Kenai Peninsula Day Tours & Attractions

O’Fish’ial spe­cial­izes in salt­wa­ter hal­ibut and king salmon char­ter fish­ing expe­ri­ences out of Homer, as well as Long Range tro­phy fish hunts. Own­er Chad has spent count­less hours with sea­soned Alaskan fish­er­men who shared time-test­ed advice – and their fish­ing hotspots – with him. He com­bines this knowl­edge with a cus­tomer-ser­vice focus and pas­sion for shar­ing all the excite­ment and adven­ture Alas­ka fish­ing has to offer.

Where can you find the biggest salmon, on aver­age, in the entire world? In the Kenai Riv­er. And The Riv­er Crew, based in Sol­dot­na, can take you to some secret spots on the famous riv­er to fish for salmon and trout — whether you’re an expe­ri­enced angler or not.

Fish­ing the Kenai Penin­su­la is pret­ty much the ulti­mate for fish­er­men the world over, and with Alas­ka Riv­er Adven­tures, even begin­ners do well. This area is famous for salmon (Kings, reds and sil­vers), rain­bow trout, and Dol­ly Var­den, which Alas­ka Riv­er Adven­tures can help you find in the amaz­ing green of the Kenai Riv­er and oth­er points along the Penin­su­la. Alas­ka Riv­er Adven­ture guides have been fish­ing these waters for years. They’re patient  ...more

Alaskan adven­tures and great lodg­ing await at the Great Alaskan Adven­ture Lodge. This all-inclu­sive expe­ri­ence lets you dri­ve or fly in to the prop­er­ty, which sits on 25 acres at the con­flu­ence of two rivers. An old home­stead with cab­ins and lux­u­ry tent options, the lodge makes for a com­fort­able stay. You’ll also find an array of adven­tures — every­thing from great fish­ing to glac­i­er cruis­ing. The own­ers have been per­fect­ing their itin­er­aries for  ...more

The logo for the Sol­dot­na B&B Lodge says it all: a guest who’s loung­ing in bed — while also fish­ing. This fam­i­ly-run fish­ing lodge direct­ly on the Kenai Riv­er offers a relax­ing place to soak up the sights and sounds of nature, while also deliv­er­ing a front-row oppor­tu­ni­ty to do some of Alaska’s most famous, excit­ing fish­ing. All stays car­ry a two-night min­i­mum, but most guests stay longer (an aver­age of 5 – 7 days), which is easy to do giv­en the  ...more

Profish-n-sea Char­ters, out of Seward, offers salmon and hal­ibut fish­ing with friend­ly, expe­ri­enced Alaskan guides. Trips last a full day; you’ll motor 2 to 2.5 hours from Seward to the Gulf of Alas­ka, Mon­tague Island, and oth­er out­er-coast hotspots. Profish-n-Sea knows the three keys to catch­ing fish: boats, knowl­edge, and gear. That’s why the boats are always clean, the gear sharp, and the crew friend­ly, help­ful, and fun.

When in Seward, head out on the water with Alas­ka North­ern Out­fit­ters on their com­fort­able 46-foot cata­ma­ran – the Sea Quest — for an epic day of fish­ing for hal­ibut, salmon, ling­cod, and rock­fish. It’s the only char­ter ves­sel in Seward with an upper view­ing deck. This lets you sight­see or have lunch on the upper deck while watch­ing the action below. . Inside you’ll find a large and heat­ed inte­ri­or, indoor seat­ing for every­one, tables, and  ...more

Homer is the hal­ibut cap­i­tal of Alas­ka, and this long­time char­ter com­pa­ny offers a blue-chip way to get to the fish. They have high-qual­i­ty boats, expe­ri­enced cap­tains, and enthu­si­as­tic crews — as well as an inside line on find­ing hal­ibut, rock fish and sil­ver salmon. But they also offer a vari­ety of oth­er ways to enjoy the waters off Kachemak Bay, from wildlife cruis­ing to pad­dling a kayak or hik­ing in Kachemak Bay State Park. 

Don’t miss this oppor­tu­ni­ty to go fish­ing for Alaskan salmon in beau­ti­ful rivers. This easy, one-day trip departs from Anchor­age; you’ll dri­ve over moun­tain pass­es and along the Cook Inlet to the Great Alas­ka Adven­ture Lodge where you’ll have lunch. Then it’s out to the con­flu­ence of two rivers with the lodge’s expert guides, where you’ll cast your line for famous salmon — king, sock­eye, sil­ver, or pink, depend­ing on the sea­son. Or choose a one-day  ...more

Feel the thrill of world-class salmon and trout fish­ing on Alaska’s Kenai Penin­su­la with expe­ri­enced, pas­sion­ate guides. You’ll get out on the Kenai and Kasilof Rivers, just hours from Anchor­age, with a team that knows where the fish will be run­ning each day. Spend a day, or make it a mul­ti-day trip with a cus­tom pack­age that includes lodg­ing on the river.

Where will you find Alaska’s best salmon fish­ing? The Kenai Penin­su­la is hard to beat. Alas­ka Wild­land Adven­tures (AWA) has spe­cial­ized in fish­ing the Upper Kenai Riv­er between Kenai and Ski­lak Lakes since 1977. Their pro­fes­sion­al guides are experts in fly-fish­ing, drift fish­ing, and back trolling, so you can fish from the boat, the bank, or both. Expect an excit­ing day of fish­ing for salmon (red, sil­ver, or king depend­ing on the sea­son), as  ...more

Expe­ri­ence the wilder­ness of the Chugach Nation­al For­est from sev­er­al dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives. Com­bine a heli­copter ride, alpine hike, glacial lake tour, riv­er raft­ing and train ride all in 9 – 10 hours! It’s one big and bold Alas­ka tour de force with Chugach Adventures.

The orig­i­nal hall­mark trip that got the Alas­ka Rail­road to bring the Glac­i­er Dis­cov­ery to Spencer Glac­i­er in 2002. This is one of the most scenic glac­i­er riv­er trips in Alas­ka and a per­fect float for all ages. Your trip begins with a scenic ride on Alas­ka Railroad’s Glac­i­er Dis­cov­ery train, which runs from Anchor­age, Gird­wood, and oth­er pick-up points along the rail­belt. Enjoy a beau­ti­ful ride down Tur­na­gain Arm and the Plac­er Riv­er Val­ley and  ...more

Alas­ka Wild­land Adven­tures pio­neered float­ing the mel­low, turquoise Kenai Riv­er and has oper­at­ed con­tin­u­ous­ly since 1977. Join them for a serene 2‑hour float, or take on a 7‑hour adven­ture, com­plete with fun Class II+ rapids and a cruise through a glacial lake. AWA’s Kenai Riv­er Scenic Float Trip offers a nice intro­duc­tion to the riv­er, tak­ing you along a stretch of the scenic Upper Kenai closed to motor­ized boats. Watch for wildlife as your  ...more

Alas­ka Riv­er Adven­tures Kenai Riv­er raft­ing trips are some of its most pop­u­lar and acces­si­ble excur­sions – and are a great val­ue too. Full day trips show­case 19 miles of Alas­ka wild from Kenai Lake to Ski­lak Lake, giv­ing plen­ty of time for spot­ting wildlife, his­toric spots and gor­geous views from all angles. When you have just a few hours, a scenic and serene 14-mile float of the Upper Kenai Riv­er pro­vides a vari­ety of sights, from historic  ...more

Six Mile Creek is one of the most famous — and most chal­leng­ing — white­wa­ter runs in the entire state of Alas­ka. Your heart will be pound­ing and your mus­cles burn­ing as you pad­dle through rapids called ​“Big Rock Drop,” ​“Suck­hole,” and ​“Let’s Make a Deal.”

Join us as we drift down­stream through one of the world’s most beau­ti­ful fresh­wa­ter salmon fish­eries, pass­ing grav­el bars left by a glacial flood, migrat­ing salmon, brown bears, and human fish­ers as you float on by.

Enjoy a mag­i­cal morn­ing or evening kayak­ing the calm waters of Spencer Lake, in the awe-inspir­ing pres­ence of a jagged ter­mi­nus glac­i­er. Your time on the water is sand­wiched between two train rides that offer up some of Alaska’s most scenic rail miles. It’s a full day of unfor­get­table expe­ri­ences in our country’s sec­ond largest nation­al for­est – the Chugach.

Explore a qui­et coast­line just a few miles from Homer, where you’ll kayak through the pro­tect­ed waters of Tut­ka Bay in search of amaz­ing views, wildlife and adven­ture! Your guide leads the way on a half-day or full-day tour, glid­ing past dense woods, rugged shore­line and hid­den coves. Add on fish­ing for the fresh­est in Alaskan salmon or rockfish!

Take a bou­tique, small-group kayak­ing trip with expe­ri­enced guides at Liq­uid Adven­tures and get close to glac­i­ers in kayaks or pad­dle­boards while look­ing for whales and oth­er marine mam­mals. You can even com­bine your adven­ture with a jet­boat, heli­copter, or wildlife cruise. There’s noth­ing quite like it in all of Alaska!

Mem­bers of 1% For The Plan­et, Kayak Adven­tures World­wide strives to ful­fill their mis­sion to inspire an active stew­ard­ship of our nat­ur­al world. Through small group sea kayak tours in Res­ur­rec­tion Bay and Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park, they focus on safe­ty, edu­ca­tion, and con­nect­ing guests with the unique and frag­ile ecosys­tems you’ll visit.

Homer is the hal­ibut cap­i­tal of Alas­ka, and this long­time char­ter com­pa­ny offers a blue-chip way to get to the fish. They have high-qual­i­ty boats, expe­ri­enced cap­tains, and enthu­si­as­tic crews — as well as an inside line on find­ing hal­ibut, rock fish and sil­ver salmon. But they also offer a vari­ety of oth­er ways to enjoy the waters off Kachemak Bay, from wildlife cruis­ing to pad­dling a kayak or hik­ing in Kachemak Bay State Park. 

For a clos­er, qui­eter, and more peace­ful ver­sion of the Alaskan glac­i­er and wildlife cruise, trav­el by sea kayak. Pad­dle the shore­line of Res­ur­rec­tion Bay, where encoun­ters with sea otters, seabirds, and spawn­ing salmon are com­mon. Choose from a vari­ety of three-hour excur­sions or take a full-day trip.

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.

Whether you’d like to go on a per­son­al­ized boat tour of the Homer area or take a water taxi to the Alaskan back­coun­try, Homer is an ide­al place to launch from, and Cold­wa­ter has the boats and exper­tise to get you there. Explore places like Kachemak Bay State Park, the small town of Sel­dovia, and pic­turesque Hal­ibut Cove.

This vet­er­an tour oper­a­tor runs a a fleet of fast, mod­ern boats in Res­ur­rec­tion Bay and Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park. You’ll vis­it tide­wa­ter glac­i­ers as you watch for puffins, sea otters, Dall’s por­pois­es, sea lions, and more. Some tours are designed to please bird­ers or shut­ter­bugs, while oth­ers are per­fect for families. 

Spend the after­noon, or a few days explor­ing the waters of Res­ur­rec­tion Bay and Prince William Sound aboard the M/V Car­o­line, a beau­ti­ful cus­tom-built yacht set for adven­ture! It’s the per­fect set­ting for a fam­i­ly or small group vaca­tion. Fill your days loung­ing on the fly­bridge, fish­ing, kayak­ing, strolling beach­es and cruis­ing to your next fan­tas­tic destination.

Just an hour’s dri­ve from Anchor­age, the MV Ptarmi­gan let you get with­in 300 feet of the tow­er­ing ice wall called Portage Glac­i­er. You can also book a nar­rat­ed motor­coach tour to take you to Portage Glacier. 

Get up close to the Alaskan glac­i­ers and wildlife you came to expe­ri­ence by tak­ing a cruise into Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park on a cus­tom-built cata­ma­ran out of Seward. The dif­fer­ence from oth­er cruis­es, is that you’ll then get off the boat and into a kayak, pad­dle around ice­bergs, and watch for wildlife from your own vessel.

Homer is the hal­ibut cap­i­tal of Alas­ka, and this long­time char­ter com­pa­ny offers a blue-chip way to get to the fish. They have high-qual­i­ty boats, expe­ri­enced cap­tains, and enthu­si­as­tic crews — as well as an inside line on find­ing hal­ibut, rock fish and sil­ver salmon. But they also offer a vari­ety of oth­er ways to enjoy the waters off Kachemak Bay, from wildlife cruis­ing to pad­dling a kayak or hik­ing in Kachemak Bay State Park. 

Res­ur­rec­tion Bay and Kenai Fjords are great places to see wildlife and glac­i­ers. And Major Marine’s ves­sels, which have cozy heat­ed cab­ins and an out­door view­ing area, can take you out to see both. This fam­i­ly-owned tour oper­a­tor has gone above and beyond to give guests an amaz­ing day on the water since 1990. 

Vis­it Idi­tar­od cham­pi­on Mitch Seavey’s home­stead, home to three gen­er­a­tions of Idi­tar­od mush­ers. Expe­ri­ence an excit­ing two-mile dog sled ride, tour the rac­ing ken­nel, meet the dogs, cud­dle adorable husky pup­pies, and lis­ten to sto­ries from the Idi­tar­od trail. Then climb aboard a cus­tom-designed sled; an Idi­tar­od race fin­ish­er dri­ves you through rain­for­est to a riv­er-cut canyon sur­round­ed by mountains.

Go behind the scenes with Idi­tar­od mush­ers and get your own thrilling ride with the dogs at Turn­ing Heads Ken­nel. Choose a sum­mer dog demon­stra­tion and cart ride, or whisk off by heli­copter for glac­i­er dog sled­ding. Win­ter brings its own vari­ety of tours, which range from an hour long to mul­ti-day expe­di­tions near Wil­low, Alaska.

Expe­ri­ence the unique thrill of sum­mer dog sled­ding on a glac­i­er! Lift off in a heli­copter and enjoy incred­i­ble views on your way to this amaz­ing adven­ture. Want more time in the air? Add a flight­see­ing excur­sion before or after your dog sled­ding experience!

The port city of Seward is a clas­sic stop on any Alas­ka itin­er­ary, thanks to its prox­im­i­ty to Chugach Nation­al For­est and Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park. But it’s also one of the more diverse places to fly. This tour oper­a­tor offers stun­ning birds-eye views of the area’s alpine mead­ows, glac­i­ers and fjords, as well as the chance to touch down, explore the ter­rain and even meet sled dogs.

Enjoy stun­ning views of Res­ur­rec­tion Bay from these A‑frames cab­ins. You’ll feel like you’re in remote Alas­ka but you’re just three miles from down­town Seward and all the near­by tours and activities.

Vis­it Idi­tar­od cham­pi­on Mitch Seavey’s home­stead, home to three gen­er­a­tions of Idi­tar­od mush­ers. Expe­ri­ence an excit­ing two-mile dog sled ride, tour the rac­ing ken­nel, meet the dogs, cud­dle adorable husky pup­pies, and lis­ten to sto­ries from the Idi­tar­od trail. Then climb aboard a cus­tom-designed sled; an Idi­tar­od race fin­ish­er dri­ves you through rain­for­est to a riv­er-cut canyon sur­round­ed by mountains.

The Lands End Resort sits at the very tip of the Homer Spit, offer­ing incred­i­ble views of Kachemak Bay and the Kenai Moun­tain Range. Take a walk along the beach­front, then head to the shops, bars, and restau­rants along the spit. If the views are too beau­ti­ful to leave, enjoy a meal at the hotel’s Chart Room restau­rant. When it’s time for activ­i­ties, a help­ful staff of locals can pro­vide rec­om­men­da­tions and book your excursions.

If you want to camp beside sub­alpine Upper Sum­mit Lake close to trum­peter swans and fish­ing for rain­bows, take the fam­i­ly to this camp­ground deep in the Kenai Moun­tains off Mile 46 of the Seward High­way. The 35 sites are spread along a loop in the alder, wil­low and spruce woods on the hill­side above the lake, with clear-run­ning Ten­der­foot Creek pass­ing through 

Take a bou­tique, small-group kayak­ing trip with expe­ri­enced guides at Liq­uid Adven­tures and get close to glac­i­ers in kayaks or pad­dle­boards while look­ing for whales and oth­er marine mam­mals. You can even com­bine your adven­ture with a jet­boat, heli­copter, or wildlife cruise. There’s noth­ing quite like it in all of Alaska!

Pop­u­lar with hik­ers and back­pack­ers, this easy-to-fol­low trail con­nects the state’s most intense sock­eye salmon sports fish­ery with stun­ning moun­tain back­coun­try. It offers many of the Kenai Peninsula’s high­lights in one trip. The 21-mile route access­es Russ­ian Riv­er Falls, Low­er and Upper Russ­ian Lakes, Coop­er Lake, 3 fed­er­al­ly man­aged recre­ation­al cab­ins, and numer­ous campsites

No oth­er min­ing trail on the Kenai Penin­su­la climbs as high or takes in more exten­sive views as the 6‑mile-long Crown Mine Trail. Begin­ning some 2 hours south of Anchor­age on the appro­pri­ate­ly named Mine Road just south of Trail Lake, this trail climbs to 3,900 feet above sea lev­el to a unique spot — a glacial cirque lit­tered with min­ing paraphernalia.

The logo for the Sol­dot­na B&B Lodge says it all: a guest who’s loung­ing in bed — while also fish­ing. This fam­i­ly-run fish­ing lodge direct­ly on the Kenai Riv­er offers a relax­ing place to soak up the sights and sounds of nature, while also deliv­er­ing a front-row oppor­tu­ni­ty to do some of Alaska’s most famous, excit­ing fish­ing. All stays car­ry a two-night min­i­mum, but most guests stay longer (an aver­age of 5 – 7 days), which is easy to do giv­en the  ...more

For many Alaskans, trav­el by plane is essen­tial for work, get­ting to med­ical appoint­ments in the big city, or con­nect­ing with fam­i­ly in anoth­er part of the state. For vis­i­tors, plane trav­el helps max­i­mize their lim­it­ed time explor­ing the state, show­cas­es spec­tac­u­lar views of the land, and gives an authen­tic peek into Alaskans’ air-cen­tric lifestyle. Ravn Alaska’s net­work offers flights to major Alas­ka cities such as Anchor­age and Fairbanks,  ...more

Set in a hand­some birch for­est over­look­ing Tur­na­gain Arm, this camp­ground in Chugach Nation­al For­est close to the his­toric vil­lage of Hope is a fam­i­ly clas­sic. The 34 sites offer all the usu­al ameni­ties (pic­nic table, camp­fire ring, out­hous­es, water pump) and are laid out with an eye toward pri­va­cy. Just 81 miles from Anchorage.

Watch bears dig­ging for clams, wan­der­ing the sedge grass, or nurs­ing their young – all in a short flight from Homer to Kat­mai or Lake Clark Nation­al Park. Smokey Bay’s bear tours last about five hours total — includ­ing flights and about three hours on the ground. On any giv­en day there will always be a morn­ing out­ing (leav­ing at 8 a.m. at the lat­est) and pos­si­bly one that leaves around 2 p.m.

Expe­ri­ence com­plete immer­sion in the won­ders of wild coastal Alas­ka, and stay in spa­cious, bright yurts (cir­cu­lar, rein­forced tent-like struc­tures) on a pri­vate island in Humpy Cove. Inside, the yurts are warm and com­fy with fire­places, pri­vate bath­rooms and pri­vate decks over­look­ing the cove all con­nect­ed by exten­sive board­walks. They water taxis is includ­ed along with sea kayaks, pad­dle­boards, row­boats, and fish­ing gear. All of this is just a  ...more

This fly-in-only lodge fea­tures two seclud­ed chalets set amid a stun­ning mix­ture of sea, for­est, and a glac­i­er-formed lake. Enjoy guid­ed walks, cus­tom zodi­ac tours on the lake, bon­fires on the beach, and relax­ation at your pri­vate chalet. The rate includes trans­porta­tion to and from the lodge, kayaks, din­ner pre­pared by your hosts, and access to a pantry of items to sup­ple­ment break­fast, lunch, and snack­ing. Each chalet is equipped with its own  ...more

This vet­er­an tour oper­a­tor runs a a fleet of fast, mod­ern boats in Res­ur­rec­tion Bay and Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park. You’ll vis­it tide­wa­ter glac­i­ers as you watch for puffins, sea otters, Dall’s por­pois­es, sea lions, and more. Some tours are designed to please bird­ers or shut­ter­bugs, while oth­ers are per­fect for families. 

Stay­ing at the remote Kenai Back­coun­try Lodge with­in the Kenai Nation­al Wildlife Refuge offers a real taste of the wilder­ness. The lodge, locat­ed on a five-acre, pri­vate in-hold­ing, began as a riv­er-accessed hunt­ing cab­in back in 1935. Years lat­er, the remod­eled and expand­ed prop­er­ty is still road-free, and guests raft into the lodge. Alas­ka Wild­land Adven­tures pride them­selves on a ​‘leave no trace’ style of eco-tourism. 

Get up close to the Alaskan glac­i­ers and wildlife you came to expe­ri­ence by tak­ing a cruise into Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park on a cus­tom-built cata­ma­ran out of Seward. The dif­fer­ence from oth­er cruis­es, is that you’ll then get off the boat and into a kayak, pad­dle around ice­bergs, and watch for wildlife from your own vessel.

Enjoy a mag­i­cal morn­ing or evening kayak­ing the calm waters of Spencer Lake, in the awe-inspir­ing pres­ence of a jagged ter­mi­nus glac­i­er. Your time on the water is sand­wiched between two train rides that offer up some of Alaska’s most scenic rail miles. It’s a full day of unfor­get­table expe­ri­ences in our country’s sec­ond largest nation­al for­est – the Chugach.

Profish-n-sea Char­ters, out of Seward, offers salmon and hal­ibut fish­ing with friend­ly, expe­ri­enced Alaskan guides. Trips last a full day; you’ll motor 2 to 2.5 hours from Seward to the Gulf of Alas­ka, Mon­tague Island, and oth­er out­er-coast hotspots. Profish-n-Sea knows the three keys to catch­ing fish: boats, knowl­edge, and gear. That’s why the boats are always clean, the gear sharp, and the crew friend­ly, help­ful, and fun.

With 60 sites on paved loops, Willi­waw is suit­able for large motorhomes and offers great access to the Trail of Blue Ice — a non-motor­ized mul­ti-use trail that tra­vers­es the val­ley floor. Also near­by bik­ing, salmon view­ing, hikes, and glac­i­er viewing.

Locals know this Homer insti­tu­tion as the place that has every­thing — from sport­ing goods to oil for your car, art sup­plies to pre­scrip­tion med­ica­tions. While it has a stag­ger­ing amount of vari­ety, it main­tains a charm­ing mom-and-pop vibe.

This trail is also called the Prim­rose trail at the north end. It begins in a beau­ti­ful rain­for­est and even­tu­al­ly takes you up to a mul­ti­ple of beau­ti­ful lakes in high meadows.

Alaska’s Ridge­wood Wilder­ness Lodge is a pre­mier, full-ser­vice des­ti­na­tion lodge in Hal­ibut Cove adja­cent to the Kachemak Bay State Park. Your hosts under­stand that expe­ri­enc­ing Alaska’s great out­doors is a pri­ma­ry goal for those active in mind and spir­it, so they have designed numer­ous guid­ed adven­tures to choose from, includ­ing hik­ing, glac­i­er kayak­ing & wildlife view­ing. You can also add-on a fish­ing char­ter or bear view­ing tour during  ...more

The orig­i­nal hall­mark trip that got the Alas­ka Rail­road to bring the Glac­i­er Dis­cov­ery to Spencer Glac­i­er in 2002. This is one of the most scenic glac­i­er riv­er trips in Alas­ka and a per­fect float for all ages. Your trip begins with a scenic ride on Alas­ka Railroad’s Glac­i­er Dis­cov­ery train, which runs from Anchor­age, Gird­wood, and oth­er pick-up points along the rail­belt. Enjoy a beau­ti­ful ride down Tur­na­gain Arm and the Plac­er Riv­er Val­ley and  ...more

Alas­ka Riv­er Adven­tures Kenai Riv­er raft­ing trips are some of its most pop­u­lar and acces­si­ble excur­sions – and are a great val­ue too. Full day trips show­case 19 miles of Alas­ka wild from Kenai Lake to Ski­lak Lake, giv­ing plen­ty of time for spot­ting wildlife, his­toric spots and gor­geous views from all angles. When you have just a few hours, a scenic and serene 14-mile float of the Upper Kenai Riv­er pro­vides a vari­ety of sights, from historic  ...more

Quick: what’s the longest com­bined rail and high­way tun­nel in North Amer­i­ca? It’s the Ander­son Memo­r­i­al Tun­nel, and you’ll dri­ve through it on the scenic and his­toric dri­ve to Whit­ti­er. The Kenai Moun­tains-Tur­na­gain Arm Nation­al Her­itage Area is a place whose val­leys and moun­tains, com­mu­ni­ties and peo­ple tell the larg­er sto­ry of a wild place and a rugged fron­tier. This audio guide gives you the inside scoop on its fas­ci­nat­ing his­to­ry. You’ll…  ...more

This 86-room lodge not only has end­less views over a vast val­ley, but it also sits on the banks of the Kenai Riv­er, which teems with fish. With vault­ed ceil­ings made of nat­u­ral­ly fin­ished wood, cozy sit­ting areas with wood-burn­ing stoves and pri­vate porch­es, it’s easy to feel like the whole place is yours. The area is famous for its fish­ing, but you also have easy access to Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park, a wild land filled with glac­i­ers, marine  ...more

This trail is a good day hike for the whole fam­i­ly. It alter­nates between open mead­ows and forests and offers the option of tent camp­ing or stay­ing in Cres­cent Lake Cab­in. There are options for longer hikes and there is a lot of wildlife to be seen such as moose, goats and bears.

This 38 mile long USFS trail climbs Res­ur­rec­tion Pass (elev. 2,600) and descends to the north to anoth­er trail­head­trail­head near Hope on Tur­na­gain Arm. There are 8 pub­lic use cab­ins along the trail, mak­ing this an advanced but com­fort­able day cab­in-to-cab­in hike. There are also 19 camp­sites avail­able along the trail.

Char­ter their pri­vate, live-aboard, 60’ yacht. Wake up each day in the mid­dle of untouched wilder­ness and go sea kayak­ing, hike through bore­al forests, fish for tro­phy hal­ibut and salmon, or spend a qui­et day on the water pho­tograph­ing wildlife

Begin­ning 103 miles south of Anchor­age on the Seward High­way, the 3.5‑mile-long Ptarmi­gan Lake Trail makes for a fine fam­i­ly out­ing. The lake itself is a long and nar­row body of water squeezed between ridges and moun­tains that tow­er as high as 6,000 feet. It even offers a small beach upon which to relax and enjoy the view while cool­ing your feet.

Where can you find the biggest salmon, on aver­age, in the entire world? In the Kenai Riv­er. And The Riv­er Crew, based in Sol­dot­na, can take you to some secret spots on the famous riv­er to fish for salmon and trout — whether you’re an expe­ri­enced angler or not.

This mean­der­ing, sin­gle-track path leads to some of the Kenai Mountain’s most remote and frag­ile high coun­try. On a route once trekked by gold rush prospec­tors, this trail ascends from spruce for­est through the jun­gled zone of alders into a realm of sweep­ing tun­dra, with incred­i­ble views and pro­duc­tive berry pick­ing. Plus, the top of the nine-mile jour­ney ends in Res­ur­rec­tion Pass, about mid­way through the 39-mile Res­ur­rec­tion Pass Trail.

Drift­wood Inn presents a vari­ety of lodg­ing options, includ­ing hotel rooms, deluxe lodges, a fam­i­ly cot­tage, and an RV park — all of which have great views of Bishop’s Beach and Kachemak Bay. This fam­i­ly-owned and ‑oper­at­ed inn and has free Wi-Fi, cof­feemak­ers in most rooms, and a cozy lob­by with a fire­place. And you’re with­in walk­ing dis­tance of cof­fee shops, bak­eries, book­stores, and restaurants.

Don’t miss this oppor­tu­ni­ty to go fish­ing for Alaskan salmon in beau­ti­ful rivers. This easy, one-day trip departs from Anchor­age; you’ll dri­ve over moun­tain pass­es and along the Cook Inlet to the Great Alas­ka Adven­ture Lodge where you’ll have lunch. Then it’s out to the con­flu­ence of two rivers with the lodge’s expert guides, where you’ll cast your line for famous salmon — king, sock­eye, sil­ver, or pink, depend­ing on the sea­son. Or choose a one-day  ...more

Locat­ed with­in a 1700 acre native-owned wildlife sanc­tu­ary in the heart of Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park, the cen­tral lodge and 16 guest cab­ins of Kenai Fjords Glac­i­er Lodge have full views of Ped­er­sen Glac­i­er and easy access to wildlife-view­ing adven­tures. The ele­gant­ly rus­tic lodge and seclud­ed guest cab­ins pair mod­ern com­fort and envi­ron­men­tal stewardship.

Go flight­see­ing in a heli­copter out of scenic Seward and enjoy unfor­get­table views of the Kenai Moun­tain Range, Res­ur­rec­tion Bay, and gor­geous glac­i­ers. Choose from a 30-minute, 45-minute, or 1‑hour long tour. And, add a glac­i­er land­ing to any of them! 

The Homer Spit is a long, nar­row fin­ger of land jut­ting 4.5 miles into Kachemak Bay. Dot­ted with busi­ness­es, the area caters to vis­i­tors and pro­vides numer­ous recre­ation oppor­tu­ni­ties, from fish­ing and beach­comb­ing to shop­ping and boating.

Alas­ka Wild­land Adven­tures pio­neered float­ing the mel­low, turquoise Kenai Riv­er and has oper­at­ed con­tin­u­ous­ly since 1977. Join them for a serene 2‑hour float, or take on a 7‑hour adven­ture, com­plete with fun Class II+ rapids and a cruise through a glacial lake. AWA’s Kenai Riv­er Scenic Float Trip offers a nice intro­duc­tion to the riv­er, tak­ing you along a stretch of the scenic Upper Kenai closed to motor­ized boats. Watch for wildlife as your  ...more

The Coastal Clas­sic train runs between Anchor­age and the town of Seward — a four-hour trip that’s the most beau­ti­ful along the entire Alas­ka Rail­road. You’ll see Tur­na­gain Arm as the train departs Anchor­age, then a panora­ma of moun­tains, glac­i­ers, lakes, and streams. You may even see wildlife like Dall sheep, Bel­u­ga whales, moose, bear, and more! Day Trip from Anchor­age: Seward, Gird­wood Mul­ti-Day Trip from Anchor­age: Overnight Seward, or  ...more

Accord­ing to folk­lore, the tra­di­tion of the Mt. Marathon Race began when two sour­doughs argued about the pos­si­bil­i­ty of climb­ing and descend­ing the moun­tain in less than an hour. ​“Impos­si­ble” one said. To set­tle the argu­ment, and the result­ing wager, a race was held, with the los­er to fur­nish drinks for the crowd. At the same time, enter­pris­ing mer­chants put up a suit of clothes and oth­er attrac­tions for the win­ner and pro­posed the race take…  ...more

Just an hour’s dri­ve from Anchor­age, the MV Ptarmi­gan let you get with­in 300 feet of the tow­er­ing ice wall called Portage Glac­i­er. You can also book a nar­rat­ed motor­coach tour to take you to Portage Glacier. 

Sol­dot­na Park, in down­town Sol­dot­na, offers all Kenai Riv­er species — but most peo­ple are here for the sock­eye. That means it can get crowd­ed dur­ing peak sock­eye sea­son, but it’s also a good place to learn how to fish for sock­eye. The com­bi­na­tion of easy acces­si­bil­i­ty, hard-packed grav­el and a shal­low grade make the fish­ing enjoyable.

Feel the thrill of world-class salmon and trout fish­ing on Alaska’s Kenai Penin­su­la with expe­ri­enced, pas­sion­ate guides. You’ll get out on the Kenai and Kasilof Rivers, just hours from Anchor­age, with a team that knows where the fish will be run­ning each day. Spend a day, or make it a mul­ti-day trip with a cus­tom pack­age that includes lodg­ing on the river.

You can hike right up to Seward’s Exit Glac­i­er and feel the dense blue ice while lis­ten­ing to it crack­le. Walk the low­er trail to get a good pho­to in front of the glac­i­er face. Or, choose the more chal­leng­ing 7‑mile round-trip Hard­ing Ice­field Trail. There is a short ranger-led walk dai­ly at 11am and 3pm, from Memo­r­i­al Day through Labor Day. 

One of the top trails on the Homer side of Kachemak Bay, Dia­mond Creek is a 2‑mile trail that takes you through for­est, alders, and tall grass mead­ows before descend­ing to the beach, where you’ll find small Alaskan sealife.

Bik­ing, fish view­ing, a nat­ur­al his­to­ry cen­ter and a flat hike to a glac­i­er are with­in easy reach of this qui­et, inti­mate camp­ground in Portage Val­ley at the head of Tur­na­gain Arm in the Chugach Nation­al For­est. The 12 sites in the grav­eled, wood­ed Black Bear are yards from the Trail of Blue Ice — a non-motor­ized mul­ti-use trail that tra­vers­es the val­ley floor.

Locat­ed on the docks in Seward, this fish pro­cess­ing plant and gift shop can send fish to your home freez­er, whether you caught it your­self that day or just picked it out. Bring in a catch from your fish­ing trip and that day they’ll cut it into meal-sized por­tions, vac­u­um pack­age, blast-freeze, and box it for you to take home. Their com­mer­cial blast freez­ers oper­ate at 40 degrees below zero and their hold­ing freez­ers at 20 degrees below zero.…  ...more

Bertha Creek Camp­ground is a great choice for a low-key cam­pout in a recre­ation­al gold-pan­ning area on a qui­et loop where the kids won’t get lost. Locat­ed just south of Tur­na­gain Pass in the Kenai Moun­tains about 65 miles south of Anchor­age, the camp­ground is tucked into an open for­est beside the con­flu­ence of Bertha and Gran­ite creeks at the base of steep mountains.

This fam­i­ly-friend­ly, 2.5‑mile trail climbs 3,600 feet to a sum­mit halfway between the sea and the heavens

This unique fes­ti­val in Homer, Alas­ka is an art-lovers dream.

The Seward Sil­ver Salmon Der­by® is one of the old­est and largest fish­ing der­bies in the State. Seward’s Der­by is equal­ly pop­u­lar with locals, oth­er Alas­ka res­i­dents, and vis­it­ing anglers from around the nation and world. Anglers vie for the largest Coho (Sil­ver) Salmon and try to catch tagged fish worth prizes. Anglers turn their fish in dai­ly, which are sold to raise funds for fish enhance­ment efforts. Der­by tick­ets go on sale Fri­day night…  ...more

For many Alaskan trav­el­ers, bears are the ulti­mate high­light. Pair a mag­nif­i­cent sight­ing with a gor­geous heli­copter flight­see­ing ride and you’ll have an unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence. On this unique tour from Homer, you’ll take a heli­copter ride out into one of Alaska’s gor­geous nation­al parks to wit­ness these spec­tac­u­lar crea­tures in the wild.

Res­ur­rec­tion Bay and Kenai Fjords are great places to see wildlife and glac­i­ers. And Major Marine’s ves­sels, which have cozy heat­ed cab­ins and an out­door view­ing area, can take you out to see both. This fam­i­ly-owned tour oper­a­tor has gone above and beyond to give guests an amaz­ing day on the water since 1990. 

This world-class, 115,000-square-foot facil­i­ty was built with funds from the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill and serves to remind vis­i­tors — in a high­ly inter­ac­tive way — of the impor­tance of under­stand­ing and main­tain­ing Alaska’s marine ecosys­tem. See life swim­ming right before your eyes: wit­ness a Steller sea lion glid­ing past under­wa­ter view­ing win­dows, puffins div­ing in nat­ur­al habi­tat, and har­bor seals rest­ing on rocky beach­es. Take self-guid­ed or  ...more

Take a spec­tac­u­lar pri­vate guid­ed hik­ing tour in Seward — where the moun­tains meet the ocean — to explore glac­i­ers and alpine ridges. When you go with Seward Wilder­ness Col­lec­tive, you get a great tour plus a dia­logue with their knowl­edge­able guides about the impacts of cli­mate change, with liv­ing exam­ples right in front of your eyes.

Crys­tal-clear Willi­waw Creek and its bank-side trail sys­tem in Portage Val­ley at the head of Tur­na­gain Arm offers excep­tion­al­ly good con­di­tions for watch­ing spawn­ing in action. Coho, sock­eye and chum salmon con­verge on the creek as it winds through the brushy flats begin­ning in mid-August, with some late-arriv­ing fish still present after first frost in the fall.

This wildlife sweet spot is worth a vis­it. The Russ­ian Lakes Trail begins off the access road to the Russ­ian Riv­er Camp­ground in Coop­er Land­ing, at mile­post 52 of the Ster­ling High­way. Get off-the-beat­en path, hike two miles to the falls and enjoy the imme­di­ate reward of spec­tac­u­lar salmon viewing. 

Seren­i­ty and pri­va­cy are para­mount at this inti­mate col­lec­tion of five roman­ti­cal­ly rus­tic vaca­tion rentals. Under­ground cab­ins and a yurt are just some of the unique rooms that make up this Homer prop­er­ty, all perched on a bluff with spec­tac­u­lar views of Kachemak Bay and the moun­tains beyond.

Each head of house­hold is allowed to keep 25 sock­eye salmon per year, and every addi­tion­al mem­ber of the fam­i­ly is enti­tled to 10 fish.

The City of Kenai’s vis­i­tor cen­ter goes well beyond a per­son at a counter hand­ing out maps. You’ll find an impres­sive per­ma­nent col­lec­tion of Native Alaskan and local his­to­ry arti­facts, art exhibits, as well as the largest col­lec­tion of mount­ed bald eagles in North Amer­i­ca. The gift shop fea­tures sou­venirs, maps, books, music, and local­ly pro­duced items. And, indeed, friend­ly staffers dis­trib­ute infor­ma­tion on local lodg­ing, tours and…  ...more

Six Mile Creek is one of the most famous — and most chal­leng­ing — white­wa­ter runs in the entire state of Alas­ka. Your heart will be pound­ing and your mus­cles burn­ing as you pad­dle through rapids called ​“Big Rock Drop,” ​“Suck­hole,” and ​“Let’s Make a Deal.”

Whether you’re in the mar­ket for fish­ing lures, rain gear or snacks for the day, this store on the Har­borview Board­walk is your one-stop shop­ping spot.

Fish­ing the Kenai Penin­su­la is pret­ty much the ulti­mate for fish­er­men the world over, and with Alas­ka Riv­er Adven­tures, even begin­ners do well. This area is famous for salmon (Kings, reds and sil­vers), rain­bow trout, and Dol­ly Var­den, which Alas­ka Riv­er Adven­tures can help you find in the amaz­ing green of the Kenai Riv­er and oth­er points along the Penin­su­la. Alas­ka Riv­er Adven­ture guides have been fish­ing these waters for years. They’re patient  ...more

Natron Air’s own­er and only pilot, Tim, can take you flight­see­ing to some of Alaska’s most beau­ti­ful places: the Hard­ing Ice­field and Mt. Redoubt Vol­cano. You can also opt for a bear-view­ing tour that includes a beach land­ing, where you can pho­to­graph bears in their nat­ur­al environment.

Locat­ed just out­side Seward, the Abode Well Cab­ins are tucked back amidst four acres of trees. Of the 13 avail­able rooms, six are King Cab­ins (which includes a kitch­enette and sleeps up to three) and one is a ​“fam­i­ly cab­in,” which has a full kitchen, sep­a­rate bed­rooms and sleeps up to eight with two queen beds, two twins, plus a queen-size sleep­er sofa. There are also six Queen Stu­dio Rooms avail­able, with sim­i­lar ameni­ties to the King Cabins.  ...more

Not many hotels can say that every room has a great view, but Ocean Shores was designed that way. Each room fea­tures views of Kachemak Bay and the sur­round­ing moun­tains. Also the ocean front prop­er­ty has a nice path to our seclud­ed beach and tide pools of Kachemak Bay. Or explore the near­by town of Homer.

Where will you find Alaska’s best salmon fish­ing? The Kenai Penin­su­la is hard to beat. Alas­ka Wild­land Adven­tures (AWA) has spe­cial­ized in fish­ing the Upper Kenai Riv­er between Kenai and Ski­lak Lakes since 1977. Their pro­fes­sion­al guides are experts in fly-fish­ing, drift fish­ing, and back trolling, so you can fish from the boat, the bank, or both. Expect an excit­ing day of fish­ing for salmon (red, sil­ver, or king depend­ing on the sea­son), as  ...more

Fly out of Sol­dot­na with Natron’s own­er and pilot, Tim. You’ll soar over the Cook Inlet towards Mt. Iliamna Vol­cano and land on a beach, right where the bears are. You’ll watch them play­ing and clam­ming and be close enough to take amaz­ing photos.

Explore Alaska’s Res­ur­rec­tion Bay and Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park ful­ly with a three-day/t­wo-night cus­tom adven­ture per­fect for fam­i­lies or cou­ples. Alas­ka Fjord Char­ters guides you to the best mix of kayak­ing, glac­i­er view­ing, whale watch­ing, and fish­ing, all in one leisure­ly tour. 

Quartz Creek camp­ground is sit­u­at­ed on the banks of sparkling Kenai Lake. This is a great spot to cool off on a hot day. Kenai Lake has a good sandy swim­ming beach and a trail that fol­lows along near­by Quartz Creek. Cast your line for some awe­some fly-fish­ing at the creek or look for the near­by horse sta­ble for a scenic ride. 

Well-main­tained and suit­able for sum­mer hik­ing and bik­ing, the 10-mile Devil’s Pass Trail fea­tures a steep route up a spec­tac­u­lar V‑shaped val­ley that inter­sects with the Res­ur­rec­tion Pass Trail and a rental cab­in in the alpine realm. The coun­try is rugged, with great access to cross-coun­try tun­dra explo­ration and berry picking.

Mem­bers of 1% For The Plan­et, Kayak Adven­tures World­wide strives to ful­fill their mis­sion to inspire an active stew­ard­ship of our nat­ur­al world. Through small group sea kayak tours in Res­ur­rec­tion Bay and Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park, they focus on safe­ty, edu­ca­tion, and con­nect­ing guests with the unique and frag­ile ecosys­tems you’ll visit.

Alaskan adven­tures and great lodg­ing await at the Great Alaskan Adven­ture Lodge. This all-inclu­sive expe­ri­ence lets you dri­ve or fly in to the prop­er­ty, which sits on 25 acres at the con­flu­ence of two rivers. An old home­stead with cab­ins and lux­u­ry tent options, the lodge makes for a com­fort­able stay. You’ll also find an array of adven­tures — every­thing from great fish­ing to glac­i­er cruis­ing. The own­ers have been per­fect­ing their itin­er­aries for  ...more

Prob­a­bly the sec­ond most trav­eled trail in the park, this trail offers a great day hike for those spend­ing time in the lagoon. You can start hik­ing the trail from the ranger sta­tion or the trail­head in Hal­ibut Cove Lagoon. The trail tra­vers­es up numer­ous switch­backs to a place called First Lake. On a hot sum­mer day, a soak in this lake can’t be beat.

Set sail for 5 days and 4 nights with the crew of the M/V Sea Star for small ship adven­ture cruis­ing in Prince William Sound, Kenai Penin­su­la or along the Inside Pas­sage. The well-appoint­ed yacht accom­mo­dates just 12 guests, allow­ing for a per­son­al­ized expe­ri­ence where you are the explor­er! Unplug from day-to-day life and soak up the won­ders of Alaska’s amaz­ing coast­line. All meals pre­pared by an on-board chef and fea­tur­ing fresh local  ...more

Behind the town of Seward is a moun­tain whose first peak ris­es 3022 feet. For­mer­ly Low­ell Moun­tain, it is now called Mt Marathon.

16 sites in a wood­ed set­ting. Trail to Ptarmi­gan lake departs from the campground.

Locat­ed on the banks of the Kenai Riv­er and open 7 days a week in the sum­mer. Stop by and pick up a Sol­dot­na Vis­i­tors Guide as well as view pho­tos from all over the Kenai Penin­su­la. Don’t miss the exhib­it on the world record king salmon — 97 pound, 4 ounces!

Hop on board the all-sea­son Miss­ing Lynx and Lost Lynx, the ves­sels bound for what­ev­er Seward Ocean Excur­sion suits your fan­cy. Want to whale watch, see glac­i­ers, go bird watch­ing or just check out hid­den coves? Cap­tains Bixler and Krystin McClure will help your small group plan an out­ing catered to your pref­er­ences. No mat­ter the sea­son, you can always catch some excite­ment in Res­ur­rec­tion Bay!

The McBride Fam­i­ly has per­fect­ed their all-inclu­sive world-class Alaskan expe­ri­ence. Their amaz­ing local Alaskan team and pro­fes­sion­al guides will per­son­al­ize and cus­tomize your stay based on your inter­ests, the tides, and the weath­er. Your days can be qui­et and relax­ing or filled with action-packed adven­tures includ­ing sea kayak­ing, hik­ing, casu­al beach fish­ing, tide pool­ing, marine and wildlife view­ing, boat excur­sions, beach camp­fires, bird  ...more

When in Seward, head out on the water with Alas­ka North­ern Out­fit­ters on their com­fort­able 46-foot cata­ma­ran – the Sea Quest — for an epic day of fish­ing for hal­ibut, salmon, ling­cod, and rock­fish. It’s the only char­ter ves­sel in Seward with an upper view­ing deck. This lets you sight­see or have lunch on the upper deck while watch­ing the action below. . Inside you’ll find a large and heat­ed inte­ri­or, indoor seat­ing for every­one, tables, and  ...more

Seward’s Hal­ibut Tour­na­ment, in June, offers an ear­ly-sea­son focus on this famous fish, attract­ing anglers from all over Alas­ka and beyond

Upscale casu­al restau­rant in Homer — part of Ocean Shores Resort — is a deli­cious des­ti­na­tion for lunch and din­ner and fea­tures amaz­ing views of shim­mer­ing Kachemak Bay and the moun­tains beyond.

Homer is the hal­ibut cap­i­tal of Alas­ka, and this long­time char­ter com­pa­ny offers a blue-chip way to get to the fish. They have high-qual­i­ty boats, expe­ri­enced cap­tains, and enthu­si­as­tic crews — as well as an inside line on find­ing hal­ibut, rock fish and sil­ver salmon. But they also offer a vari­ety of oth­er ways to enjoy the waters off Kachemak Bay, from wildlife cruis­ing to pad­dling a kayak or hik­ing in Kachemak Bay State Park. 

Your own idyl­lic log chalet —is sur­round­ed by more than a mil­lion acres of Kachemak Bay State Wilder­ness Park and Kenai Fjords Nation­al Mon­u­ment. Every day offers a first-class adven­ture. There are miles of love­ly hik­ing trails and trout fish­ing sup­plies are pro­vid­ed. You may ask the pilot to return and take you for a day of brown bear view­ing, or oth­er fly-out adven­ture! Immers­ing your­self in some of the best of Alas­ka involves just a  ...more

Go behind the scenes with Idi­tar­od mush­ers and get your own thrilling ride with the dogs at Turn­ing Heads Ken­nel. Choose a sum­mer dog demon­stra­tion and cart ride, or whisk off by heli­copter for glac­i­er dog sled­ding. Win­ter brings its own vari­ety of tours, which range from an hour long to mul­ti-day expe­di­tions near Wil­low, Alaska.

If you have the abil­i­ty to trans­port bicy­cles, this trail makes for a great after­noon trip. The dirt path winds through the Portage Val­ley, pass­ing glacial lakes and end­ing at Portage Lake (this part of the trip is 5 miles each way). Make sure to bring your cam­era: you’ll see hang­ing glac­i­ers and, very like­ly, some wildlife.

Need a din­ner rec­om­men­da­tion? Want to know the best place to see whales? Or how about kid-friend­ly activ­i­ties in Seward? There’s no bet­ter place to have your ques­tions answered and to learn about Seward than the Seward Cham­ber of Com­merce and Vis­i­tors Center.

Hop aboard the M/V Gam­bler and cruise out to Res­ur­rec­tion Bay for a relax­ing and per­son­al­ized out­ing with local­ly-owned Alpen­glow Char­ters. Cou­ples and fam­i­lies will rel­ish their time togeth­er explor­ing Seward’s enchant­i­ng coast­line, guid­ed by an engag­ing and knowl­edge­able crew. Options fit into the busiest of sched­ules: from a 4 hour lunch cruise, a remote overnight, to a 2‑day land and sea journey.

This trail, hands down, is one of the most pop­u­lar hikes in the Kachemak Bay State Park. It is one of the eas­i­est hikes in the park as the trail is well main­tained, and you can’t beat the view of the glac­i­er at the lake. For the first 1.5 miles, the trail mean­ders through mixed cot­ton­wood and Sit­ka spruce. These cot­ton­woods are some of the largest in the park so take time to appre­ci­ate their enor­mous size. After 1.5 miles, the trail proceeds  ...more

Tra­verse the majesty of Exit Glac­i­er by ice hik­ing or ice climb­ing, or opt for a nature hike in the gor­geous ter­rain around Seward, Alas­ka. Nev­er ice climbed or hiked on a glac­i­er? Not a prob­lem. All trips include instruc­tion to get you started.

For a clos­er, qui­eter, and more peace­ful ver­sion of the Alaskan glac­i­er and wildlife cruise, trav­el by sea kayak. Pad­dle the shore­line of Res­ur­rec­tion Bay, where encoun­ters with sea otters, seabirds, and spawn­ing salmon are com­mon. Choose from a vari­ety of three-hour excur­sions or take a full-day trip.

Seward Water­front Park extends from the small boat har­bor to the SeaL­ife Cen­ter and con­tains paid tent and RV camp­ing, play­grounds, a skate park, pic­nic­ing areas, beach access, and a trail lined with his­tor­i­cal landmarks.

The wild­flow­ers are abun­dant and ver­dant under­growth can be check high some­times. Most of the trail lies below tree­line, so there are estab­lished camp clear­ings along the way that are nes­tled into the trees. One of the best camp­sites is 10 miles in from the north­ern trail­head, set among trees on a spruce-cov­ered knoll look­ing over the trail and Bench Lake.

The 23-mile John­son Pass Trail offers hik­ers, back­pack­ers and bik­ers a well-marked route through a lush pass in the Kenai Moun­tains — fea­tur­ing grad­ual climbs, two lakes with fish, spec­tac­u­lar peaks and some way cool gorges.

Spend the after­noon, or a few days explor­ing the waters of Res­ur­rec­tion Bay and Prince William Sound aboard the M/V Car­o­line, a beau­ti­ful cus­tom-built yacht set for adven­ture! It’s the per­fect set­ting for a fam­i­ly or small group vaca­tion. Fill your days loung­ing on the fly­bridge, fish­ing, kayak­ing, strolling beach­es and cruis­ing to your next fan­tas­tic destination.

If you can’t decide whether you’d rather have sun­set or sun­rise views on vaca­tion, Between Beach­es Alas­ka per­fect. Perched on a spit near Sel­dovia that offers both East and West water views, this idyl­lic spot also offers the chance to watch whales, otters, seals, shore­birds and eagles while enjoy­ing the tran­quil­i­ty of a unique set­ting. Choose from 6 cabins.

This trib­u­tary of the Kenai Riv­er flows along­side the Ster­ling High­way, just north of Coop­er Land­ing (from mile­post 40 – 45). There are plen­ty of des­ig­nat­ed pull-offs along the high­way — like Quartz Creek Road, which leads to Kenai Lake, as well as the pop­u­lar access point at the Quartz Creek Bridge.

O’Fish’ial spe­cial­izes in salt­wa­ter hal­ibut and king salmon char­ter fish­ing expe­ri­ences out of Homer, as well as Long Range tro­phy fish hunts. Own­er Chad has spent count­less hours with sea­soned Alaskan fish­er­men who shared time-test­ed advice – and their fish­ing hotspots – with him. He com­bines this knowl­edge with a cus­tomer-ser­vice focus and pas­sion for shar­ing all the excite­ment and adven­ture Alas­ka fish­ing has to offer.

Your best bet for this trail is to go out on one low tide, spend the night — in either a for­est ser­vice cab­in or camp­site — and then return the fol­low­ing day or sev­er­al days lat­er on anoth­er low tide. Great for­est-to-beach hik­ing trail.

This cozy, fam­i­ly-run hotel fea­tures a range of com­fort­able stu­dios and suites — some of which come with ocean views. Sea­far­er Suites is walk­ing dis­tance to local restau­rants and art gal­leries, and just a few miles away from the Homer Spit.

Expe­ri­ence the unique thrill of sum­mer dog sled­ding on a glac­i­er! Lift off in a heli­copter and enjoy incred­i­ble views on your way to this amaz­ing adven­ture. Want more time in the air? Add a flight­see­ing excur­sion before or after your dog sled­ding experience!

Tour­ing Alas­ka by heli­copter gets you to unimag­in­ably wild and remote places. Some of the most amaz­ing have been scout­ed by Alas­ka Ulti­mate Safaris. Explore a glac­i­er sur­round­ed by snow-capped moun­tains, or climb to the steam­ing sum­mit of an island vol­cano. In either case, the views are unpar­al­leled and the expe­ri­ence is surreal.

This is one of the few spots along the road sys­tem where you might catch hal­ibut from the shore. Check out the beach, which sur­rounds the Land’s End Hotel, on the Homer Spit. Here, you’ll find a small park­ing lot, and the water’s only about 100 feet away.

From the base of the Homer Spit, take this 4‑mile paved trail to the Nick Dudi­ak Fish­ing Lagoon. The trail is in excel­lent con­di­tion and is flat as a pan­cake for most of its length. The first mile of trail is along a broad estu­ary that is great for bird­ing. Once you pass the one-mile mark you’ll be rid­ing past fish­ing boats that are out of the water being worked on as well as a few shops.

On the Fourth of July, the pop­u­la­tion of Seward swells from around 2,500 to a report­ed 40,000. Main Street is com­plete­ly blocked off to traf­fic and the streets fill with peo­ple. Many come to run in or watch the Mt. Marathon Race, while oth­ers come to enjoy some of the most beau­ti­ful scenery in the world and take part in the fes­tiv­i­ties. Seward’s annu­al July 4^th cel­e­bra­tion fea­tures a packed hol­i­day sched­ule of spe­cial events, presentations,…  ...more

The view will like­ly be the first thing you notice at Alaskan Suites. Set about 20 feet from the edge of a bluff, the prop­er­ty fea­tures incred­i­ble views of Kachemak Bay, Cook Inlet, and the moun­tains beyond. It’s a view you can take in from the five roman­ti­cal­ly rus­tic cab­ins, the com­mon-area hot tub, or the camp­fire pit. Do as most guests do: max­i­mize your time here by stay­ing at least two nights.

Explore a qui­et coast­line just a few miles from Homer, where you’ll kayak through the pro­tect­ed waters of Tut­ka Bay in search of amaz­ing views, wildlife and adven­ture! Your guide leads the way on a half-day or full-day tour, glid­ing past dense woods, rugged shore­line and hid­den coves. Add on fish­ing for the fresh­est in Alaskan salmon or rockfish!

This 38 mile long USFS trail starts in Hope and climbs Res­ur­rec­tion Pass (elev. 2,600) towards the south before descend­ing to the oppo­site trail­head near Coop­er Land­ing. There are 8 pub­lic use cab­ins along the trail, mak­ing this an advanced but com­fort­able day cab­in-to-cab­in hike. There are also 19 camp­sites avail­able for tent camping.

Spencer Glac­i­er ris­es 3,500 feet in a stun­ning, nat­ur­al ramp from a lake of roy­al-blue ice­bergs in the Chugach Nation­al For­est just 60 miles south of Anchor­age. It’s a fam­i­ly-friend­ly recre­ation des­ti­na­tion fea­tur­ing camp­ing, hik­ing, glac­i­er explo­ration, nature walks, pad­dling and sight­see­ing. Maybe best of all: You have to take a train to get there!

Start with a dra­mat­ic flight­see­ing trip in either a heli­copter or ski plane and then get out onto an ancient riv­er of ice for a thrilling glac­i­er explo­ration either hik­ing or climbing.

A stretch of exposed bedrock south­east of Anchor­age along Tur­na­gain Arm was gouged and pol­ished by mile-thick glac­i­ers dur­ing the last ice age. The grooves appear as smooth chan­nels carved into the rock itself by almost unimag­in­able forces. Some are sub­tle, like rip­ples, and hard to see. Oth­ers are large enough to lie inside on a sun­ny afternoon.

Out on the tip of the Kenai Penin­su­la, at (lit­er­al­ly) the end of the road, sits the quirky town of Homer — the eco­tourism cap­i­tal of Alas­ka. Artists, adven­tur­ers, and food­ies all come to expe­ri­ence the town’s cre­ative ener­gy, great restau­rants, and gor­geous wilder­ness. And at the entrance to town, just off the Ster­ling High­way, you’ll find the Homer Cham­ber of Com­merce Vis­i­tor Center.

It’s thrilling to see coastal brown bears in their nat­ur­al habi­tat, espe­cial­ly when you’re not rushed. Fly out of Homer to the Kat­mai coast for five days of amaz­ing bear view­ing with Alas­ka Bear Adven­tures. Stay overnight on the Alas­ka Dawn, a 65-foot expe­di­tion trawler, so you can eas­i­ly get back to the bears each morning.

More a gat­ed road than a trail, this hike large­ly remains a local secret among the res­i­dents of Coop­er Land­ing, the fish­ing mec­ca locat­ed some 105 miles south of Anchor­age on Ster­ling High­way. Many in this town con­sid­er it their per­son­al get­away, which makes it quite a pop­u­lar secret. A fore­man for Chugach Elec­tric (the com­pa­ny that man­ages the dam on Coop­er Lake) said he often expe­ri­enced con­ges­tion while dri­ving to the dam, due to the heavy  ...more

Many peo­ple know of the gru­el­ing Mount Marathon race­course in Seward, some 130 miles south of Anchor­age. How­ev­er, most peo­ple don’t know that there’s also a hik­ing path to the top at Race Point — and it’s far less demand­ing. This 2.25-mile route, which entails hik­ing three dif­fer­ent trails, takes you up the moun­tain and lets you to explore a glacial val­ley along the way.

Bald eagles are known to nest in this wood­ed spot near Res­ur­rec­tion Bay — and when you sign up for a tour with Stoney Creek Canopy Adven­tures, you’ll get to soar just like these icon­ic birds. This three-hour tour — the only canopy tour on the Kenai Penin­su­la — com­bines ziplines, rap­pels and sky bridges, with panoram­ic views of Mount Marathon, Res­ur­rec­tion Peaks and all the gor­geous scenery around you. It’s easy, and unde­ni­ably thrilling.

This 0.4‑mile-long trail, which begins with­in earshot of down­town Homer, plays host to a vari­ety of birds and plants. Wheel­chairs may have some trou­ble in the first few feet of soft grav­el, but once they reach the plas­tic board­walk they should find the going much eas­i­er — and maybe worth the trou­ble it took to dri­ve 4 hours from Anchorage.

Alas­ka Heav­en­ly Lodge offers the best of both worlds: all the seclu­sion and lux­u­ry nor­mal­ly asso­ci­at­ed with fly-in lodges, as well as the afford­abil­i­ty and con­ve­nience of being on the road sys­tem. Built in 1974, Alas­ka Heav­en­ly Lodge is made up of three hand-hewn log cab­ins. The Main Lodge fea­tures a full kitchen, a 16-per­son din­ing room table, a com­fy sit­ting area with a wood-burn­ing fire­place, a loft library, and a deck over­look­ing the Kenai  ...more

Expe­ri­ence the wilder­ness of the Chugach Nation­al For­est from sev­er­al dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives. Com­bine a heli­copter ride, alpine hike, glacial lake tour, riv­er raft­ing and train ride all in 9 – 10 hours! It’s one big and bold Alas­ka tour de force with Chugach Adventures.

This is a day use site that offers 13 pic­nic sites with tables, a fish view­ing plat­form, water, toi­lets, an infor­ma­tion board, and fire grates.

At the 200-acre Alas­ka Wildlife Con­ser­va­tion Cen­ter, see Alaskan wildlife up close. The center’s mis­sion is to pro­vide refuge for orphaned, injured, and ill ani­mals — those that can’t sur­vive in the wild. The cen­ter, which opened to the pub­lic in 1993, edu­cates vis­i­tors about Alaska’s wildlife. Coy­otes peer out from behind the brush while a bald eagle swoops in on the salmon remains left by a griz­zly bear. Wood Bison plod through 65 acres of tidal  ...more

Alas­ka bear camp is mag­i­cal­ly hid­den in a rare Crit­i­cal Bear Habi­tat in the wilder­ness of Lake Clark Nation­al Park. Instead of hun­dreds, only 16 priv­i­leged guests observe the won­der of up to 50 brown Bears liv­ing out their dai­ly dra­ma. Due to the beau­ty of the loca­tion and the excep­tion­al bear pop­u­la­tion, the deluxe camp, with en suite biffies, beds with mat­tress­es and food flown in dai­ly, was used as a base camp for the Dis­ney movie Bears.  ...more

Look­ing for an inti­mate and acces­si­ble get­away with an authen­tic Alaskan feel? Alas­ka Wild­land Adven­ture’s Kenai River­side Lodge will fit the bill, with just 16 cab­ins set on the Kenai Riv­er, sur­round­ed by 3,000-foot snow-capped moun­tains. This easy-access river­side lodge has a remote feel, but is still right on the road sys­tem. Meals are served fam­i­ly-style, cre­at­ing a more inti­mate expe­ri­ence, and allow­ing you to min­gle with fel­low guests and  ...more

Whether you’d like to go on a per­son­al­ized boat tour of the Homer area or take a water taxi to the Alaskan back­coun­try, Homer is an ide­al place to launch from, and Cold­wa­ter has the boats and exper­tise to get you there. Explore places like Kachemak Bay State Park, the small town of Sel­dovia, and pic­turesque Hal­ibut Cove.

If you have some out­door expe­ri­ence and an adven­tur­ous spir­it, con­sid­er this 11-mile tra­verse up the Col­orado Creek val­ley and down the Sum­mit Creek. Begin­ning 2 hours south of Anchor­age, this tra­verse doesn’t involve any rock scram­bling, riv­er cross­ings, or ardu­ous bush­whack­ing. But if you feel com­fort­able hik­ing in wide and track­less coun­try, you may reap the reward of hav­ing an entire val­ley to yourself.

The port city of Seward is a clas­sic stop on any Alas­ka itin­er­ary, thanks to its prox­im­i­ty to Chugach Nation­al For­est and Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park. But it’s also one of the more diverse places to fly. This tour oper­a­tor offers stun­ning birds-eye views of the area’s alpine mead­ows, glac­i­ers and fjords, as well as the chance to touch down, explore the ter­rain and even meet sled dogs.

This is one of Home­r’s top hikes. It starts on top of Bay­crest Hill, cross­es Dia­mond Ridge Road, then fol­lows Cross­man Ridge to the Bridge Creek Reser­voir. Through­out, it rolls through forests, mead­ows and over streams. The area is excel­lent for bird­ing and catch­ing a glimpse at the occa­sion­al moose.

Indeed, the Har­bor 360 Hotel has a pret­ty lit­er­al name: Locat­ed on Seward’s water­front, this 96 room hotel offers stun­ning 360-degree views: You’ll see the Seward Small Boat Har­bor and Res­ur­rec­tion Bay if you book a Har­bor­side room, or the Kenai Moun­tains if you book a Moun­tain­side room.

Spend sev­er­al hours or a full day watch­ing bears in the wild on a quin­tes­sen­tial Alaskan adven­ture with a fam­i­ly-run com­pa­ny. Start with a scenic flight out of Homer over Kachemak Bay and into Kat­mai or Lake Clark Nation­al Park. Once you land, your pilot/​guide will take you to an opti­mal spot to watch and pho­to­graph these mag­nif­i­cent crea­tures in their nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment, hunt­ing, play­ing, and relax­ing. Spend any­where from 1.5 to 9 hours on the  ...more

Ocean Shores offers amaz­ing views from all of its sites — plus, it’s warmer here than on the Homer Spit, since it’s not as windy. Most sites come with a pic­nic table and three shared fire rings over­look­ing the bay. You’ll also find cable TV and Wi-Fi, as well as coin-oper­at­ed show­ers and laundry.

This tiny cove, 10 miles from Seward, offers a com­bi­na­tion of unplugged bliss, cool yurt liv­ing, and a kayaker’s par­adise. The two ​“unplugged” yurts each come with a queen-size bed and full size sofa bed, a table and chairs, linens, and a kitch­enette. You get unlim­it­ed use of kayaks dur­ing your stay — and giv­en the amount of sun­light dur­ing sum­mer, that means you can be pad­dling in and out of coves at mid­night if you feel like it!

The trail fol­lows the south end of Coop­er Lake and ends at Upper Russ­ian Lakes Cab­in, 13 miles from the win­ter trail­head. There is lit­tle ele­va­tion gain or loss on this forest­ed trail.

12 by 14 rus­tic cab­in on Res­ur­rec­tion Creek in spruce-birch for­est with moun­tain views. Sleep­ing bunks for six with space for eight. Equipped with counter space, table, bench­es, wood stove, split­ting maul and hand saw. Out­house and bear locker. 

Mile 29.2 Res­ur­rec­tion Pass Trail. This cab­in sits at the south end of Juneau Lake. A rus­tic cab­in with counter space, a table, bench­es and a wood stove for heat. Sleeps eight with bunks for six. Oth­er fea­tures include a split­ting maul and saw, an out­house — and a canoe with pad­dles for explor­ing the lake. Check Availability  ...more

Cal­lis­to Cab­in is locat­ed in the Caines Head State Recre­ation Area, approx­i­mate­ly 7 nau­ti­cal miles south of Seward in Res­ur­rec­tion Bay. The cab­in can be reached by the coastal tidal trail, or by water taxi or floatplane. 

Not many tourists dri­ve down Nash Road, which is one of the rea­sons why it’s spe­cial. A few miles down the road, you’ll find a marked entrance to a sec­tion of the Idi­tar­od Trail, which makes for great walk­ing in the sum­mer and cross-coun­try ski­ing in the winter.

In an old rail­car, this bar­be­cue joint has per­son­al­i­ty and serves good ​“Q”. They do break­fast in addi­tion to lunch. The serv­ings are big, the qual­i­ty is great — but the seat­ing is lim­it­ed (it’s in a rail­car after all). On a nice day you can sit at tables out­side, but if it’s rainy, you might want to get it to go. Their pulled pork is excel­lent, but it’s all qual­i­ty. Try the eggs bene­dict with crab for break­fast, or the hash.

Homer’s Pratt Muse­um pre­serves the sto­ries of the Kachemak Bay region and pro­vides a gath­er­ing place for peo­ple to learn and to be inspired by this region and its place in the world. The museum’s exten­sive col­lec­tion offers an excel­lent way to learn more about the land­scape, com­mu­ni­ties and ecosys­tems of the area.

The muse­um presents the chief events of Seward’s his­to­ry through pho­tographs, arti­facts and doc­u­ments. There is also a fine col­lec­tion of Native bas­kets and ivory carv­ings on dis­play. Dur­ing the sum­mer there are evening pro­grams con­sist­ing of two slide shows: The His­to­ry of Seward and The His­to­ry of the Idi­tar­od Trail. A spe­cial open house is held every August 28 in hon­or of the found­ing of Seward in 1903. Muse­um shop car­ries books by local  ...more

The cab­in is locat­ed on an island of Tus­tu­me­na Lake in the Kenai Wilder­ness area.

Find out how the sock­eye salmon in this lake ben­e­fit from the clear waters.

The Kenaitze Indi­an Tribe’s Dena’ina ances­tors, rec­og­niz­ing the abun­dance of the place called Yagha­nen, ​“the good land,” set­tled along the banks of its rivers and Tikaht­nu (Cook Inlet). In the past sev­er­al years, one loca­tion the Kenaitze Tribe has focused on is Sqi­lant­nu, mean­ing ​“the gro­cery store,” locat­ed in the area now called Coop­er Land­ing. Today, Kenaitze Indi­an Tribe part­ners with the Chugach Nation­al For­est to pre­serve, pro­tect and  ...more

Rus­tic Cab­in, approx­i­mate­ly 16′ x 20′, locat­ed on North­east­ern shore of Hol­gate Arm in Aia­lik Bay.

Ever gone ice fish­ing? Cari­bou lake is a great place to enjoy this cold and unique expe­ri­ence. You can spend a qui­et day to your­self, fish­ing for Dol­ly Var­den and Koka­nee. Or if you’re feel­ing more com­pet­i­tive, you can par­tic­i­pate in the Sno­mad’s (Home­r’s snow machine club) annu­al ice fish­ing con­test. (Either way, dress in warm lay­ers and be pre­pared to sit or stand in the cold!)

Although this cab­in is not acces­si­ble from the road sys­tem, it bears men­tion­ing as a Nation­al His­toric Site in the Cor­ri­dor. Har­ry A. John­son arrived in Seward in 1904 from Erie, Penn­syl­va­nia. A 30-year-old black­smith, he came north to help build the railroad. 

A two-sto­ry log cab­in with a loft sleeps eight with bunk space for sev­en. It has counter space table, bench­es and a wood stove for heat. Oth­er fea­tures include split­ting maul and hand saw, an out­house — and a row­boat with oars. Check Availability 

Mile 2.3 Russ­ian Lakes Trail. This rus­tic cab­in in a flat area along the east­ern shore of Low­er Russ­ian Lake fea­tures a row­boat with oars. It sleeps eight, with bunks for six, and includes cook­ing counter, table, bench­es, wood stove, spit­ting maul and saw, and an out­house. Check Availability   ...more

The cab­in is locat­ed on the north shore of Engi­neer Lake. The cab­in is south fac­ing over­look­ing the lake sur­round­ed by spruce and birch trees. Two bunk beds, table with bench­es, wood stove, broom, shov­el, water buck­et, fire extin­guish­er, estab­lished camp­fire ring, and outhouse.

Orig­i­nal­ly built in 1956 as a bar at the end of a 5 mile grav­el road which served Glac­i­er Ice Mar­gar­i­tas. In 1964 a restau­rant and lodg­ing was added, but the lodg­ing por­tion was elim­i­nat­ed in 1980. The only place to eat in the val­ley, this fam­i­ly-run day lodge has a gift shop and serves cafe­te­ria-style food.

The Sea Star Cove pub­lic-use cab­in is locat­ed in Tut­ka Bay, about three-quar­ters of the way in, on your right, on the south side. The cab­in is sur­round­ed by large, old-growth Sit­ka spruce. By far, this is the best Pub­lic Use Cab­in in the park, and it has many hik­ing and kayak­ing options if used as a base.

Join us as we drift down­stream through one of the world’s most beau­ti­ful fresh­wa­ter salmon fish­eries, pass­ing grav­el bars left by a glacial flood, migrat­ing salmon, brown bears, and human fish­ers as you float on by.

Palmer Creek and the road that fol­lows it were named after George Palmer, who in 1894 first dis­cov­ered gold on its banks. The creek was the site of ear­ly plac­er min­ing and lat­er lode min­ing. Evi­dence of the his­toric Lucky Strike and Hir­shey mines, as well as the Swet­mann camp, can be found along trails that lead to Palmer Lakes. Sev­er­al hik­ing trails are acces­si­ble from the Palmer Creek Road. 

12-by-14 rus­tic cab­in tucked away from the trail in a scat­tered spruce for­est near the more open sub­alpine zone at 2,200 feet. Sleeps 6, with table, wood stove, split­ting maul, cross­cut saw, and outhouse. 

Stretch your legs at this pic­turesque stream and per­haps drop in a line. At Dav­es Creek you’ll find good fish­ing for dol­ly var­den and rain­bow trout. Salmon can be seen spawn­ing here in mid-July through September.

Known to locals as the Divide Ski Area, this trail was built by ded­i­cat­ed com­mu­ni­ty vol­un­teers from the Seward Nordic Ski Club.

Vis­it local gal­leries and shops in down­town Seward to see fea­tured local artists and enjoy local Alaskan hos­pi­tal­i­ty. See hand­made jew­el­ry, pot­tery, pho­tog­ra­phy, paint­ings, met­al work, carv­ings, cloth­ing and more. Occa­sion­al­ly the event includes local musi­cians, dancers or drummers.

A rus­tic log cab­in with counter space, a table, bench­es and a wood stove for heat. Sleeps eight, with bunks for six. Oth­er fea­tures include split­ting maul and saw, out­house — and a row­boat equipped with oars for explor­ing the lake. Check Availability   ...more

Hid­den in the trees, this lit­tle log cab­in vis­i­tor’s cen­ter can be easy to miss! How­ev­er, make sure to stop by and learn about all the activ­i­ties and sights to see in the sur­round­ing area. 

Sushi is the focus here, and you’ll find an exten­sive sushi menu as well as spe­cial­ty rolls. But that’s not all. Wasabi’s also does great seafood, steak, and duck entrees, all with fresh, local ingre­di­ents. There are also cre­ative drinks (and drink spe­cials), often made with infused liquors — look for the huge jar of straw­ber­ries soaked in vodka.

This is a pop­u­lar attrac­tion with wildlife exhibits, free wildlife films, and rangers avail­able to answer about recre­ation and camp­ing in the refuge. Take a short walk down the nature trail to a view­ing plat­form. Use the spot­ting scope to look for wildlife on Head­quar­ters Lake.

Would­n’t it be nice to afford a sum­mer home one day? Well, most species of birds have both a sum­mer and win­ter home. Note which bird makes this lake its warm weath­er getaway. 

Doug Capra first came to Alas­ka in 1971 as a teacher — his first job was out in the Aleut­ian Islands. Now liv­ing on the Kenai Penin­su­la, he con­tin­ues to teach you all about a place he loves.

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.

This is a great spot to fish for Dol­ly Var­den begin­ning in August.

See the small body of water to the right? This is the upper end of Hid­den Lake. Find out what nat­ur­al changes have occurred to it over time. 

While you’re explor­ing Homer and it’s eco­log­i­cal-rich envi­rons, a stop at the Cen­ter for Alaskan Coastal Stud­ies adds to your appre­ci­a­tion of the his­to­ry and wildlife of the area.

King salmon enter dur­ing late-May and ear­ly-June and there are always some fish spawn­ing in areas near the high­way dur­ing ear­ly-July. Wear polar­ized glass­es if you have them and watch for dark red kings in the rif­fles and deep­er holes. A very lim­it­ed fish­ing sea­son is avail­able on these streams dur­ing the ear­ly sum­mer for both salmon and steelhead.

If you’re a bird watch­er, you’ll love this half-mile trail of Aspen and Spruce forest.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? On this lake it could be either. 

Big-screen tele­vi­sions for the game. It’s fun and loud when it’s busy and serves up stan­dard pub food. If you’re look­ing for a sports bar, this is the only one. If you’re look­ing for food along­side the game, get a burg­er. The menu is aver­age and can be hit or miss, but the burg­ers are con­sis­tent­ly big and juicy, and can be ordered with buf­fa­lo, elk or caribou.

Here you’ll find 16 camp sites sit­u­at­ed among the trees. The camp­ground offers toi­lets, fresh water and shelters. 

Soldotna’s home­stead­ers arrived in 1947, vis­it the Sol­dot­na Home­stead Muse­um and take a look at some of the area’s ear­ly home­stead cab­ins. The muse­um also fea­tures hand­made uten­sils and pio­neer objects as well as Alas­ka Native arti­facts, boats and the orig­i­nal school­house. Hours Sum­mer only or by appt. Admis­sion No admis­sion fee, dona­tions accepted.

Cab­in in the Kenai Nation­al Wildlife Refuge. The trail­head to the cab­in is locat­ed on the Ski­lak Lake Road, mile 7.5 from the east entrance junc­tion with the Ster­ling High­way. The cab­in is locat­ed .2 miles from the road on the Upper Ohmer Lake Trail. 

Stop off here dur­ing the sum­mer for an eagle’s eye view of an annu­al Alaskan fish­ing fren­zy. We real­ly love our salmon, and it shows! Or, just count the bald eagles cir­cling high overhead.

This is a pop­u­lar boat launch for drift boaters fish­ing for king salmon. The Kasilof Riv­er red salmon dip­net fish­ery is here, but only open to Alas­ka res­i­dents. It’s worth a look if you’ve nev­er seen dip­net­ters in action before. There are 16 camp­sites, water, tables, toi­lets, hik­ing trails, a boat launch and fishing.

Mile­post 17.7, Seward High­wayKe­nai Lake offered a flat tree­less path to trav­el in win­ter. This trail was one of two over­land routes to Sun­rise and Hope. (The oth­er over­land route was through Portage Pass.) Min­ers trav­eled by dogsled from Seward to Snow Riv­er and on to Kenai Lake. At the oth­er end of the 17 mile lake, trav­el­ers would fol­low Quartz Creek north through Tur­na­gain Pass along Canyon Creek to the gold rush towns of Sun­rise and Hope.  ...more

This 16 x 16 cab­in is locat­ed on the north bank of Big Indi­an Creek. This cab­in offers seclu­sion and the oppor­tu­ni­ty to explore the remote north­east inte­ri­or of the Refuge. Wildlife includes moose, black and brown bears and wolves. Hunt­ing and trap­ping is allowed. In the win­ter there is cross-coun­ty ski­ing and snow­shoe­ing. Review Alas­ka depart­ment of Fish and Game hunt­ing and fish­ing regulations. 

Built between 1894 – 96, the Holy Assump­tion Ortho­dox Church is the most endur­ing exam­ple of Russ­ian cul­ture in south cen­tral Alas­ka. For the Kenaitze Indi­ans, who once com­prised a sig­nif­i­cant por­tion of the pop­u­la­tion, this church con­sti­tut­ed a major link to west­ern cul­ture. A sim­ple, wood-frame struc­ture with clap­board sid­ing, Holy Assump­tion Church fea­tures a square two-sto­ry bell tow­er and a dis­tinc­tive crown-shaped cupo­la, both with the…  ...more

A quaint town with some of the best scenery in Alas­ka: Seward makes most people’s must-stop list for any Alas­ka odyssey, and this small inn just out­side town gives you easy access to all of it. Opened in 2010, the five-room inn set on five acres is a 10-minute dri­ve from down­town Seward, the city’s boat har­bor and the famed Alas­ka Sea Life Cen­ter. Innkeep­ers Shane and Gala Davis have lived in Alas­ka most of their lives: he’s a commercial…  ...more

This is a great spot to grab break­fast or lunch before a day on the water. Or, if you aren’t head­ing out, enjoy a bite over­look­ing the har­bor. There’s lim­it­ed seat­ing, but it’s easy enough to get a table except at the lunch rush. It’s a stan­dard deli, order, grab a num­ber and take a seat. The cin­na­mon rolls are big and good, and the break­fast bur­ri­tos are good too.

Serv­ing up local­ly brewed beers in a fun, fam­i­ly-friend­ly pub atmos­phere, St. Elias is a favorite with locals and trav­el­ers. It draws a crowd and can get loud and a lit­tle wild if they have live music. But with­out a band, it’s a fun, hap­pen­ing place. They have a great deck for nice after­noons, serve sam­pler flights of their beer and have great piz­za and big salads.

A wood-burn­ing fire­place and spec­tac­u­lar views of the Kenai Riv­er and Mount Cecil Rhodes cre­ate an invit­ing atmos­phere in the Rod & Reel Restau­rant. While this is a fine-din­ing restau­rant, it’s not for­mal — you won’t find table linens or pre­ten­tious wait­ers. Come with the kids or just drop in for any meal. This is a pop­u­lar place with locals, who know it’s one of the bet­ter options on the Kenai. There’s an exten­sive wine list, Alaskan beers…  ...more

Locat­ed at the top right hand side of the entrance of Sadie cove. The site is over­look­ing the cove and out to the Kachemak Bay and Eldred Passage.

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The yurt is locat­ed about ¾ the way up Tut­ka Bay on the right as head­ing up the bay. It is approx­i­mate­ly 1 mile past the Hatch­ery entrance and about ½ mile from the Sea Star state cab­in rental. The yurt is locat­ed on the promi­nence just past the beach with the state park camp­ground and the trail­head marker.