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

Bill_H

I am hearing and reading this a lot about the weather. Everyone seems to desire a return trip to Alaska, but I sometimes wonder why. If all this money is spent and so many days are a wash; then way are so many people willing to return to Alaska and not just go somewhere else.

We are looking forward to Alaska and we will take our umbrella. It always works. Be prepared and it will not happen.

I am having trouble posting messages today. I am not sure if it is this site or my computer.

Hope your friends have sunny weather this week.

We went to alaska this June, just a tidbit as I wanted to see lots of bears.. the bears are not around if the salmon are not running , so before you book your flight to see bears make sure the salmon are there. We booked Katmai National park the 3rd weekend in June stayed on site and the bears were not around !because the salmon were not running yet!! soo needless to say we saw just a couple of bears Not what we anticipated because mother nature came late with a storm in April and the river was not warm enough for the salmon. So good luck Fishing opens around the 3rd weekend of June so after that is when you will see the most. Its expensive and you might want to get the most for your dollars

JoAnnee

Thanks. I needed to hear what you said. I have wanted to see the bears just as you must have. We visited Yellowstone June 15-22, 2007 and saw a mother bear nursing her 2 cubs about 35 feet away. She was at Fishing Bridge and the rangers were there.

Try Yellowstone if June is your traveling month. Our friend goes the end of June before the July 4th crowds.

We have to travel in June due to my husband's job.

Maybe you will enjoy this site.
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/...dcamgrizzlies/

PS This National Geographic site tells you about Brooks Camp and the Lodge. If you can not get it to work, just google the following words: live webcam for grizzly bears.

Then the site choices will be listed with the National Geographic site. If the picture flickers, just click in the picture and it will stop. My computer might just be stubborn.

Hope your next Bear excursion is worth the money.

Continuing the theme of good/bad weather, Homer bear trips and Emerald Air ... my friend Janet (MFJ) emailed last night and they DID get to go on the bear flight with Chris and Ken Day after all, two days of good weather. Here's a part of what she wrote ... Bonnie, you were asking why people go to Alaska when the weather is iffy -- it's days like these, when it all comes together and you have these experiences you can't get anywhere else in the world :)

From MFJ's email:

<b>&quot;finally we had one beautiful day (actually, two!) as yesterday and today the sun has been shining. And yes we did get to the bears and it was awesome! Saw about 25 bears, some came too close to shoot. ... lots of bears splashing about in the water catching (and not catching) salmon. They are so cute to watch, really like dogs!

Unfortunately I didn't really get any cub shots as they were too far from where we were standing, except for the moment the mom and cub came within 10 feet over the bank, thats when Ken shouted Hey Momma Bear! and I was too close to shoot. Also, a bear who overshot his salmon came within about five feet of (husband) in the stream, no kidding.</b>

Bill

Bill_H

www.nationalgeographic.com

Put Chris Day in the search box, and an article comes up with her quotes. For National Geographic to use Chris and Emerald Air in the article is a great compliment.

Tell your friend I said: Good for her on a successful trip!

I have to put in my vote for Emerald Air. We just returned from a trip with them and it was fantastic! If you can't fit it in this trip, it's a MUST for next time.

china cat - to answer your question about rental cars - yes, you can rent a car from Avis in Whittier, but it depends when you go. I think this year they opened around June 5th or so (if you go to the Avis website, you can look them up and get a direct number and call them, instead of Anchorage).

Note, they will charge you a $125 fee to drop off in Anchorage, which we paid.

There is a Hertz in Seward, but they will also charge a fee to drop off in Anchorage, so you might as well do it from Whittier.

Karen

thanks karen. If our plans work out, I expect we'll be cruising from June 3rd-10th northbound, so may be able to pick up in Whittier. I was considering a round trip, drop off in Whittier and then train back to Anchorage, but don't know if that will fit my itinerary. I'd like to take that train or the Seward-Anchorage train at some point. Haven't worked out the details yet.

It's been many, many years since I've been to Alaska, but I'm hoping to get back there next summer. As I recall, Homer is the resort town that the locals hit and was well worth the visit. Have fun!

When I was planning my trip, people kept telling me I was trying to do too much. They said &quot; Alaska is a place you will go back again so take some time and enjoy it.&quot; Having been I totally understand. My advice is not to do too much - like driving from Homer back to ANC. Enjoy the day with Emerald Air ( a must!) but that is a full day.
Meeting Chris and Ken Day and seeing the bears will truly be a highlight of your trip. Enjoy! I am going back again next year.

I am in the exact same predicament as you. Trying to do this and that and wanting to do it all next Sept. So I have made the decision to do the Kenai and skip Denali this trip. I know that many will say I am foolish, but I was making myself crazy trying to do everything. We are going to go with Emerald Air and I am soooo hoping that the weather will be better next year than it was this year. It never did improve for them. That's sad for their business and for the people that drive all that way. It appears that Homer is a great place to be anyway, but it will be hard to contain myself for a year of anticipation.

Bill, for some reason I could not get the link to those pictures to work. ANy ideas?

I've made several trips to the Homer and Seward areas in years past and always enjoyed wonderful weather (July and August). It sounds from the postings that this year was an exception. It was also in the southeast where I went this year. Out of a little over two weeks, I only had about 4 days of good weather and a couple more days of marginal weather. The rest was steady rain or drizzle, low clouds, and a fair amount of fog.

In Skagway, they told me that this summer was the coolest and wettest since they've been keeping records.

I guess you pays your money and you takes your chances.