Alaska Day 10: Grewingk Glacier and Homer Brewing

We had decided back in Oregon to take one day in Homer to go across the bay and explore the beauty of Kachemak Bay State Park. On conferring with Mike, reading on the internet, and checking out the trail reports from the Friends of Kachemak Bay State Park, we decided to hike the Grewingk Lake Trail from the Glacier Spit trailhead to the Saddle trailhead. But because that was only about 4.5 miles of basically flat walking, we decided to climb above the glacier for lunch and great views from the Alpine Ridge Trail.

The day before, we stopped by Mako's Water Taxi on the Spit and ran our itinerary past them. They couldn't get us out sooner than 9am and they advised to do the 11-mile hike that we wanted, they should pick us up at 6:00pm. That evening, as I studied the situation and read the trail reports, I saw that trail conditions seemed good and in doing the math, I figured that a 6pm pickup was way too late for only an 11-mile hike.

We arrived at Mako's about 8:45 and paid our fees, both water taxi and park entry fee. In addition, I got them to move the pickup up. They couldn't move it any earlier than 5pm, but that was an hour that we wouldn't be sitting around waiting for a ride. Plus, Mike had invited us to have dinner with him and we didn't want to be terribly late for that. We used the remaining time before boarding to wander about the harbor again.

Stunning Clouds Reflected in Mirrorlike Homer Harbor

Around 9am (times never seem to be quite exact in Alaska), the Blue Too water taxi came into the harbor and pulled to the dock where we were standing. We boarded with two other couples and were off very quickly, moving very fast once we exited the no-wake zone. At one point, our pilot backed totally off the throttle so that we could see a couple of otters in the water right off the bow. I don't think I've ever seen anything cuter in my life than these two that appeared to be hamming it up for the boat.

We arrived at the Glacier Spit trailhead about 30 minutes after we left the harbor and as we moved down the beach, the pilot showed us the triangular marker for the trailhead. She pulled into shallow water about a quarter-mile from the actual trailhead; landing any closer would have been very difficult given the state of the tide.

Beach Fleabane on the Beach-Grass Line

Glacier Spit Trailhead

Scenery Before Entering the Woods

The walk to the Grewingk Glacier Lake was flat and quick. One of the interesting things for me is that we went through a bunch of different micro-climates, each with different flora. Although everyone warned us of bears on the trail to the lake, we saw no hints, not even any scat. That would change very quickly on the far side of the lake as we climbed the hill.

After leaving the beachside which was covered in grasses, sedges, and lots of fireweed, we entered a mixed forest of spruce, hemlock, and cottonwood with an understory of mainly devil's club.

Black Cottonwood Fluff, Populus trichocarpa

In the moister areas, the larger trees backed off a bit in favor of alders with small clearings of ferns, monkshood, geraniums, and larkspurs. Under some of the alders, I would find the first of many northern groundcones, a parasitic cone-like plant growing on the tree roots, reminding me very much of the squawroot so common in eastern woods.

Northern Groundcone, Boschniakia rossica

And then at times, the woods opened up as we walked across glacial outflows, old moraines covered in a thin layer of soil, rounded rocks protruding everywhere, with a few short spruce here and there. The ground was covered with short shrubs bearing lots of red fruits, which would form a massive component of the bear scat that we would see on the final leg of our walk. These shrubs with their leathery leaves are called buffaloberries. The fruit is apparently edible but is supposedly a bit bitter and may cause intestinal issues. I did not try them, leaving them for the black bears who seem to be quite fond of them.

Canadian Buffaloberry, Shepherdia canadensis

Better Look at Buffaloberry Fruits

No Idea What These Seed Heads Belong To

Western Columbine, Aquilegia formosa

Watermelon Berries, Streptopus amplexifolius

As we neared the end of the quick 3.5-mile walk to Grewingk Glacier Lake, the woods died away entirely and we entered a bit of low scrub, mainly alders and willows. Right after this point, the vegetation petered away entirely, leaving us standing on a pebbled beach facing the snout of Grewingk Glacier, ice bergs shoved by the wind right near the beach.

There's a Duck, a Scaup Maybe, Above My Hand
on Ann's Shoulder. I Never Saw It.

We spent a half an hour on the beach wandering here and there and just taking in the beauty of the scene. Photographs do nothing to convey how magnificent the scenery was. As beautiful as this place is, if you are looking to get away from people, this is not the place to do it. Because the walk is short and flat and easy for anyone regardless of age or fitness, it is extremely popular. We completed the walk very quickly and were in relative solitude for a few minutes before more and more people started to arrive. We decided at this point to move along and climb the ridge above the lake, the ridge that you see in the photo below, and have lunch up there, away from the crowds.

Alpine Ridge, Our Destination for Lunch

Dark clouds were building in the east the entire time we were at the lake and I looked at them with some concern from time to time. We had packed rain gear, but hoped not to have to use it. No sooner than we started away from the lake, it started spitting rain. By the time we got back to the three-way junction a short distance from the lake, it was raining somewhat steadily, but still not enough for me to don rain gear.

We had come south from the junction to the lake and now we headed west towards the Alpine Ridge Trail and the Saddle trailhead. As soon as we passed the junction, the trail started to climb and we started seeing copious amounts of bear scat all over the trail. As we climbed into the saddle where the ridge trail originated, the rain picked up as we looked for the trailhead. We finally found a sign propped up against a shrub, but very little evidence of a hiking trail, only the merest game trail through deep brush.

We kept going forward on the main trail continuing to look for the Alpine Ridge Trail, hoping that the sign had been knocked over and moved a little distance away from the actual ridge trail. As we moved forward, it was clear that we were moving significantly downhill and significantly farther away from the ridgeline whose spine we were supposed to walk. We climbed back up to the slight game trail to try that and see if it opened into a real trail on the other side of the brush. Hands above my head, we plunged into the thick brush that was up to my armpits.

After 100 yards or more of bushwhacking in the light rain (the first rain of our trip since some brief sprinkles back in Anchorage), the brush was soaking us. When we could see any little bit of trail, it was covered in fresh bear scat. These two factors taken into account, we decided to forego this part of our hike and started down towards the pick-up point at the Saddle trailhead. We would later meet a couple of guys who tried the trail after us and reported that they went about a quarter-mile up the trail with no let-up in the brush. I felt totally mislead by the trail conditions report that I had read.

Red Elderberries, a Pop of Color on a Gloomy Day

Nearing our Pick-up Point

It took us almost no time to get down the hill to the water, despite the hill being very steep at points. Just about 30 feet above the beach, the trailhead consists of a wooden platform with a steep set of wooden stairs going down to the rocky beach. We arrived here on the beach at the water taxi pickup point at 1230 for our 1700 boat.

Ann and I tried to call the water taxi to see if we could bum an earlier ride, despite being told earlier that they couldn't get us until 1700. Our phones were showing two bars, but the calls would not go through on our Verizon service. One of the people also waiting at the LZ had T-Mobile and he managed to get a call through and we were able to get on a 1500 boat. [Because we did not come back on the boat on which we were originally scheduled, we would later trade messages and texts with the water taxi company as they tried to locate a missing couple (not us).]

Nothing to Do But Wait

So we sat on the rocks beside stunning Kachemak Bay for a couple hours and shot the breeze with a couple of retired military guys with whom we rode over, until their boat arrived at 1430. This gave us a good bit of time to see the things right around us.

We watched a harbor seal swim lazily right past us checking us out. A Steller’s Jay started raising hell from inside the leaf cover of a red alder. Ann: “What’s that bird call?” Ed: “Steller’s Jay.” Ann: “No it is not!” At which point a bright blue and jet black Steller’s Jay proceeded to hop out in plain view, still raising hell.

Harbor Seal Curious About Us

Stink Currant, Ribes bracteosum

Our boat arrived right on time and we flew back to the harbor, the twin Honda 225s skimming us across the top of the now choppy bay in about 25 minutes. Although it had been spitting for a while, it started to rain fairly noticeably just before we reached the harbor. The rain would continue through dinner, but cleared up about 2100.

Now having a couple hours before dinner, we decided to check out Homer Brewing. It's a tiny place, a real mom and pop operation too just like Grace Ridge Brewing. The pouring rain had all the guests pretty tightly packed inside and this appeared to be stressing the woman at the counter to no end. Their list focused on classic ales rather than trendy brews with not an IPA in sight. Their pale ale and best bitter were spot on, though my personal palate wants a bigger hop profile.

We drove the ten minutes back to the inn in the rain. I ended up cooking what would be one of our better meals in Alaska. Michael had managed to get three dozen oysters from a friend who has a farm over in Halibut Cove and he had saved out three pieces of red salmon from earlier in the week when we broke them down.

A note on salmon nomenclature: there are five species of salmon in Alaska (and here in Oregon too). Despite their usual common names, they are generally known by other names. Chinook is called King in Alaska and pretty much everywhere else too. Sockeye is called red salmon because of its bright red flesh. Coho is called silver because of its plain Jane look. Pink salmon is pink salmon and named also for the color of its flesh. It's also called a humpy for the huge hump it develops when spawning. Chum salmon is likely to be called dog salmon because the mushers feed it to their dogs.

People have very strong opinions about which salmon is better, yadda yadda yadda, but I can tell you from experience that fresh salmon, no matter the species, is delicious.

I shucked the 3 dozen oysters and made mignonette with a shallot that I had picked up at Save-U-More earlier in the week. Then I seared the three pieces of sockeye and served it on pasta with local baby bok choy (also from Save-U-More) and sauce of shallots, anchovies, and butter. It was pretty fine eating for just winging it without a plan and the fresh salmon was delicious.

Halibut Cove Oysters with Mignonette

It was an early evening for us because of an early morning tomorrow for our biggest Alaskan adventure.