Alaska trip help- Is Homer too much?
 

Alaska travelers I need your expertise,

marleyzoemom love your report! We are visiting Alaska the first week of June as you did.

Question: If I counted correctly, marleyzoemom went with Emerald Air in Homer on June 4.
We are thinking about adding Homer on June 3, 2009 and are trying to decide.

Monday: Disembark cruise early morning in Whittier. Take bus to Anchorage.
Rent car in Anchorage. Drive to Seward.

Tuesday: Kenai Fjords Northwest Glacier trip—Drive to Homer after tour to spend the night.

??Wed.: Emerald Air-- After Bear viewing tour, drive back to Anchorage for the night.

Thursday: Drive to Denali (Healy) for 2 nights.

Saturday: Drive back to Anchorage.

Sunday: Fly home on early flight.

We were gong to skip Homer and stay in Steward Wed. night. Maps tell distance, but people who have driven the roads always know best.

I want it all, and Alaska is too big to have it all at once.

Thanks for advice. This busy itinerary comes from all the great reports and help everyone gives so kindly from their day.

PS Has anyone else had great success in very early June with bear viewing? The sad beached whale this past June brought bear, but what about during an average June?

My feeling is that you are trying to fit too much into too short of time. Either skip Homer (you might not get to fly out anyway if the weather is bad) and plan to come back some day. You'll be tired after the glacier trip and you won't appreciate the scenery on the way to Homer.

I had similar question prior to our June trip to Alaska - we spent 7 days on land before cruise from Whittier. I was advised to just pick one place on Kenai Peninsula and avoid driving around - then I could actually see something other than the inside of the rental car.

Worked great. Spent 2 nights in Seward, 3 nights in Denali with a night in Anchorage on either end. In Seward did 6-hour mammal cruise and Sea Life Center. Great little town.

Since you mentioned Emerald Air I thought I'd pass along this site, a photo report from one of their guests ... these folks had an incredible day of viewing, with great weather and a lot of bears ... http://www.cbabbitt.com/Bears/index.html

As for June, keep in mind that the pilots from Homer have many different areas they can go to and it's usually just a case of finding where there's a lot of bear food and the bears will be there. So because they are not locked into one or two spots (like a lodge) the odds are high they'll put you with the bears. I know Bald Mountain has a 'bears or money back guarantee' for example.

I would vote that you 'go for it' ... almost everyone I know who has done a bear trip and gotten close to bears says it's the highlight of their visit to Alaska.

Bill

I'm just asking...I don't have personal experience but am planing a trip for next year around the same time as you. do you have to go to Anchorage to get the car? I thought there was a rental place in Whittier (Avis?). Or can you get a transfer from Whittier to Seward and rent the car there?

Just my opinion but having looked at the drive times, it seems crazy to get Homer in there. You've got a 6 hour cruise followed by a three hour drive. on Tuesday. Then a 6 hour bear trip followed by something like a 3 hour drive back to Anchorage. I don't think I would do that, but I can understand why you would want to.

Oh, I also have read about some bear trips to Redoubt Bay that leave from Anchorage (flying, of course). I think they use Rust's Air Taxi service. Maybe that would fit your schedule better? less driving?

Bill H.
People in that photo look awfully close to those bears.
I don't see that guide packing any protection.

<b>Bill H.
People in that photo look awfully close to those bears.</b>

Yeah, I noticed that ... ain't it great!

<b>I don't see that guide packing any protection.</b>

She's a very experienced guide armed with common sense and a deep knowledge of bear behavior. I would much rather be out with a guide like that (or by myself) than with some nervous cowboy guide with one sweaty hand on a rifle and the other tightly wrapped around a can of bear spray.

No one has ever been injured on a guided bear viewing trip in Katmai. There are procedures you follow to keep it safe, even if the bears approach closely at times.

Bill

actually, summer drive time Homer-Anch. is closer to five hours, allowing stops and traffic conditions.

bonnie, if Denali is foremost on your agenda, you might also consider taking a bear tour from the central peninsula, in Soldotna.. then your return to Anch. the following day would be only 2.5 hrs... and from Seward to Kenai/Soldotna is only a two hour drive in summer.
As a bonus, you may spot bears in Cooper Landing.. we've seen a few this summer((Y))

just thought I'd throw another option out for your consideration.. safe travels to you, J.

They must be very knowlegdible guides.

It's more about people behavior than bear behavior anyway - keeping folks in line.

Bears are going to act and be bears - but people you never know - they might think it is Yogi Bear. Sure hate to see those bears get habituated to people though.

No one wants to see a bear get put down because some yokels went Treadwell out there.

I could not wait to get back to this Live Talk travel book of knowledge. Thanks for the replies.

rm_mn--You are probably correct about us being tired. My brain says &quot;No&quot; and my heart says &quot;Go for it&quot;. I will have to give it more thought.

gail--Did you do anything other than these 2 items you mentioned, while in Seward? Just trying to judge time. Did you do Princess Cruise? If you already posted cruise ship information just let me know. Retyping can be a bummer. We have never been on a cruise before. We are planning on 2 or 3 excursions while cruising.

Bill_H--pictures were good. Enjoyed. They had a fantastic camera.

china_cat--I called Anchorage Avis office back in May and talked to them about the Whittier location. Unless they have changed times since my call, they said that Whittier car rental location does not open until middle of June. It was disappointing. You are correct regarding a lot of wasted time driving.

jetset 1--Soldotna is a good idea for time. I called Talon Air Service, but they view bear from a boat. They do not fly to view bears digging for clams on the beach. The boat is good but not if salmon are not running. Our trip is the first week of June. If we were into fishing the Soldotna idea would be a great place for our schedule.

Thanks everyone. Advice always loved.

Yes, it was Princess cruise. Posted land portion trip report on this forum. Also posted on cruisecritic under name of Kingsbury (oh, no - my secret is out)

gail---

I clicked your name and got your threads but saw nothing that caught my eye in the way of cruise report. I went back through last of May 2008 threads and viewed titles. Could you please give me the title and I will enter it into the search box?

We are taking the Island Princess from Vancover to Whittier, and I was wanting to know what time they have us embark in Whittier. I went through a travel agent, so Princess will not answer my questions anymore.

You began your cruise at Whittier, so it probably will not be any help as to my situation. Maybe you have heard others speak of this before.

We want to take the Princess bus provided to the Anchorage airport so as to pick our rental car up. I want to tell the rental car company an approx. time so not to change the fee due to being totally off with arrival time. I surely do not want to lose our reserved car.

Thanks,
tavelbonnie

All this talk about Princess and bears ... and suddenly there's a newsfeed about a bear attacking a lodge worker within 25 yards of the Princess Lodge on Kenai ... http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/...r-attack_N.htm

Bill

Here is the post in the local paper.

http://www.adn.com/bearattacks/story/474892.html

Tourists beware! Don't go trapsing by yourself in bear country without common sense.

Cruise trip report is on CRUISECRITIC - not here - under name of Kingsbury - title is something like great cruise but forgot Alaska is so cold

Bill_H

Do you know what kind of camera your friends used in the pictures you posted? What kind of lens?

The pictures are real Keepers. Very good!

We need to purchase a camera for Alaska that is better than the one we have, so I wanted to start getting ideas being I am not the best at knowledge with cameras.

Thanks.

<b>Do you know what kind of camera your friends used in the pictures you posted? What kind of lens?</b>

The photographer isn't my friend (a friend from Holland sent me the site) and I only know Chris Day because we booked a custom 4 day camping trip in the Katmai backcountry for bear viewing 4 years ago with her and Ken ... but my friend Janet, who is up in Alaska right and doing a day trip with Chris, said the photographer was using a Nikon digital camera with the 200-400 f/4 VR lens ... I think she figured it out from the EXIF data (and was pretty happy about it because that's the lens she's using too).

But I must say the light was what was really special, you can spend 2 weeks up there and not get light like that. Janet just emailed me that they had 8 straight days of rain before she arrived, and many bear trips are cancelled because the small planes can't fly in that weather.

Bill

Hi Travel Bonnie,
Marley Zoe mom here. I think you are doing too much- we went out with Emerald on June 4th ( good calculation) and it was fantastic. We did not see lots of bear, but we had a wonderful day with the bear that we saw.
It is a long day- we left at 9 and got back at 5:30 or so..hiking, and generally on sensory overload all day, so it is a bit tiring in a very stimulating way! I would not drive from Homer to Anchorage after that day-5 to 6 hours- and you will be tired.I would either skip Seward ( you just came off a cruise) and go directly to Homer. Or skip Denali and spend some time on the Kenai - a couple nights in Seward, 3 in Homer- it is so beautiful and worth the time. Also, if you don't get out you have extra days to try to get out. When we were there they only got out 3 days out of 7. We lucked out.
We truly loved the entire trip- but Emerald Air bear viewing, was without a doubt the highlight of the trip.
Enjoy, we have been home for 6 weeks and still talking about Alaska daily!

Bill_H

Thank you for the camera information.
----------------------------
marleyzoemom,

Thank you for the weather information and the advice on doing too much. Several people have said this, so I think we will just forget Homer and go back another year when the salmon are running. I would love to see Brooks River sometime.
---------------------------
Gail,

Thanks for the cruise report.

Speaking of Homer, bears w/ Em Air and Alaska weather I got an email from my friend Janet (MFJ) last night. She is in Homer and hoping to go on the bear trip with Chris Day at Emerald Air today.

She wrote <b>&quot;well tomorrow is the big bear day and I hope we will get to go. The weather here has been consistently horrible, totally socked in and the bear trips did NOT go today. We have not had one day without rain since we arrived&quot;</b>

This was one reason I posted the link to the guy's photos above, he was really lucky with the weather :)

MFJ also had poor luck with the weather in Seward a couple days earlier ... <b>&quot;Our small boat trip from Seward was cancelled due to 11 foot seas, they put us on one of the bigger boats which was nice for the first 6 hours, then everyone got horrendously seasick for the last three. No photos to speak of due to impossible swells and no light&quot;</b>

And this is the time of year in Alaska when the weather is GOOD (or as good as it gets).

I guess my point is that it's wise to plan extra days if possible, and when you get a wonderfully clear sunny day you should really appreciate it because it's not always the norm!

Bill