Day 30
7/20/26 Monday
Mosquito count: ZERO
Grewingk Glacier hike by water taxi. There was probably about a dozen of us on the 20 minute taxi this morning that departed Homer at 11am.
We were dropped off at the shore and walked the beach to the trail head start. Once we started into the woods on the trail it was a nice trail and not really narrow. Most of the trail seemed flat. It was just an easy elevation gain all the way to the lake.
checkout the tree bark.
Hand Tram. There was a side trip to a hand operated tram across the river that flows from the glacier. We decided to hike the extra miles (2) to check that out. We were the only ones that took this detour. Once we got to the tram and I saw the cold rushing river below us and the distance we would have to pull the rope to get us across…I chickened out. I sat in the tram car and Jim started to pull the rope. The tram car was about half the way off the platform when I changed my mind. All I could think was that he would get tired when I was half way across and have to hike back for help and I’d be stranded over the river of certain death! This tram connected people to a trail on the other side. My guess is not too many people choose that trail.
Grewingk Lake. Back in the trail for another two miles until we got to Grewingk Lake. Beautiful lake with the glacier terminus at the other end. There were even chunks of glacier ice out floating in the lake and a few chunks on the shore. We took a memento chunk in a ziploc for cocktail ice.
Picnic time with this view!
We had a nice quick lunch on the beach. There were several groups of people there. Most popular hike. I understand why.
For the hike back we took a shorter route to Halibut Cove. It was called Saddle Trail . It went switchbacking up one side and then a steeper switchbacking decent down to the bay. Our water taxi was waiting for us. We were the last to arrive. We hadn’t even made it to the lake when we saw many from our taxi heading back to saddle trail to our designated finish. . It was the extra 2 mile tram tour that took us so much longer than everyone else. We were not late… we made the 4pm deadline by about 4 minutes!
The hike ended up being 7.6 miles. The bottoms of my feet are tired after that glacier rock-sand and rock trail. My feet got a trail texture workout today!
We have found that you have to go for it on the nice days because you never know when the next nice day will be… lately.
We found a nice place to go out and have some halibut and salmon for dinner in Homer after our hike. It’s called The Kannery.
The weather today was absolutely stunning. All the mountains and glaciers were shining brightly and we were enjoying some sunshine. At times it even felt warm today.
Salty Dog Saloon. After dinner we stopped at a gelato store but the line was too long for us so we walked over to the iconic bar called The Salty Dog Saloon. We took a look around inside but didn’t stay this time for a drink. We will be back next week with family. It’s an interesting “Chicken-type” bar. This time it was dollar bills attached everywhere! The outside is an old lighthouse!
Back at our campground we took out the chairs and carried them to the beach at the campground and just sat and watched boats in the bay and kids playing on the beach. Everyone was loving the warm windless evening.
Tomorrow we don’t have a day plan yet. But we are taking the Alaska Marine Ferry to Kodiak Island. We have to check in at 8:30 pm to get our van boarding lane assignment. Ferry departs at 10:30pm. It’s an overnight ferry. We arrive at 8:30am. This is a new experience… overnighting on a ferry. I love ferries!
cinnicrew 