Special edition: Up, up and away!

Normally I try to give you, dear family and friends, a view from the road as we travel Canada and Alaska, from one location to the next. But we did something so much fun the other day, in Homer, Alaska (or should I say, above Homer, Alaska), that we wanted to share it with you before I had the chance to upload places we had been before we got here. Yes, I’m a bit behind, but this jaunt was different for us… FLOAT PLANE!

Upon arriving in Homer, we took a drive down to the Homer Spit, a truly unique location on not much more than a sandbar sticking out into Kachemak Bay. We passed a small lake, Beluga Lake, on which sat a multitude of float planes awaiting the arrival of tourists anxious to see the area from an elevated viewpoint. We knew immediately… WE WANT TO DO THIS! So we did! We contacted a pilot almost immediately and arranged a flight for 5:30 p.m. the following day.

Come with us on this journey as we soar above the mountains and glaciers of Kachemak Bay and the amazing Alaska “skyline” in our pretty red bird! Click on any pic to start a slideshow, and click here to go to that YouTube channel I promised a long time ago!

The view looking southeast as we gain altitude, right side of the plane …
.. .and left side of the plane.

In the first pic below, you’ll see our Beast under the red arrow, high on a bluff above the bay. We were tickled that the pilot flew directly past our campground (FYI, the header image on this page is the actual view from the Beast’s back window!).

The Beast tucked safely into her spot on the bluff overlooking Kachemak Bay
The land on this area of the Kenai Peninsula side, just small rolling hills, while huge mountains sprout on the other side of the bay

Our journey would take us over some spectacular mountain scenery, including (somewhat) active volcanoes and shrinking glaciers.

Mt. Redoubt in the distance, an active volcano, last erupted in 2009.
Mountains and river delta
Mt. Redoubt
One of hundreds of rivers dumping into the bay >>>

Now it’s on towards our primary destination– Mt. Iliamna, which erupted last in 1876. This would be an amazing experience:

We would get MUCH closer than this…
Mountains everywhere…
Mt. Iliamna with an extinct volcano in the foreground
… and Iliamna is getting closer. See the four peaks and the cutouts between? We actually zigzagged THRU those cutouts!
BOOM!
The steam you see is actually venting from the side of the mountain.
The sulpher smell was VERY strong.
Iliamna from the backside as we head towards the glaciers.
And they are amazing, though shrinking.

Then it’s farewell to the mountains and back to the sea in search of grizzlies, distinctive in their size and shape even from the air:

And where the river delta meets the bay… bears!
a solo salmon hunter
Inside the circle, a harbor seal colony
Just to the left of center, our lake runway
Two EXTREMELY happy flyers!

Thanks for sharing this adventure with us, and I promise I’ll add more later this week. We leave Homer on the 23rd (very sad!) and head for Seward, where more adventure awaits!

Happy trails!