Your help is needed. If you support the ideas outlined below, please let the City of Homer know using the contact information in the final paragraph.

By Jason Davis
Homer City Council

Homer is fortunate to have several formal and informal trails that are easily accessible from town, but nearly all of them share a familiar pattern: you walk out, you turn around, and you retrace your steps. The Reber Trail is a great example — beautiful, popular, and well loved — but still a relatively short out-and-back experience.

Above Karen Hornaday Park, we have a rare opportunity to add something new to Homer’s trail system: a true loop trail, starting at the northeast edge of the park, climbing into wild, open terrain and returning by a different route to the west end of the park. It would be a gorgeous hike, offering expansive views and — just as importantly — a genuine sense of journey.

The land that makes this possible is now publicly owned. When a critical parcel above Hornaday Park came on the market, a group of quick-thinking local residents stepped in to purchase it, hoping the City would recognize its public value and buy it from them. The Homer City Council did just that. Today, the community owns the series of switchbacks on the hillside above the park, an alder-shaded walking route that leads up to a beautiful meadow on land the city has owned for many years but that was previously accessible only through private property.

As the city noted in public discussions last summer, hikers are already using this area. The newly acquired switchbacks provide uphill access, and a combination of informal footpaths, easily crossable meadows and game trails lead west across the older city lot before dropping down a ridge with old growth spruce to the west end of Hornaday Park.

During those council discussions, staff acknowledged this existing use. In response to my suggestion that the informal loop be flagged so that people already hiking there would converge on a single route, staff wisely asked for time to hire an engineering firm to identify the best route for a loop trail — rather than defaulting to the one randomly chosen by human and animal wanderers. Council agreed. That approach made sense. Understanding slope stability, drainage, and ground conditions is essential if we want a trail that lasts and protects the landscape.

An engineering assessment of the best trail route depends on seeing the land at the right moment. Mid-May through mid-June offers a uniquely informative window. Snow has melted and the ground has thawed, but vegetation has not yet grown tall enough to obscure what matters most. It is the brief period when soggy areas, drainage patterns and erosion-prone soils are still visible. Anyone who has hiked the area later in summer knows how quickly nettles, pushki, ferns and fireweed can hide these details.

While May may feel far away, it is actually very close given the pace of municipal planning. With that in mind, I asked the Homer City Manager Melissa Jacobsen late last year to provide an update on plans for the engineering assessment at the Jan. 12 City Council meeting.

In addition to the timing considerations above, I am also paying close attention to the scope of the assessment. An out-and-back trail following the existing switchbacks would undoubtedly be simpler and less expensive in the short term, and therefore tempting. But it would also fall well short of the long-term public value this land can offer.

Homer has always done its best work when we combine patience with vision — taking the time to do things right while keeping our eyes on what we hope to create. A loop trail above Hornaday Park would give Homer something it does not currently have: a walkable route from near downtown into open, unspoiled nature, without dead ends and without retracing steps. Loop trails encourage exploration, distribute foot traffic more naturally and help limit the spread of informal side paths. They also create a richer experience for residents and visitors alike, offering changing views and a feeling of movement through the land.

We have already taken the hardest step by securing the land. The next step is simply to make sure we ask the right questions at the right time — using dedicated trail funds that we already have — in order to assess the full potential of this place before narrowing our options. 

If you support the idea of the cty acting sooner rather than later to fully assess the feasibility and best routing of a loop trail—one that connects hillside, meadow, and park into a complete and memorable experience — I encourage you to share that perspective. You can reach the city manager at citymanager@cityofhomer-ak.gov and city council members via the Homer City Clerk at clerk@cityofhomer-ak.gov.

Thoughtful feedback now will help ensure that this once-in-a-generation opportunity results not just in another trail, but in a trail worthy of Homer’s status as a world-class recreation destination.

Jason Davis is a Homer resident and small business owner who serves on the Homer City Council. The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the city council or the City of Homer.