Our Homer Odyssey: Gerwingk Glacier

As it gets colder we are trying to fit in a few more hikes while we can. Five of the spouses from the ship had the morale boat drop us across the bay so we could hike to Gerwingk glacier. It is the most visible glacier from Homer, so we see it everyday from our house, and it is also the most popular hike across the bay. Three and half miles of flat easy walking to the lake and another 1.5 out, taking a different route. The hike out had a small steep climb and the rest was steep descent with terrain similar to our China Poot Lake hike last month.
As we left Homer harbor, we passed the Time Bandit, Saga, and Cape Caution from Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch. They were getting their boats ready for the start of King Crab Season on October 1.

For some reason, I was unexpectedly taken with these boats. I know they are almost 100 feet smaller than Hickory, but seeing them up close and then processing what little I have learned about Bering Sea weather and seas is both mind blowing and scary.

It was a very foggy morning and we had to wait a couple hours for the fog to lift before heading out in the small boat. At first, we couldn't even see other boats in the harbor let alone the mountains across the bay. Then slowly the mountains came into view, the bay cleared up, and we headed out.

Above is a photo of the flat, open hiking to the lake.

Kachemak Bay State Park is awesome and has nice trail signs at most junctions in the trail.

Approaching Gerwingk Glacier Lake...

We don't get many colors in fall here other than yellow, so this was the best show of colors I've seen yet.

We walked a bit around the lake to get closer to the actual glacier and because we didn't have any kids or time constraints.

I really enjoyed the steeper climbs up and down on the hike out. The views of Halibut Cove Lagoon were great and we did not encounter any bears either.