Within the Wild Adventure Company, a transformative adventure company in Alaska, ushers in a new vision for its hospitality offerings. Celebrating 40 years in south-central Alaska, with founders Carl and Kirsten Dixon at the helm, the mutigeneration-run company now focuses on a series of new adventure and wellness programs at its Tutka Bay Lodge, including the addition of a luxury-focused collection of hospitality services to add to its already outstanding reputation in Alaska.

Joining the company’s portfolio of businesses in Homer, Alaska, which already includes La Baleine Café, will be Danish Daughter Flower Farm, a peony and vegetable farm. This addition will offer lodge guests unique dining experiences and cooking classes, while also being a source of local produce for the culinary offerings.

Rounding out the Dixon Family’s new vision for the company is a deeper commitment to protecting and safeguarding the natural world and cultures around them, with its non-profit Be the Wild Stewardship Project. These new initiatives focus on preserving wild land and learning and exploring Alaska Native culture and maritime ecosystems, which enrich the lives of both the local communities and guest experiences.

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New for 2023 is the addition of Tutka Bay Lodge’s 18-passenger catamaran, The Lightning, which takes guests on exciting adventures in Kachemak Bay. These wildlife and sightseeing tours bring guests closer to nature, where they can spot an abundance of marine life, including humpback whales, sea otters and an array of unique shorebirds. On a sunset cruise, guests can enjoy grilled s’mores and other hand-crafted desserts and drinks under blankets as they experience dramatic views of the sun setting behind Mount Augustine, Mount Redoubt and Mount Iliamna.

Guests can also experience an Oyster Farm Tour, which teaches the process of growing oysters from seed to market as they indulge in a floating raw bar experience, where they can shuck and eat grilled oysters fresh from the source. The vessel can also take guests to explore Flat Islands  and Seldovia Village to visit local galleries and shops.

For adventure travelers eager to explore the rugged backcountry, the lodge offers climbing excursions, where dirt roads lead hikers or bikers to upper bowls and high alpine vistas. For a full-day biking adventure, the lodge can transport bikers via helicopter, boat or plane across the Gulf of Alaska to Augustine Volcano, a volcanic island with an incredibly unique moon-like landscape. Still with active vents releasing plumes of smoke, venturing to this volcano makes this a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

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In June, the annual salmon run sees hundreds of thousands of salmon travel up streams and rivers to inland spawning grounds. This is also the perfect time for fly fishing on a private beach accessible by plane in Katmai National Park. A 15-minute flight from the lodge, guests can explore the Outer Coast and stunning glaciers on a daytrip to the magnificent Kenai Fjords National Park for fishing, hiking, kayaking, paddle boarding and even glacier jet skiing.

The Tutka Bay Lodge property is comprised of six deluxe cabins, as well as a main lodge, a smaller, intimate building where guests can enjoy pre-dinner appetizers, dine, play games or explore the library and nature nook. It is here guests can also sign up for lodge-based activities.

Within the Wild’s cooking classes, adventure activities and opportunities to explore nature all add to the overall culture of wellbeing at the lodge. Tutka Bay Lodge offers a new regenerative program that includes daily outdoor yoga and forest and ocean meditation, which includes kayaking or paddle boarding for a floating treatment, or guided breath walks through the local forest to find inner stillness, self-reflection and grounding.

Taking advantage of the lodge’s unique location, Forest Therapy incorporates guided hikes into an old-growth rainforest or into nearby Kachemak Bay State Park. From this ideal setting, guests can immerse themselves in sound bathing, incorporating a full-body listening experience that intentionally uses sound to invite gentle, yet powerful therapeutic and restorative processes to nurture the mind and body.

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At Tutka Bay Lodge, a Wilderness Tea Lounge invites guests to gather herbs and berries from the forest to create a healthy and healing tea, which can be enjoyed before or after a cold and hot water therapy session or herb and salt scrub treatment.

Leading the culinary programs are mother Kirsten Dixon and daughter Mandy, two award-winning chefs and cookbook authors. The addition of the new Danish Daughter Farm in Homer, which produces more than 60,000 peony blooms and an array of herbs and vegetables, will complement the on-property gardens, local farmer relationships and foraging efforts to promote a local and sustainable culinary experience. During the Annual Homer Peony Celebration in July, the farm opens for tours, with the opportunity to enjoy these edible, fragrant blooms and dine in the farm fields with intimate meals prepared by chefs Nick Wells and Timothy Crockett.

The summer season at Tutka Bay Lodge extends June 1–Sept. 30, with rates starting at $8,415 per person for a three-night experience, complete with two off-site adventure excursions, all meals, guided activities and related gear, wellness and cooking classes, wine pairings and other lodge amenities. The popular two-lodge adventure offer between Tutka Bay Lodge and Winterlake Lodge will continue to be available for booking in the summer. Buyouts are also available starting at $126,000 for three nights/three days.