Winter Hiking - Spitting in the Winter (Hiking the Homer Spit) | Guide for Alaska's Disappearing Tourists

Ice flow on the east side of the Spit

Stats

Distance: Up to you Difficulty: Easy Time: Up to you

Summary

The Spit is a Homer landmark. It is exactly what its name says, a spit of land reaching into Kachemak Bay. In summer, the spit is best know for the fishing charters, shopping, and fish packing. In the winter, the spit belongs to strollers, photographers, and dog walkers.

Opinion

In winter, this is still one of our favorite hikes.
At low tide the beach offers views of frozen mountains, old pilings covered in ice, pools of still water reflecting icy air and distant visions of Augustine. And we still get eagles at low tide. Not only that, in winter the eastern side of the Spit starts building ice flows that grant a completely different type of view.

Trail Advice

Since this describes a winter hike, we finally don't have to recommend mosquito repellent! But we do recommend waterproof boots with cleats or, at a minimum, good treads. The ice in the parking lot is treacherous and the beach can be equally slippery.

Dress more warmly than you think you should. The wind off the bay can be brutal and is always colder than you think.

Check the tide tables. This hike cannot be done at high tide and is at its best a low tide. Pay attention to your surroundings if the tide is coming in. If the incoming tide catches you, you can climb up to the Spit road over the retaining wall boulders, but it won’t be any fun.

Suitability

This trail is suitable for anyone with the ability to handle walking on ice.

Trailhead

To find Mariner’s Park, take the Sterling Hwy to the Spit. Once on the spit, look for the first parking area to the right. You can access both the eastern and western sides of the Spit from this parking lot.

The Hike

Like many others, we woke the day after Christmas feeling like a well stuffed goose. In an effort to work off some of that excess food (and to hunt for photos) we took a short stroll along the Homer Spit.

Ice flow in black & white

Ice flow across Kachemak Bay

It was about 20 degrees with a light wind. We were bundled in our new winter hats, scarves, and gloves and were quite comfortable. We started the walk on the eastern side of the Spit because of the ice that had formed on the lee-side of the Spit; it didn't disappoint. The recent cold snap had frozen the sea water into a 6-inch sheet of ice and the tidal flow had broken the ice into slabs. The receding tide left slabs of ice strewn in its wake. The sun this time of year is always low and it shown onto the ice, creating a dramatic wasteland of shadows and light.

Hoarfrost on the ice edge

Interestingly, hoarfrost had formed at the edge of the ice sheets. The crystalline spires of ice were highlighted by the sun against deep shadows.

View down the beach

Evening glow reflected in water

After the beauty of the east side of the spit, we couldn't resist taking a look at the west side. The sun was low over the mountains above Seldovia on the other side of Kachemak Bay; the early setting sun (by the way it was 2pm) cast a hint of pink on the ocean and on the Augustine and Fourpeaked volcanos.

Frozen tide

The beach was beautiful. The receding tide had frozen in ripples along the upper tide-line and the sea spray had coated the boulders of the breakwater with a coating of ice. The low sun cast long shadows across the beach.

Looking for dinner

One of the many Bald Eagles in the Homer area seemed to have realized we were out for photos and chose to be our models; it was posed on a gigantic piece of driftwood that was covered in inches of ice and surrounded by a perfectly blue sky. The eagles aren't afraid of people and will usually let you get within 10 feet or so before they fly off. In this case, the bird was about 30 feet away, 20 feet up the side of the breakwater and it barely noticed us. It did notice the dog that came running up the beach, but even the dog didn't make him twitch a feather. One note to the photographers visiting Homer; alway bring your tripod. Even with the bird 30 feet away, you'll want to use a telephoto and even image stabilization may not be enough without a tripod.

To reinforce comments above, high quality, extremely sturdy cleats are always wise when walking in Homer from the beginning of snow season to spring melt.