Hard to beat Homer, where dreams come true

Since a picture is worth 1000 words, I could literally just post pics and not type a single word and you would know how much this stop meant to us. First things first, we pulled into Mariner Park at the start of the Homer Spit at 10am and landed the absolute perfect beachside oceanside campsite I could have imagined. This was a bucket list item for me and I couldn’t have been happier with our view. As we waited for the spot to clear out, we started chatting with our new neighbors who quickly turned into friends.

We are huge fans of the Discovery Channel TV show, Alaska the Last Frontier, starring the Kilcher Family. TV makes it look like they live miles from anywhere, it turns out they live about 10 miles from Homer. This family came from Switzerland in the 1960s when the government was offering free land (160 acres) for people willing to come. They had 3 years to clear the land and prove they were self sufficient at homesteading and then the land was theirs, for free! They offer tours of the property each day at 10am and we were thrilled to go and learn more about this fascinating family. The property itself is spectacular! They have since accumulated 620 acres, spread among the extended family. The original homestead built by Ruth and Yule Kilcher looks out over Kachemak Bay and the mountains in the distance and there is just no other word but spectacular! The first thing we learned on the tour is that there are actually 8 siblings in the family. In addition to Otto and Atz, there are 6 sisters. We got to meet 2 of them on the tour. They are full of spunk, intelligence, and gumption! Stellavera extended an offer to come see her yurt if anyone wanted to, but you had to walk quite a ways to see it. We were told when we booked that Jane would be coming by at 12:15 to greet us after the tour so we were super excited. Once we arrived, the guide (who was a volunteer, not part of the family) told us Otto would also be stopping by for pictures. When Jane came by for photos, she was so shy! She said she doesn’t usually get to meet fans. We did not get to see any of the homesteads from the show, only the original homestead, which incidentally has never been televised as Discovery Channel is only allowed to film there if all 8 children are included. There are very strict family rules set up so anything that happens on the property, requires agreement by 6 of 8 “super majority”. All of this was set up in a trust of the land by Yule and agreed on by the children before he passed in 1998. In addition, each child was given 5 acres that they can have as long as they continue to homestead. 160 acres are set aside for continued learning and for preservation. The money they get from tours is going to fund learning centers to teach others the skills of food preparation, land care, etc for homesteading.

After the tour and our picture with Jane (Otto was called away and we didn’t get to see him), we took them up on their offer to walk down to the beach. It’s just over a mile, but 30% grade so a very easy stroll down, and a significant hike back up. Walking down the road to the beach was surreal as we were going over episodes where they have done projects and herded cattle down this road each year. It’s narrow, lined by overgrown trees, and steep! We took a few moments to really enjoy the beach. Coal is plentiful, there are literally hunks of it everywhere. Tides play a big part in Alaska as the ocean level can change over 20 feet in elevation in a matter of hours. Generally there are 2 high tides and 2 low tides a day, though they don’t occur exactly 12 hours apart so you have to get a tide chart for that area to know when high tide and low tide happen each day. We stopped on the hike back at a natural spring that was featured on one episode. Atz Lee had made the spring more accessible with some rocks in the front and a little cup to get the water. We drank right from the spring. The water was cold and clear and delicious, much needed for the long hike back to the main property. We were the only ones to take the strenuous walk to the beach and it was amazing to have that road to ourselves. We detoured where instructed to arrive at Stellavera’s yurt. Unfortunately we missed one turn and keep walking down a road we weren’t sure we should be on. We got as far as we could before it became overgrown with vegetation and what looked like an equipment graveyard before turning back. Sure enough, we passed Stellavera at the intersection and she had us hop on the back of her 4 wheeler for a ride. Her cabin burned down several years ago so she built a yurt as she only resides in AK in the summer. She showed us her outdoor shower – complete with hot water heater fueled by propane, her soaking pool, and her mini hot tub again heated by propane. Everyone in this family is clever with their resources and spaces to have comforts and efficiency. It truly is fascinating and inspiring! She told us the wrong road we took was Shane’s unfinished house (the initial building was on the show but he ran out of money and quit work on it.) The signs coming onto the property said all visitors were supposed to be gone by 2pm. With all the visiting we were doing, our time had passed and we hurried up the trail to get back to the truck. As we were hiking uphill, who do we see riding past us on a 4 wheeler? Otto! I waved as he passed by and then called out “hi there”. He stared at us, obviously wondering who we were but you could tell he was in a hurry and didn’t stop. Still, we were thrilled to see him. As we got back to the original homestead, we spotted singer and fellow Kilcher, Jewel and her son. They had told us during the tour the family would be celebrating his birthday that day. We didn’t wave or make ourselves known as we felt we were infringing on their private family event and we had overstayed our welcome. Vehicles were pulling up as partygoers arrived. Atz Lee got out of the car and I did apologetically ask him for a photo, which he seemed please to pose for. Sure enough, one by one, we saw almost every cast member. Atz and Bonnie were just getting out of their cars when we pulled out of the parking lot. Mark rolled down our window and just told them we enjoy the show. They came right over and chatted with us, asked us where we are from, etc. Such down to earth people! We truly enjoyed our visit and left with full, happy hearts, and a cherished perspective for our favorite homesteading Alaskan family.

The day we have been waiting for has arrived! Even as I type this, it’s hard to put into words our feelings for what we saw. Amazement, awe, beauty, ferocity, spectacular, natural. I can tell you it was an unforgettable experience that words just do not do justice so bear with me as I attempt to describe our day of a lifetime. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to go to Brooks Falls at Katmai National Park to see the bears. They are coastal brown bears (grizzlies who are bigger than inland brown bears because of their salmon heavy diet.) To get there requires a float plane, and a steep investment. We flew 1 1/2 hours over 150 miles from Homer to get to the beach. Our plane held 6 people, including the pilot. We then had 3 hours at Katmai, where we had to attend a 20 minute Bear School safety class put on by the national park service. The #1 rule – DO NOT RUN! If we encounter a bear, we are supposed to talk loudly. They didn’t mention praying, but that will be part of our regimen… We get to hike just over a mile on an easy trail right through bear territory to get to the infamous viewing platforms. We were told there is a max of 40 people allowed on the platform at a time and there is a wait list where you are allotted one hour on the platform so that is what we had prepared for. Our tour left Homer at 2:45pm. The floatplane was smoother than expected. A few spots of turbulence but nothing scary. When we arrived at the beach, there was 1 other plane parked. The pilot had told us the mornings are the most crowded times and there can be 25 planes on the beach then! We completed our mandatory bear school and started the hike. We’re talking and singing along the trail to make sure we don’t startle any bears. Another lone hiker is coming toward us and tells us there is a bear following him on the trail. He joins up with us and we find a spot to get off the trail. The area is heavily wooded so we are only off the trail about 15 feet. Big ol grizz lumbers down the trail as we are talking. I don’t know if he smelled where we detoured, but he started coming toward us off the trail. Our talking got much more urgent as we convinced him to move away, and he decided we weren’t all that interesting and continued down the trail. Mark captured all of this on GoPro!

We arrived at the viewing platform to find it almost empty. We shared it with 6 people, including 2 others from our group! It was literally a dream come true! The bears treated us to the scene we have imagined for over a decade. Words cannot describe how amazing it was! We stayed on that platform for 2 hours, turning away only because we knew there was more to see on the way back. Catching a fish for a bear is effortless. They have a few methods. Standing at the falls with mouth open worked great, the fish practically jumped right into their mouth. My favorite was when they would snorkel, putting their face below the surface of the water with their ears and shoulders above the water. What was interesting is that the bear doesn’t eat the entire fish, in fact they don’t even eat half the fish. They take a few bites and then walk away to get another one. Seagulls line up to finish off the rest of the fish the bears leave behind. We didn’t find out why they don’t eat the whole thing so I don’t have an answer, but they typically ate the tail end first.

There is a bear hierarchy along the river. The big bears are at the falls, where the fishing is easiest. The teen bears come next. They are the most entertaining as they pounce on the fish and aren’t as successful as the older, experienced bears. We stayed at this platform for a few minutes and enjoyed the vigor and eagerness of youth. There is a brand new platform that just opened in June 2019 that is close to the beach where the planes land so we saved it for last. Always aware of bears, we somehow missed the turn on the trail and found ourselves in an unrecognizable area. We were supposed to be at the plane in 10 minutes and weren’t exactly sure where we were. I remembered one fork in the trail that was our only option. We were walking very fast because as much as we love this place, we don’t really want to stay overnight unprotected with no gear. Thankfully, our correction on the trail led us to new platform where we were able to view the moms and babies. Moms keep the babies far away from the males or they will be eaten. Here we saw a mom with twins and a mom with triplets. Unfortunately we spent all our time on the bigger bears and only got a few hurried shots (into the sun) of the families before it was time to go. We did see one mama go fishing and her cubs went swimming in the river after her. The first year survival rate for a cub born in Katmai is only 34%.

The flight back was far more breathtaking than the way there as we flew over the mountains, glaciers, and volcanoes of Katmai. I was stuck in the tail of the plane so I didn’t get to see as much, but Mark had a bird’s eye view from the co-pilot’s seat in the cockpit. (When the captain assigns seats on that small of a plane, he is looking at weight distribution so there isn’t any complaining or arguing or whining.)

Brooks Falls at Katmai National Park was an epic spot and I’m so glad we made the splurge to go and visit. I will never forget being there, relaxed among the huge, fuzzy yet fierce bears. Our only regret was that we couldn’t stay longer. There are cabins for rent at Katmai that are reserved by a lottery system 18 months in advance. We may have to look into that option someday!

We had planned to go halibut fishing in Homer. Unfortunately after calling every charter within 4 cities, and even walking the decks looking for a boat with a cancellation, everything was booked so we weren’t able to go. I guess now there’s more room in the freezer for salmon. I confess I am disappointed as I do love halibut and was really wanting to catch two (that’s the limit per person). I guess we have a great reason to return to Alaska!