Homer, AK

[BC.]

Anybody out there have any knowledge/ connections in Homer, AK? Daughter accepted a guide job this summer (May-September) at True North in Homer. We are scrambling for beta/housing, transportation, etc….

Any help would be greatly appreciated….

[wkd-rdr]

Dang it, now I'm hungry for Halibut!

[Buzzworthy]

Might be worth cross posting in Ski/Snowboard for better visibility. Congrats to her new adventure.

[highangle]

Anybody out there have any knowledge/ connections in Homer, AK? Daughter accepted a guide job this summer (May-September) at True North in Homer. We are scrambling for beta/housing, transportation, etc….

Any help would be greatly appreciated….

It'll work out fine Dad - let her handle it.

I'll keep an eye out for a $1000 car that might get her b&f to Anchorage or Slodotna, but she should bring or buy a bike nice enough to put some commute miles on and maybe sell before she leaves. There's a regular short bus and flights to ANC, where there's no sales tax and it's Gear Heaven.

A lot of kids live out of a pack and camp all summer, but then again a lot of chicks team up on a car and a short term place with a proper shower. Her employer has been in town a long time and can help.

[BC.]

Thx…yeah, just found out this past week..so she’ll have a couple months to figure it out. UVM family.

-EWR-ANC flight
-most likely bus to Homer
-Offered a yurt rental (May-Sept.)
-Will rent/buy a bike once she gets out there…

[idahospud]

Anybody out there have any knowledge/ connections in Homer, AK? Daughter accepted a guide job this summer (May-September) at True North in Homer. We are scrambling for beta/housing, transportation, etc….

Any help would be greatly appreciated….

I could recommend some people to not meet who look great on paper but I won't post it publicly.

Sounds like a fantastic adventure for her!

[cat in january]

BFD likely will chime in with all the deets

[highangle]

Thx…yeah, just found out this past week..so she’ll have a couple months to figure it out. UVM family.

-EWR-ANC flight
-most likely bus to Homer
-Offered a yurt rental (May-Sept.)
-Will rent/buy a bike once she gets out there…

Call Billy Koitzsch at Arctic Cycles. He rents fatbikes near Kincaid Park trail system as a side hustle to support his endurance habit, but tell him what you need and how much you can spend and he will do or recco the rest better than any noob can do on her own. Billy is the first hellman to ride the Iditarod + Iron Dog Trail in winter btw, he sorta knows his way around a bike and Alaska in general.

Anchorage bus system very bike friendly. Hotels too, which, Be Advised you can't camp in Anchorage any more than a decent person could camp in Mos Eisley.

Byrd Creek to the S and Eagle River to the N are closest place for non-homeless to camp in a safe CG. Of course, a person can get away from civilization right quick in the Chugach above town, and there's hella trails, but that's way too much on first day on a new subcontinent.

If budget/time allow, get here early and rent a car to explore a little bit before tourist season, and hit Costco for grubstake before heading S to the expensiver KPB, where Alaskans go for vacation. REI in ANC has same prices, but no sales tax.

You can get anything you need or want in Anchorage, but The Gear Shed in Homer has the best prices on Xtra Tuffs in Alaska, and Victorinox knives and prob most kayak deck gear, and Grundens Helly Guy Cotton raingear too, great sweats, tshirts - Must-Do shopping in Homer. Pretty sure they carry PattyG dry suits too.

NoMar Marine handstitches badass gear and clothing in Homer, incl shopping bags and packs made of brailer bag material which are buy-it-for-life awesome.
There's lots of good food in Homer too, from hippie bake shops to French chefs, and a big tourist and charterboat scene down on the Spit.

Eating well is not a problem in Homer. And the town will be full of awesome kids gratefully working in tourist jobs to be in Heaven.

She's gonna have the time of her life!

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Call Billy Koitzsch at Arctic Cycles. He rents fatbikes near Kincaid Park trail system as a side hustle to support his endurance habit, but tell him what you need and how much you can spend and he will do or recco the rest better than any noob can do on her own. Billy is the first hellman to ride the Iditarod + Iron Dog Trail in winter btw, he sorta knows his way around a bike and Alaska in general.

Anchorage bus system very bike friendly. Hotels too, which, Be Advised you can't camp in Anchorage any more than a decent person could camp in Mos Eisley.

Byrd Creek to the S and Eagle River to the N are closest place for non-homeless to camp in a safe CG. Of course, a person can get away from civilization right quick in the Chugach above town, and there's hella trails, but that's way too much on first day on a new subcontinent.

If budget/time allow, get here early and rent a car to explore a little bit before tourist season, and hit Costco for grubstake before heading S to the expensiver KPB, where Alaskans go for vacation. REI in ANC has same prices, but no sales tax.

You can get anything you need or want in Anchorage, but The Gear Shed in Homer has the best prices on Xtra Tuffs in Alaska, and Victorinox knives and prob most kayak deck gear, and Grundens Helly Guy Cotton raingear too, great sweats, tshirts - Must-Do shopping in Homer. Pretty sure they carry PattyG dry suits too.

NoMar Marine handstitches badass gear and clothing in Homer, incl shopping bags and packs made of brailer bag material which are buy-it-for-life awesome.
There's lots of good food in Homer too, from hippie bake shops to French chefs, and a big tourist and charterboat scene down on the Spit.

Eating well is not a problem in Homer. And the town will be full of awesome kids gratefully working in tourist jobs to be in Heaven.

She's gonna have the time of her life!

As long as she stays in the bike lane and off the road!


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[BC.]

Thanks guys…the info ur providing is much appreciated. Her adventure begins in mid May.

We plan to visit in mid July…we knew we would eventually get to AK…just didn’t think it was going to be this summer…lol.

[highangle]

As long as she stays in the bike lane and off the road!


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

Good point - she could just load all her shit into a kayak and work the tides down to KBay

[JimmyCarter]

Call Billy Koitzsch at Arctic Cycles. He rents fatbikes near Kincaid Park trail system as a side hustle to support his endurance habit, but tell him what you need and how much you can spend and he will do or recco the rest better than any noob can do on her own. Billy is the first hellman to ride the Iditarod + Iron Dog Trail in winter btw, he sorta knows his way around a bike and Alaska in general.

Anchorage bus system very bike friendly. Hotels too, which, Be Advised you can't camp in Anchorage any more than a decent person could camp in Mos Eisley.

Byrd Creek to the S and Eagle River to the N are closest place for non-homeless to camp in a safe CG. Of course, a person can get away from civilization right quick in the Chugach above town, and there's hella trails, but that's way too much on first day on a new subcontinent.

If budget/time allow, get here early and rent a car to explore a little bit before tourist season, and hit Costco for grubstake before heading S to the expensiver KPB, where Alaskans go for vacation. REI in ANC has same prices, but no sales tax.

You can get anything you need or want in Anchorage, but The Gear Shed in Homer has the best prices on Xtra Tuffs in Alaska, and Victorinox knives and prob most kayak deck gear, and Grundens Helly Guy Cotton raingear too, great sweats, tshirts - Must-Do shopping in Homer. Pretty sure they carry PattyG dry suits too.

NoMar Marine handstitches badass gear and clothing in Homer, incl shopping bags and packs made of brailer bag material which are buy-it-for-life awesome.
There's lots of good food in Homer too, from hippie bake shops to French chefs, and a big tourist and charterboat scene down on the Spit.

Eating well is not a problem in Homer. And the town will be full of awesome kids gratefully working in tourist jobs to be in Heaven.

She's gonna have the time of her life!

That garage turned pizza place still exist? That was pretty great.

[up an down]

Thanks guys…the info ur providing is much appreciated. Her adventure begins in mid May.

We plan to visit in mid July…we knew we would eventually get to AK…just didn’t think it was going to be this summer…lol.

If you want to raft while there I highly recommend a side trip to Chugach Outdoor Center near Hope.. They raft on the Six Mile creek... A good friend of mine runs/owns the rafting company....https://chugachoutdoorcenter.com

[highangle]

Thanks guys…the info ur providing is much appreciated. Her adventure begins in mid May.

We plan to visit in mid July…we knew we would eventually get to AK…just didn’t think it was going to be this summer…lol.

Plotting and planning and preparation are a big part of it, don't cheat yourselves. Alaska is special.

Unless your dates are already locked, look for neap tides during the Kenai sockeye run if you want best odds for a halibut/salmon meat haul while you're on the western KP.
Let your daughter hook you up with a charter closer to your visit. She'll prob have insider info who's slayin'em or who otherwise has the most fun. You want to have a plan for bad weather, and know what to expect from a charter operator if you get blown out. [Hint: you ain't getting your deposit back]

You can ship fish back home, but it's cheaper to check frozen fish as baggage. Anchorage airport knows all about it, and even has a freezer you can check in your fish or game several days before your flight, heh.


ProTip: Cook Inlet experiences 35' tides, and you need 4+lbs of weight to get your bait to the bottom in the currents near spring tides, so neap tides are optimal in CI.


ADF&G has a "Fish Counts" for select salmon streams like the Kenai River, a mere 100mi up the road from Homer but deffo worth a run to fish and bear view from the bank or boat with fly gear iff there's salmon going upstream.
There's Alaska-class trout beading just up the road from Homer if the saltwater is blowing closeout sets. All the clearwater streams you cross on the way down have trout like only Alaska [but none of it is dryfly]. Good news is there's worlds of info online about the fishing.

[highangle]

If you want to raft while there I highly recommend a side trip to Chugach Outdoor Center near Hope.. They raft on the Six Mile creek... A good friend of mine runs/owns the rafting company....https://chugachoutdoorcenter.com

Six Mile Creek is the premier Ak guided rafting run and will get your attention no matter your level of experience. The other operator there is NOVA, yeah, that NOVA, and it's customary for the summer guides of all the other rafting operations to book group runs of SixMile with NOVA or COC before they head home after season on the Nenena or Gulkana.

[highangle]

That garage turned pizza place still exist? That was pretty great.

Last pizza I had in Homer was upscale. Deffo not a garage. Homer is not on my path, but I have spent weeks there at a time, if not lately.
I was there in the 90s when Homer was a real scene and every Sunday the East End had a free food hippie feed for a couple hundred with volleyball nets and horseshoe pits and frisbee football and $4 local brew and the English Bay Band and alpenglow lighting up the glaciers across The Bay...

Twas there, in fact, that I got conned into the last of the 24-hour Halibut Openers [before IFQ], on a whim. heh

[JimmyCarter]

Last pizza I had in Homer was upscale. Deffo not a garage. Homer is not on my path, but I have spent weeks there at a time, if not lately.
I was there in the 90s when Homer was a real scene and every Sunday the East End had a free food hippie feed for a couple hundred with volleyball nets and horseshoe pits and frisbee football and $4 local brew and the English Bay Band and alpenglow lighting up the glaciers across The Bay...

Twas there, in fact, that I got conned into the last of the 24-hour Halibut Openers [before IFQ], on a whim. heh

Dunno, last time I was there was the week McCain picked Palin as his running mate.

Hippy breakfast burrito place was pretty solid and the best fish sandwich ever from some place on the spit. Don’t think I had a bad meal in that town.

[Brownski]

Nothing to offer but encouragement- haven’t been to Homer since 94 when I wandered through before starting a summer job outside of Denali. Your daughter is gonna have a great adventure. Give yourself as much time as possible when you visit and explore around a little yourself. You will have fun.

[Toadman]

Dang it, now I'm hungry for Halibut!

Absolute best fish and chips I have ever had was in Homer. Nothing like Halibut fish and chips from Homer, AK.

[subtle plague]

As long as she stays in the bike lane and off the road!


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

IF SHE DOESN'T, SHE LL GET FIRE AND WRATH!

[alpinevibes]

We had good friends living in Homer from 2013-2019 and went up a few times. Great town and good vibes. We did a fun overnight on a summer trip to the yurt on Humpy Creek across Kachemak bay. We hiked up to the Grewingk Glacier the next day and explored a bit. Fun side trip and nice way to get out into the wilderness a bit. You can hire a water taxi out of Homer for $75-100 pp, r/t.

https://www.alaskanyurtrentals.com/kachemak-bay-yurts

[NBABUCKS1]

since we're all telling homer stories...

I used to do salmon work in the kenai and would fly across k bay to china poot lake and fertilize that lake for hatchery work. Would always visit the people that owned that cabin on the island for cookies.

also used to fly out of there to go across cook inlet to go live with bears for 6 weeks at a time

and board the ferry to go home to kodiak.

good times in homer thanks for bringing back memories and i have no pro tips for your daughter.

[BC.]

We are all booked…flights, lodging, cars, etc. This will do some financial damage…but what the hell/ it’s AK.

Daughter leaves at end of UVM semester in May.

We leave last week of July to go visit her in Homer for a week. We’ll try to see/do as much as we can in the 5 days we are in the area.

Thanks again for the well wishes/ recommendations….much appreciated.

[ötzi]

Is there still a bar at the end of the road?

[BC.]

Daughter had a great summer at True North …..We went out at the end of July to visit/ had an awesome time meeting all her new friends/co workers…..and of course, seeing/hiking/kayaking/fishing as much of Anchorage/Kenai River/Homer as we could in our time.

Memories good/bad, will never be forgotten….my mother passed away back at home while we were on the trip/so obviously our trip was cut short….but I know my mother was very proud of her granddaughter and all of our family adventures.

Had some really good beers (Anchorage/49th State/Grace Ridge)….

I am hoping she goes back next summer and turns it into a year long gig between AK/HI…lol.
Guiding in AK/HI > Teaching in VT