Friday, May 10, 2013

Uraling in Alaska - Day 31: Wasilla to Homer

I left Wasilla and the gracious company of Bob and Sharon P. who had invited me, an internet stranger, to stay at their place upon learning about my trip.  More on these folks in the previous postings, suffice to say, they are now part of the growing list of friendly folks I've been fortunate to meet along the way so far!

I left their home shortly before 9:00 AM, then after losing some time taking wrong turns, finally found Alaska Highway 3 South and started to motor on down towards Seward and Homer.

Not much to report about road conditions, things were "busy" in Anchorage when I went through there but not too bad.  No wildlife sighted today with the exception of birds, and apparently the moose death rate in the Kenai Peninsula (where I am now) is lower than in the Mat-Su Valley where Wasilla is; 166 to 214 killed  by vehicles on the respective roadways.

The Seward Highway is really quite beautiful, gorgeous mountain scenery along it's entire length and while I had overcast skies, the mountains presented nicely in an almost monochromatic manner.  Temperatures were in the low 40s, little to no wind and the predicted rain did not materialize.  So, pretty good riding conditions.






I got to the city of Homer, Alaska shortly before 3:30 PM so about 6 and a half hours of riding including picture time.  I didn't take a lot of pictures along the Seward Highway, light conditions (as you can see above) were suboptimal.  Since I will be motoring up this same highway later on this week on my way back to Anchorage, I hope the lighting will be better then.

After registering at the RV campsite and managing to get an RV spot that had electrical hookups, I set up my tent for tonight:

Home on the road....

 Above and below, views from my camping spot of the mountain peaks
seen from Homer's Spit


The sun started peeking out of the clouds soon after I finished setting up camp so I geared up again and based on the advice of the campsite owner, headed for a viewpoint he described.

The viewpoint is on the top edge of the cliffs that overlook the town of Homer, great spot for pictures.  You find the junction of East Road and East Hill Road, then climb up on East Hill Road until you reach a T junction, there you go left for about 1/4 mile or so, you'll see the overlook.

Looking at Homer's Spit, its where the campsite I am 
staying at is located, about midways up the spit.

 A view of the Spit from Homer's Skyline Drive East

Closeup of mountain peak across from Homer



It's almost 10:00 PM as I finish this posting and the sky is still bright as the sun is not due to set for another 35 minutes or so I think.  It's currently still in the low 40s and it'll dip to the low 30s according to the weather guessers.

Tomorrow after breakfast somewhere in Homer proper, will probably head back on Alaska Highway 1 and retrace my route back to the junction for Seward.  Hope you liked the pictures, keep your fingers crossed that the weather is good tomorrow!

7 comments:

RichardM said...

Beautiful pictures. I think that the Seward Hwy is one of the most scenic spots in AK. I also like that lookout in Homer. It looks like things are pretty well melted (and muddy) south of Anchorage.

I haven't camped on the spit since about 1983 or so and back then you just camped anywhere you wanted along the beach. I've been to the Two Sisters Bakery and what is now Fresh Sourdough Express before. Both great places for breakfast and all that stuff I'm not supposed to have anymore...

SonjaM said...

Funny that you found things 'busy' in Anchorage while me city brat used to European traffic and crowdedness found that everything was empty and slo mo ;-)

I was very impressed with the scenery back then, and remember we had clear skies when we visited a day before the huge forest fires hit in summer 2004.

I hope the weather cooperates.

Neat set up of your tent interior, definitely military training showing.

Bob and Sharon said...

You made good time, I guess they are having a big shore bird festival there this weekend. All the birds are coming up from thier summer homes. Have fun

Bob and Sharon said...

They are having a shore bird festival there this weekend, all the birds are coming back from their summer homes. Have fun.

Unknown said...

Dom:

It looks nice and cozy in your temp home, but too cold for me

Spectacular scenery with the mountains all around you

good luck on the weather so you can snap more photos as your ride back up

bob
Riding the Wet Coast

GlennandSun said...

Great photos....we are taking notes on where to go, what to see for next year.

That is a large number of moose-vehicle contacts! Safe to say a Ural-moose contact would be undesirable!

The Army sleeping bag is very familiar....made me wonder you keep it in a wet proof bag?

Really appreciate all the directions, tips and recommendations...good stuff. Glenn (Sun just passed through Taipei and Singapore enroute to her native home in Sarawak, Borneo.) She emailed me that they are following your blog in Southeast Asia.

BeemerGirl said...

I'm sitting here stuck at work, watching the video, and sighing at the beauty. I can't figure out what I like more, the mountains or the ocean. :)