Best Things To Do In Homer

Enjoy remote Alas­ka at its best. Go with this small, fam­i­ly-owned com­pa­ny in Homer for a mag­i­cal kayak­ing expe­ri­ence, with the option to add on a gor­geous hike to an ice­berg stud­ded glac­i­er lake! Trips range from half-day to full-day, and are great for families.

Vis­i­tors (and/​or locals) can trav­el aboard the Homer Trol­ley to vis­it high­lights in Old Town, down­town and the Spit from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. while enjoy­ing nar­ra­tive by their Homer sour­dough dri­ver, Berk­ly Davis. The tours start this Fri­day (June 14) and run through the sum­mer. Pas­sen­gers can hop off and on as many times as they wish to vis­it the Pratt Muse­um, down­town art gal­leries and restau­rants, Old Town (more art and fine din­ing and…  ...more

Inter­est­ed in learn­ing how to smoke fish, make rugs, or carve spoons — from a teacher who’s a local Alaskan? At the Homer Folk School, those locals pass along their unique skills, which come from a vari­ety of tra­di­tions. Top­ics vary, but every class allows trav­el­ers and locals to get a deep­er under­stand­ing of Alaska. 

St. Augustine’s Kayak and Tours base their guid­ed sea-kayak­ing trips in the pro­tect­ed waters of Peter­son Bay, just 15 min­utes from Homer by water taxi. Well-versed in pad­dling instruc­tion and nat­ur­al his­to­ry, these guides love what they do and live the adven­tures that they run. The area itself offers diverse kayak­ing for both begin­ners and expe­ri­enced pad­dlers, from open water to nar­row chan­nels, from qui­et bays to a wild seabird…  ...more

Besides rank­ing as one of Alaska’s prime sea kayak­ing des­ti­na­tions, the east side of Kachemak Bay is also one of its most acces­si­ble. You won’t need to invest in a float­plane or boat char­ter to reach the wildlife, shel­tered waters, or seclud­ed areas across the bay. Take a short water-taxi ride (25−30 min­utes) from Homer with True North Kayak Adven­tures to their base on the phe­nom­e­nal Yukon Island. Famed for its abun­dant marine wildlife and…  ...more

A fam­i­ly-run oper­a­tion since 2005, Ashore offers a few basic tours — wildlife and bird view­ing — but also takes trav­el­ers to the camp­ing sites, cab­ins and activ­i­ties all around Kachemak State Park. The 24-foot Black­fish seats up to six. The water-taxi cap­tain is the com­pa­ny’s own­er, Dave Lyon, who gives an authen­tic insid­er’s tour: Lyon has more than 20 years’ pro­fes­sion­al expe­ri­ence on local waters. Feel­ing adven­tur­ous? Rent a stand-up paddle  ...more

Half-Day Fish­ing Char­ters Embark on a half day fish­ing char­ter with Rain­bow Tours and try your luck reel­ing in one of Kachemak Bay’s world famous Hal­ibut. Rain­bow Tours has been in busi­ness since 1982, and expe­ri­enced guides will help you reel in your catch. While this is a fish­ing char­ter, it is not uncom­mon to see wildlife while you are out on the water. Sel­dovia Wildlife Tour This is a 7 hour nar­rat­ed tour begins in Homer and…  ...more

Let the Har­ness fam­i­ly of Sea­side Adven­ture Eco Tours take you on a sea kayak­ing adven­ture through the won­ders of beau­ti­ful Lit­tle Tut­ka Bay. Sea­side will turn the bay into an inter­ac­tive class­room, cov­er­ing every­thing from archae­ol­o­gy and geol­o­gy to cul­tur­al and nat­ur­al his­to­ry on your full-day pad­dle. These long-time Alaskans share where secret trea­sures lie, what it’s like to live on the bay, and how to make a meal from wild ingredients.…  ...more

When you go on a bear-view­ing tour out in the wilds of Alas­ka it’s not unrea­son­able to want one thing: to see more bears than oth­er peo­ple. This small oper­a­tor, based out of Homer, prides itself on being just that — small — so that you can get both a pri­vate char­ter expe­ri­ence and an inti­mate look at Alaska’s most majes­tic and often enter­tain­ing crea­tures. With a max­i­mum of just four peo­ple per tour, these full-day trips take you to see the bears  ...more

Explore one of the most scenic pock­ets of Kachemak Bay with a guide that helps you see it like a local. The adven­ture starts in Homer with a the 20 minute-long ride across Kachemak Bay. You’ll land at Glac­i­er Spit and begin the beau­ti­ful walk to a glacial lake stud­ded with icebergs.

Hike 2 miles along the Chi­na Poot Lake Trail. The Moose Val­ley trail is one of the more unique trails in the park. It is one of the best hikes in the park because it can be com­bined with oth­er trails to make a very big loop. The hike is full of flow­ers, decid­u­ous trees, stands of cot­ton­woods and alpine lakes. 

Note: To get to the sum­mit you most get to the Sum­mit Junc­tion, and con­tin­ue the final .3 miles from there. The trail begins .5 miles beyond Chi­na Poot Lake. The ele­va­tion gain tells it all — 1632 feet in just over a mile! This trail does­n’t mess around. It is dif­fi­cult but can be fun. Right from the trail junc­tion, the trail will climb straight up, with no tra­vers­ing or switch­backs. The trail climbs over exposed tree roots, sev­er­al slick…  ...more

Less than one mile through the woods, this is an easy, in-town hike.

Access: Tut­ka Bay There are two trail­heads for Grace Ridge. One is at the north­ern end of Tut­ka Bay at Kayak Beach. The sec­ond is locat­ed in the south­ern end of the bay about two thirds of the way down on the north shore. Some folks nev­er hike the entire length of the trail, but rather hike from Kayak beach to the sum­mit of Grace ridge, and back to the beach. This is a wor­thy hike, but if you can hike from north to south com­plete­ly along…  ...more

For a longer day hike, add this pop­u­lar route to the Glac­i­er Lake Trail loop. You’ll pick up the trail head­ing south down the Sad­dle Trail, then climb a steep ridge above tree-line to alpine tun­dra, with great views of Kachemak Bay, Grew­ingk Glac­i­er, and the glacial val­ley. In August, you’ll find ripe blue­ber­ries. Retrace your steps and con­tin­ue down the Sad­dle Trail to the Hal­ibut Cove pick­up. It is 5 miles out and back, plus Glac­i­er Lake…  ...more

This trail winds along Hal­ibut Cove and pass­es though to Hal­ibut Creek delta, a wet bog­gy sec­tion. The riv­er can be ford­ed at low tide but may be dif­fi­cult to cross at oth­er times. The trail con­tin­ues on to lead you to Chi­na Poot Lake Trail, should you choose to go on. 

Going north from the Humpy Creek Trail­head, the trail will skirt along the edge of the high tide line through the grass. Fol­low the orange trail mark­ers along the beach until the trail enters into the woods. BEWARE: The trail sec­tion along the beach may be impass­able at times when the tide exceeds 17 or 18 feet. As the trail climbs into the woods it is stren­u­ous at times, but you are reward­ed with views back down into Humpy Creek drainage…  ...more

This trail will take you 7.5 miles to Cari­bou Lake and is good for bik­ing, hik­ing, ATV’s, and win­ter skiing.

The trail­head is locat­ed ³⁄₄ miles east of the Sky­line Dri­ve inter­sec­tion. The trail fol­lows Cross­man Ridge Rd before going down to cross bridge creek. From here it climbs up to Dia­mond Ridge Road where there’s anoth­er trail­head. You can also access the Home­st­ed Trail from the Rogers Loop Rd Trailhead. 

This easy trail winds along the banks of three lakes. There is a camp­ing area on the side of the trail. The trail climbs a sad­dle and drops down into the val­ley. It can be dan­ger­ous to cross the rivers, as they are glac­i­er-fed and you can­not see the bot­tom. The rivers are low­er dur­ing the begin­ning of the year, but they are also colder.

The Ray Clapp Trail is a nice short hike in Homer. It is locat­ed approx­i­mate­ly 1 mile out East End Road in the Stream Hill Park Sub­di­vi­sion. You can park your car or bicy­cle at the trail head which is marked with a lit­tle foot­bridge. It winds through the edge of an estate and is filled with love­ly mead­ows of wild­flow­ers along with beau­ti­ful birch and cot­ton­wood trees. 

This trail is a con­nec­tor between Pio­neer Ave and the Homer Bypass. It winds through the woods in town and a spur trail leads to the Homer Pub­lic Library.

This pop­u­lar trail begins at Kayak Beach Camp­site, acces­si­ble by water taxi, between Tut­ka Bay and Sadie Cove. Head up through spruce and alders, and stop at the alpine knob at 1,745 feet for great pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties of Eldred Pas­sage, Sadie Peak, and Cook Inlet vol­ca­noes. Watch for moun­tain goats, black bears, and gold­en and bald eagles. 

Access: Get to the trail from Humpy Creek or the Grew­ingk Glac­i­er Trail. Descrip­tion of this trail is from access via Humpy Creek North Trail. Trail begins at 650 via the Humpy Creek North Trail. The trail gains ele­va­tion quick­ly for close to 2 miles and will even­tu­al­ly leave the dead and down for­est into alder fields. At this point you start to get great views north and south of Kachemak Bay. You will see the Homer Spit in all its glo­ry. At…  ...more

The trail­head is in Hal­ibut Cove In con­junc­tion with the Grew­ingk Glac­i­er Lake Trail, this is the most heav­i­ly trav­eled trail in the park. Usu­al­ly, peo­ple hike the Grew­ingk Glac­i­er Lake Trail, hang out at the lake and hike the Sad­dle Trail back to Hal­ibut Cove for their water taxi pickup. 

Ele­va­tion Gain: 873 feet Dif­fi­cul­ty: Mod­er­ate Length: 2.8 miles Time: 1 1÷2−2 hours Going north from the Humpy Creek Trail­head, the trail will skirt along the edge of the high tide line through the grass. Fol­low orange trail ?T?s? along the beach until the trail enters into the woods. BEWARE: The trail sec­tion along the beach may be impass­able at times when the tide exceeds 17 or 18 feet. As the trail climbs into the woods it is stren­u­ous at…  ...more

This is an easy two-mile trail through mead­ows and forests that’s great for hik­ing in the sum­mer and ski­ing dur­ing the win­ter. In sum­mer, the high­light is fields of wild­flow­ers, espe­cial­ly from June through August: Lupine, Wild Gera­ni­um, False Helle­bore, Monk’s Hood, Choco­late Lily, Fire­weed, and much more. 

This trail’s pur­pose is to pro­vide access to the Tut­ka Bay Lagoon Hatch­ery. Be sure to bring a kayak and the fam­i­ly to play in the lagoon for the day! 

Although this can be a busy spot, it is a lot less con­gest­ed than the Homer Spit. Things to do here include: tak­ing small day hikes, pad­dling in the lagoon, camp­ing, stay­ing at one of the three near­by pub­lic use cab­ins, and the most pop­u­lar, fish­ing for Kings dur­ing the month of June.

The 40-acre Karen Hor­na­day Park is the new favorite spot for fam­i­lies in Homer. BBQ grills and pic­nic facil­i­ties are avail­able for sum­mer gath­er­ings, as well as pub­lic restrooms. For those look­ing to relax, bench­es offer views of Kachemak Bay and sur­round­ing moun­tains and glaciers. 

This trail is an easy one-mile stroll to the east Bel­u­ga Slough view­ing platform.

This is an unmarked dirt road that isn’t well main­tained but is good for bik­ing and hiking.

The Raven’s Way Loop is accessed from the Ster­ling High­way. You will see the Trail­head and large park­ing lot. The trail mean­ders through open spruce and muskeg ter­rain and there it is a great chance to see lots of eagles and ravens.

Every­one wants to explore a tide­pool, don’t they? This is a must for the kids — even that lit­tle kid in those slight­ly more mature vis­i­tors. Here’s the per­fect spot. Bring a tow­el and let’s have an inter­tidal adventure.

The Coali­tion Loop is a mod­er­ate­ly dif­fi­cult trail in Kachemak Bay State Park. It’s five and a half miles long with short steep climbs up to 400 feet, and it takes rough­ly three hours to hike the loop. Boat access to the trail is at the Chi­na Poot Bay trail­head dur­ing high tide. You can also join this trail at mile .2 and mile 1.8 of the Chi­na Poot Lake Trail. The trail itself con­nects Hal­ibut Cove Lagoon with Chi­na Poot Bay. It climbs…  ...more

There are two dif­fer­ent trails to reach the alpine area of Sadie Knob; from either the north or south trail­heads. Each has camp­sites you can use as a base camp for hik­ing. You can hike from trail­head to trail­head and nev­er go into the alpine if you choose. These are very well grad­ed trails and offer leisure­ly hike if one wants to ​‘smell the ros­es’ and do some bird watch­ing or flower iden­ti­fi­ca­tion. The junc­tion at the spur trail that takes…  ...more

Paved and flat, this three-mile long trail is great for in-town recreation.

This trail is short and steep through thick for­est that leads to incred­i­ble sce­nary. The trail­head can be reached via the high­est point of the Lagoon Trail, two miles from the ranger sta­tion. Rock cairns mark the trail to an open alpine ridge, where the trail gen­tly climbs to a sum­mit that has some of the finest views any­where of Kachemak country. 

This trail switch­backs up .38 miles to an over­look that offers stun­ning views of Kachemak Bay.

You can access the Home­stead Trail where the trail cross­es Dia­mond Ridge Road at Ruck­sack. Get here by fol­low­ing West Hill Road to the Dia­mond Ridge inter­sec­tion and turn­ing left. Con­tin­ue for two miles and the trail takes off in either direction. 

The Mal­lard Bay Trail is an easy to mod­er­ate hike of one mile, with an ele­va­tion gain of 250ft that should take about 30 min­utes. It’s accessed by boat at high tide only because the bay goes dry at low tide. Camp­ing is avail­able with a tent plat­form and out­house at the trail­head, but be advised that extreme high tides flood the trail­head beach