The Adventures of Myron and Dorcas: Homer AK

We departed Valdez on Friday July 7, headed for Anchorage. We backtracked north on the Richardson Highway about 120 miles to Glennallen, then turned west on the Glenn Highway towards Anchorage. We spent Friday night at a roadside overlook at Eureka Summit, at 3,322 feet, the highest point on the Glenn Highway, in a cool misty drizzle. On Friday and Saturday we saw a large number of bicyclists on the road. It was so wet and cold that we were surprised they were out, until we realized they were participating in the Fireweed 400, an annual bike race from Sheep Mountain Lodge near our camp at Eureka Summit to Valdez. It didn't look like fun. Unfortunately, I lost all the photos taken on this Friday afternoon and evening. The photo files for that period existed, but contained no data. DANG!

On Saturday, after crossing the summit we dropped into the Matanuska Valley with some good views of the Matanuska Glacier and the Matanuska River. If the name Matanuska sounds familiar, it is because it was the name of the ferry we rode on every sailing during our trip up the inside passage in June.

Matanuska Glacier

Matanuska River

Matanuska River on the Glenn Highway

We continued south down the Matanuska Valley on the Glenn Highway and stopped at the home of a friend in Eagle River near Anchorage, where we spent the next 4 nights. We returned to this camp at Eagle River a week later for another visit. I will discuss our visits in the Anchorage/Eagle River area in a later post.

Our camp at Eagle River

View from camp at Eagle River

On Wednesday July 12 we left Eagle River headed for Homer near the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula.

The Kenai Peninsula

Turnagain Arm

Portage Glacier near Whittier

Salmon Display at Chugach NF visitor center

Matilda and friend at an overlook on the Sterling Highway

Kenai River

Floater on the Kenai River

We spent the night at the Fred Meyer store in Soldotna. This store is famous for its hospitality to the RVing public. They have a dedicated overnight parking area and a sewer dump station.

Our camp in Soldotna

The best bakery in Alaska

Baked goods from the Moose is Loose bakery in Soldotna:

Halibut cookies

Salmon cookies

We took a short detour to Anchor Point, the site of North America's most westerly highway.

The beach at Anchor Point

Anchor Point is another popular Alaska fishing destination. Boats are launched directly on the beach via a tractor and trailer.

The bridge over Anchor River

We crossed this bridge over Anchor River. Click HERE to see a video of us crossing the Anchor River bridge. Our height is less than 13', but not by much. We were definitely overweight.

Finally arrived in Homer

The "Spit" is a narrow peninsula perhaps even an island, extending into Kachemak Bay at Homer. The small boat harbor and the city campgrounds are located on the spit.

View of Homer Spit

Our camp at Fishing Hole CG on Homer Spit

The fishing hole is an artificial lagoon stocked with salmon each season. The fish then leave the lagoon to live and grow in the ocean for several years, before returning to spawn. Of course it is a dead-end run for them, and they are harvested by fishermen. Kinda like shooting fish in a barrel.

The Fishing Hole

Our camp at high tide

Our camp at low tide

View of Grewingk Glacier across Kachemak Bay

Salty Dawg Saloon on the spit

Inside the Salty Dawg

Homer's small boat harbor

Showing off their halibut

Cleaning salmon. Note netting to keep the gulls out.

A unique RV

I have long wanted to go fishing for halibut, and this was the time and place. I had a coupon offering 2 for the price of one on an all day halibut fishing trip with Ninilchik Charters. Dorcas was not keen on going. Go figure. Brad from Colorado was parked next to us on the spit, and he eagerly agreed to share the 2 for one deal. We departed at 6am on the "Sundy" for a 12-hour trip.

The Sundy

Myron and Brad

Myron and crew

The Sundy has corporate sponsors

Garrett, our captain

We motored about 2 hours into Cook Inlet and dropped anchor to fish. I had one of the first fish on.

My first catch.

I was fishing water almost 300 feet deep and got a tremendous strike. Unfortunately it was a skate and not a halibut. After finally getting him up 300' to the surface, Garrett cut him loose.

The limit for halibut was 2 fish, including one over 28". The objective was to catch the biggest fish you could, your "over", and another fish at 27.999", your "under". My "over" was 35". I don't know the size of my "under", but he was pretty puny. I should have put him back and fished for a bigger "under", but didn't really know better at the time. The other guys were throwing a lot of fish back to maximize the "over" and "under". In any case, my "over" was pretty good.

My catch

We made a total of three drops during the day. Sometimes there were 3-4 fish on at one time. Everyone caught their limit.

On the way back home Cierra cleaned and filleted the whole catch. Everyone's cleaned fish was placed in a large garbage bag.

When we arrived back at the dock, we were met by a guy from Homer Fish Processing. The next morning I picked up my catch: 19.6 pounds of halibut frozen and vacuum packed into one-pound portions. Halibut was selling for over $20/pound in the Homer markets, so I think it was a pretty good haul.

The rest of the crew

Halibut cheeks are especially cherished

Homer Harbor at dusk

One morning this ship, the Helenka B approached the beach near our camp. I watched her come in and wondered where she was going and why.

Then she drove the ship right up on the beach.

Then the tide went out, and she looked a bit like a beached whale.

I looked up the Helenka B, and it has quite a history. The ship was originally christened the USS Surfbird, and served as a minesweeper during WWII. She also served in the Korean and Vietnam wars. In 1975 the boat was bought and renamed the Helenka B. It was shortened and the bow ramp was added. Since then she has hauled freight and goods throughout Alaska. She is particularly suited to hauling odd loads to remote places that don't have docking facilities. As you can see, she can drive right up onto the beach and discharge her load. I talked with the crew and learned they were parking here for a few days to perform some maintenance.