the water - mind you the tractor is in 2 to 3 foot water - and the boat drives up on the trailer. They don't even appear to slow down as they are approaching the trailer. It was interesting to watch them.

We checked out Ninilchik Village which is at the mouth of the Ninilchik River. It was settled at the turn of the 19th century and is the "old" village. The village has several old dovetailed log buildings. There is a trail that leads up to the green and white Russian Orthodox Church on the hill but we chose to drive in the road off the highway as the trail was steep and it was drizzling out. When we got to the church, there was no one around so we explored the cemetery for awhile and then decided to move on. As we were leaving, the priest came in so we got out of the truck and headed for the church again. There was a native couple that also came in right behind the priest and they were all inside by the time we got to the church. The priest opened the door and invited us inside this quaint little church. The church had the appearance of some of the Greek churches we have been in and we thought it looked like it was from the Byzantine era with all of the gold and symbolic features. The sanctuary is one room without any chairs. Ken said that "this is where the members sit" and Father Michael said "this is where they stand". There was a door at the very back of the sanctuary and we were told that is where communion is prepared - no one but the priest is allowed back there. As we left, Father Michael suggested I take a picture of him and Ken together - so I did. Quite an interesting visit.

One other note of interest about Ninilchik is they host the Kenai Peninsul Fair the third weekend in August and is dubbed the "biggest little fair in Alaska". It features the Peninsula Rodeo, a parade, horse show, livestock competition, and exhibits of all types.

Tomorrow we will finish heading down to Homer to stay a couple of days before heading back to Soldotna.

Tomorrow we will head to Homer to spend a couple of days before going back to Soldotna.