The Homer Spit ( Dena'ina: ''Uzintun'') is a geographical

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern-day use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures ...

located in

Homer, Alaska Homer (Denaʼina language, Dena'ina: ''Tuggeght'') is a City (Alaska), city in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, Kenai Peninsula Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is southwest of Anchorage, Alaska, Anchorage. According to the 2020 United ...

, on the southern tip of the

Kenai Peninsula The Kenai Peninsula ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghenen'') is a large peninsula jutting from the coast of Southcentral Alaska. The name Kenai (, ) is derived from the word "Kenaitze" or "Kenaitze Indian Tribe", the name of the Native Athabascan Alaskan tribe ...

. The spit is a long piece of land jutting out into

Kachemak Bay Kachemak Bay ( Dena'ina: ''Tika Kaq’'') is a 40-mi-long (64 km) arm of Cook Inlet in the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southwest side of the Kenai Peninsula. The communities of Homer, Halibut Cove, Seldovia, Nanwalek, Port Gra ...

. The spit is also home to the Homer Boat Harbor. The harbor contains both deep and shallow water docks and serves up to 1500 commercial and pleasure boats at its summer peak. Additional features and attractions include ''The Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon'', which is an artificial "fishing hole", campgrounds, hotels, and restaurants and the Salty Dawg Saloon, which is constructed out of several historic buildings from Homer. Hundreds of eagles formerly gathered there in winter to be fed by

Jean Keene Jean Keene (October 20, 1923 – January 13, 2009), also known as the Eagle Lady, was a former rodeo trick rider who became the subject of national attention due to her feeding of wild bald eagles on the Homer Spit in Homer, Alaska. Although she h ...

, the "Eagle Lady".

History

Two different theories postulate that the spit originates either from the tidal swells and currents of

Cook Inlet Cook Inlet (; Sugpiaq language, Sugpiaq: ''Cungaaciq'') stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage, Alaska, Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding ...

and

over millennia of sand buildup, or that it was pushed into place by now-retreated

glaciers A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

. The Dena'ina called the spit ''Uzintun'', meaning "extends out into the distance". In 1899, the Cook Inlet Coal Fields Company laid a railroad track along the spit, connecting the docks to the coal fields along Kachemak Bay. The resulting business led to the development of what eventually became Homer, Alaska. In the 1960s, several

hippies A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

, known as "spit rats", traveled from all around to camp on the Homer Spit, many of them becoming successful commercial fishermen over time. The

1964 Alaska earthquake The 1964 Alaska earthquake, also known as the Great Alaska earthquake and Good Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PM Alaska Standard Time, AKST on Good Friday, March 27, 1964.

shrank it to , and killed most of the vegetation, making it today mostly gravel and sand.

Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon

This artificial lagoon is known locally as the "fishing hole". Every spring it is stocked with salmon fry from the

Trail Lakes The Trail Lakes are two lakes on the lower Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. The lakes are near the town of Moose Pass and adjacent to the Seward Highway. They are the home of a large salmon hatchery owned by the state of Alaska and operated by the Cook ...

hatchery facility. The fry are fed by volunteers so that they will imprint on the location in the normal manner of salmon. They then proceed to live normal lives as wild salmon, returning as adults to the lagoon due to their instinctual desire to mate and spawn. The lagoon is a popular attraction for both tourists and locals, as it is an easily accessible and inexpensive salmon fishery. There is even a ramp for those who have to use wheelchairs. During the summer months it can become very crowded if there is an active

salmon run A salmon run is an annual fish migration event where many salmonid species, which are typically hatched in fresh water and live most of their adult life downstream in the ocean, swim back against the stream to the upper reaches of rivers to s ...

occurring, and there is additional competition from

harbor seals The harbor (or harbour) seal (''Phoca vitulina''), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared sea ...

who often enter the lagoon to chase salmon. The official name is a tribute to the biologist from the

Alaska Department of Fish and Game The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) is a department within the government of Alaska. ADF&G's mission is to protect, maintain, and improve the fish, game, and aquatic plant resources of the state, and manage their use and development i ...

who proposed the idea and managed the project.

Potential threats

Because the spit sits only about above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

, it is susceptible to threats such as

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

s including ones that could be caused by eruptions of several nearby volcanoes, and climate change, as well as

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

; the ocean side is exposed to heavy waves.Mason, Owen et al. Living with the Coast of Alaska. Durham: Duke University Press, 1997. pgs. 210-211. Homer Alaska Spit Panorama

References

External links

Boat Harbor Map
{{Coord, 59, 37, 12, N, 151, 27, 17, W, region:US-AK_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title Homer, Alaska Headlands of Alaska Landforms of Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska Spits of the United States