We visited the Alaska Homestead Lodge in August 2008 as part of a brown bear viewing safari. The Lodge enjoys a beautiful and pristine setting in Lake Clark National Park. Your adventure begins by taking a scenic air charter Homer and landing on the beach in Silver Salmon Creek. On a clear day you can see Mt. Redoubt, Mt. Iliamna, and Mt. Augustine; all active volcanoes along with the majestic mountain range and Cook Inlet. Enjoy viewing the coastal brown bears, eagles, and occasional moose, wolves and harbor seals, fishing at the nearby creek, clam digging, coastal hiking, canoeing on the lake or just relax in the beautiful Homestead Lodge. It is truly a photographers paradise! Enjoy the rustic elegance of the original Homestead Lodge but with all the modern conveniences. Every room is cozy and warmly decorated. Enjoy the fabulous meals made with fresh produce from the garden grilled salmon or baked entrees, along with homemade breads and desserts.
Note that we did NOT stay here, but instead did some bear
viewing with Smokey Bay Air to the Alaska Homestead Lodge (AHL). The best
excursion of our trip! (Not to mention the most expensive at nearly $600 per
person for a full day). We left from a building opposite the Homer Airport
around 8:00 am and returned at approximately 5:00 pm (times vary based on the
tides, since you are landing on the beach in Lake Clark National Park). It was
about a 30-40 minute flight each way (we took the long way there due to
weather, but the short way back). We were in a “puddle-jumper” plane with just
5 people on the way out, and 6 people on the way back. We saw bears IMMEDIATELY
upon landing at Lake Clark, and continued to see them for the next few hours.
We chose Smokey Bay Air because they partnered with the Alaska Homestead Lodge,
where we knew we could return for lunch and restroom breaks, etc. rather than
being stranded with just the woods with what we brought with us (as the other
more popular/more famous companies do). Our guide from AHL picked us up on the
beach with an ATV pulling a wagon. While we were told that we could be with as
many as 20 people on the ground, it was just my husband and I and one other
couple (and 4 people would be the max to fit in the wagon, so even if there are
20 people, you would be in 5 wagons with 5 guides, I guess). Our guide was
really sweet and knowledgeable, a young guy from Montana working his first summer
in Alaska (but with bear experience from back home). We spotted lots of sows and
cubs (so cute!) and had many opportunities to get out of the wagon and walk
close to the bears to take photos, etc. (The bears are NOT scared by the sound
of the ATVs, nor do they seem to be scared of people, as I had initially feared.)
The bear viewing rivalled our East African safari experience last summer: not
nearly the variety of animals, but we did see lots of bears, and I felt that we
got even closer in the ATV and on foot than we did in the open Land Rovers in
Africa. AHL is a nice place; they have a separate “game room” building where
there’s a big-screen TV, dining table and kitchen where you are served lunch
(or out on the deck in nice weather), two bathrooms (one with a shower),
computer, gift cabinet, stuffed/mounted animals. This bear-viewing option really
worked for us, and was well-worth the money.
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