Sports

Alaska State Parks logo. (Image courtesy Alaska State Parks)

Kachemak Bay trails report

The trails report is provided by Park Specialist Eric Clarke. General information and announcements Please contact park staff to report problems or to file complaints… Continue reading

  • May 27, 2020
  • Staff report Homer News
  • Outdoors
Alaska State Parks logo. (Image courtesy Alaska State Parks)
Archaeology students participate in a dig near Delta Junction, Alaska, conducted by Dr. Kate Krazinski and Dr. Brian Wygal of Adelphi University in summer 2019. (Photo provided by Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)

Refuge Notebook: One person’s trash is another’s artifact

Archaeology. OK, what was the first thing that came to your mind when you read that word? I hope it wasn’t Indiana Jones, or dinosaurs!… Continue reading

Archaeology students participate in a dig near Delta Junction, Alaska, conducted by Dr. Kate Krazinski and Dr. Brian Wygal of Adelphi University in summer 2019. (Photo provided by Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)
Alaska State Parks logo. (Image courtesy Alaska State Parks)

Kachemak Bay trails report

The trails report is provided by Park Specialist Eric Clarke. General information and announcements Please contact park staff to report problems or to file complaints… Continue reading

  • May 15, 2020
  • Staff report Homer News
  • Outdoors
Alaska State Parks logo. (Image courtesy Alaska State Parks)
Mills Creek on April 29, 2020 in the pass between Cooper Landing and the Turnagain Arm. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak)

Out of the office: Summer arrives

What was I doing? I asked myself that as a struggled frantically to wiggle my telemark boots into the bindings and continue down the miners… Continue reading

Mills Creek on April 29, 2020 in the pass between Cooper Landing and the Turnagain Arm. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak)
Alaska State Parks logo. (Image courtesy Alaska State Parks)

Kachemak Bay trails report

The trails report is provided by Park Specialist Eric Clarke. General information and announcements Please contact park staff to report problems or to file complaints… Continue reading

Alaska State Parks logo. (Image courtesy Alaska State Parks)
Dan Rapp and Sarah Youngren of Soldotna have spent the last five summers on Aiktak Island in the eastern Aleutians and hope to return in 2020. (Photo by Sarah Youngren)

Refuge Notebook: Learning to love the ‘sweat and shiver’ diet

Have you ever spent a weekend camping, maybe a long weekend, when the rain never seemed to quit? Where on the last day, all you… Continue reading

Dan Rapp and Sarah Youngren of Soldotna have spent the last five summers on Aiktak Island in the eastern Aleutians and hope to return in 2020. (Photo by Sarah Youngren)
A completely normal scene at the top of Slaughter Ridge in Cooper Landing. (Photo provided by Kat Sorensen)

Tangled Up in Blue: AM/FM

I woke up to the sound of a stranger crying and decided to go directly back to bed. It was a pang of depressing abnormality… Continue reading

A completely normal scene at the top of Slaughter Ridge in Cooper Landing. (Photo provided by Kat Sorensen)
Photo provided by USFWS A morel mushroom grows in disturbed gravel on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.

Refuge Notebook: Forest morels: Year after fire brings rewards

2019 will be synonymous with wildland fire for most of the residents of the Kenai Peninsula, and as the details of date and time fade… Continue reading

Photo provided by USFWS A morel mushroom grows in disturbed gravel on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.
Homer’s Daniel Reutov snags the ball from a Kenai player during a soccer game on April 16, 2019 at Homer High School in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)

The seniors of spring sports: Boys soccer

This is the fourth in a series of stories highlighting the seniors who would have been playing their final sports seasons this spring. When the… Continue reading

Homer’s Daniel Reutov snags the ball from a Kenai player during a soccer game on April 16, 2019 at Homer High School in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)
Chris Giegerich holds a monster halibut he caught on the F/V Huntress with Capt. Josh Brooks on May 3, 2020, while fishing in lower Cook Inlet with his family. (Photo courtesy of Joleen Brooks, F/V Huntress)

Angler catches monster halibut

A monster halibut caught on May 3 by Chris Giegerich would have been a contender last year — if not an outright winner — in… Continue reading

Chris Giegerich holds a monster halibut he caught on the F/V Huntress with Capt. Josh Brooks on May 3, 2020, while fishing in lower Cook Inlet with his family. (Photo courtesy of Joleen Brooks, F/V Huntress)
Nick Varney

Unhinged: Believe it or not, there’s a bright side

Don’t worry, I’m not going to jump into the COVID-19 kerfuffle.

Nick Varney
Homer’s Mose Hayes pitches during the Mariners’ game against Soldotna High School on May 10, 2018 at Homer High School in Homer, Alaska. (Homer News file photo)

The seniors of spring sports: Baseball

This is the third in a series of stories highlighting the seniors who would have been playing their final sports seasons this spring. When the… Continue reading

Homer’s Mose Hayes pitches during the Mariners’ game against Soldotna High School on May 10, 2018 at Homer High School in Homer, Alaska. (Homer News file photo)
Refuge Notebook: Recreational safety after the Swan Lake Fire

Refuge Notebook: Recreational safety after the Swan Lake Fire

Residents of the Kenai Peninsula are all too familiar with wildfire after the summer of 2019. Not only did the Swan Lake Fire burn for… Continue reading

Refuge Notebook: Recreational safety after the Swan Lake Fire
A painting by the author. (Photo provided by Erin Thompson)

Out of the Office: Painted blue

I went to Homer a few weeks ago to find blue. For weeks I had wanted to paint nothing but blues and purples, but I… Continue reading

A painting by the author. (Photo provided by Erin Thompson)
Rayana Vigil, left, celebrates a victorious bout during the 2019 ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Wrestling State Championships in Anchorage, Alaska. Vigil was crowned the women’s state champion for the 189-pound weight class. (Photo courtesy Alaska School Activities Association)

Homer’s Rayana Vigil commits to Southern Oregon University wrestling team

Rayana Vigil, a soon-to-be Homer High School graduate and Alaska state champion wrestler, has committed to wrestling at Southern Oregon University in the fall. Vigil… Continue reading

Rayana Vigil, left, celebrates a victorious bout during the 2019 ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Wrestling State Championships in Anchorage, Alaska. Vigil was crowned the women’s state champion for the 189-pound weight class. (Photo courtesy Alaska School Activities Association)
Skyline Trail has damaged tread as well as hazard trees from the Swan Lake Fire. (Photo by Christa Kennedy/Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)

Refuge Notebook: Swan Lake Fire trails update

Last fall the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge was forced to close eight trails due to Swan Lake Fire activity. Through the fall, all eight trails… Continue reading

Skyline Trail has damaged tread as well as hazard trees from the Swan Lake Fire. (Photo by Christa Kennedy/Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)
Kachemak soils are the dominant soils on the rolling hills in the Diamond Ridge area. (Photo courtesy Doug Van Patten)

A soils primer for Homer: Kachemak soils have wonderful properties

This is the second installment of the series, “A Soils Primer” for the Homer area. This is meant to be a non-technical, for the most… Continue reading

Kachemak soils are the dominant soils on the rolling hills in the Diamond Ridge area. (Photo courtesy Doug Van Patten)
The Homer girls soccer team celebrates its 4-3 win over Kenai Central High School in the semi-final match of the Peninsula Conference Soccer Tournament on May 17, 2019 at Homer High School in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)

The seniors of spring sports: Girls soccer

“Missing out on so much more than winning and losing”

The Homer girls soccer team celebrates its 4-3 win over Kenai Central High School in the semi-final match of the Peninsula Conference Soccer Tournament on May 17, 2019 at Homer High School in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)
The view of Turnagain Arm, as seen from Hope Point in September 2018. Hope, Alaska, would be a good meeting place for a date once restrictions caused by the new coronavirus are lifted. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Out of the Office: Love in the time of corona

How do you find “the one” if you can’t even leave your home?

The view of Turnagain Arm, as seen from Hope Point in September 2018. Hope, Alaska, would be a good meeting place for a date once restrictions caused by the new coronavirus are lifted. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Photo courtesy Bill Bell Kaitlyn Johnson plays with her teammates on the Homer softball team in this undated photo.

The seniors of spring sports: Softball

This is the first in a series of stories highlighting the seniors who would have been playing their final sports seasons this spring. When the… Continue reading

Photo courtesy Bill Bell Kaitlyn Johnson plays with her teammates on the Homer softball team in this undated photo.