Anyone from or moved to Alaska?

[silvershade255]

I've been kicking this idea of trying to move out there around. Maybe this isn't the best place to ask, but I like the community here so maybe someone has answers.

If you're from or have moved there, what are the actual struggles? Regrets? Little annoyances that make life difficult? What makes you want to leave?

[Naperville]

I know two people that live in Alaska. I am not that close to them. I do not know much, and all that I can say is, there is apparently a big gun culture there according to them. In summary: Bears. Moose. Guns.

:D

That is all....

[James Y]

Sorry, I won’t be much help, but when I was a little kid, our elderly next-door neighbor had lived in Alaska for many years before he moved to CA. The one thing I really remembered him telling my parents about it was how bad the mosquitoes were up there.

Jim

[Halfneck]

Sister In-law & her husband lived there from 90? till about 6-7 years ago. Beautiful place (we visited in 98 when they both worked at Denali National Park), but not sure I could live there. Just some observations I made while visiting & from what my In-laws have said:

The Bad

Groceries/supplies are more expensive.

If you don't live in one of the bigger cities be prepared to drive a bit. When my In-laws lived in Denali they had a 1 hour drive to the nearest grocery store. There was a convenience store nearby, but it just had basic stuff like milk/bread/microwave meals/snacks. Also consider your health needs. If you need routine healthcare having a long drive to a Dr./Clinic/Hospital might be a bad idea.

Vehicles need to be 4WD or AWD. A 2WD vehicle is seasonal & a luxury. My In-laws had a Toyota 4WD truck and an old Subaru wagon in AWD.

You will need serious winter clothing. Winter clothing from Old Navy/The Gap/American Eagle will not cut it. Good stuff from REI/Cabelas/etc. will be what you need. Some bargains can be found in military surplus gear.

Seasonal Affective Disorder is real. The long nights and cold winters can mess with you. Other than missing family, this was a big factor in my Sister In-law wanting to move.

The Good

If you enjoy the Outdoors, you will love it. My Army buddy's son lives in Alaska. The boy was stationed there in the Army & stayed after resigning his commission in the Army. Him & his wife both love the outdoors - they Thru-hiked the AT for their honeymoon.

Hunting & fishing. My Brother In-law didn't consider himself a hunter/fisherman, but he routinely shot ptarmigan or fished for salmon. Mostly he did it to cut down on the cost of groceries. In one outing to a nearby stream while we were there he brought home 3 large salmon that fed us for 2 nights with left-overs. My Army Buddy's son hunts bigger stuff like Dall sheep, Caribou, & Bear. He's not gotten a chance at a Moose yet.

Pioneer spirit. I definitely got that vibe off a lot of the people I met there. They were independent, made do with what they had, and seemed more willing to help their neighbors.

Beautiful place & I'd like to visit again some day.

[rangefinder]

(I was writing my long response at the same time Halfneck was posting -- it's interesting that there are some similar themes in both.)

I lived in Alaska in the 1970s and 80s. I still have a bunch of friends and relatives up there, and go back to visit every year or two.

The state is so big that when it comes to climate/geography you need to narrow down what part you're talking about. I mostly lived in the interior and most of the people I visit live in the interior, so that's the area I'm most familiar with.

The bad parts:

* Jobs can be hard to find. If you work in oil/gas, mining, forestry, construction, welding, and similar trades you can probably find work. If you're a software engineer, probably not. Medical staff (doctors, nurses, dentists) are always in demand. Some jobs (fishing, tourism related) are seasonal, so while they may pay good for a few months, you'd need something else to supplement that.

* The state is in the middle of a big budget crisis: https://www.adn.com/tag/alaska-budget-crisis/

Since the state and federal government are some of the largest employers in Alaska, this is a big deal. I know people who work for the University of Alaska system, and they're seeing lots of cuts.

* The cost of living is one of the highest in the nation. Almost everything has to get shipped into the state -- clothing, groceries, etc.

* Depending on where you're at, the weather and seasonal light cycles may be an issue. When I lived in the interior, it was pretty common to see -50F (real temperature, not wind chill) in the winter. I've heard that in recent years it's been a lot warmer -- but that's relative, and "warmer" still means -20F.

In the winter it got VERY dark since the sun was up for only a few hours. "cabin fever" is a real thing -- being stuck indoors for days or weeks can drive people nuts. Of course, in the summer it stayed light for a very long time and you could do things outside for 20 hours. But the summers are much shorter than the winters.

The weather and seasonal light cycles aren't as bad the farther south you go. On the Kenai penninsula, there's still a real winter (below-freezing temperatures and lots of wet snow) but it's nothing like winter in the interior. But Kenai is about 300 miles due south of Fairbanks and has very different geography, since you're changing from the interior to the coast.

* Yes, the mosquitoes are very bad, at least outside the larger towns/cities where they spray. Some years in the interior there have been massive forest fires that have seriously degraded air quality. And in Fairbanks in the winter, ice fog can be an issue:

https://youtu.be/31zNQFksm4I

The good parts:

* If you like doing stuff outdoors, you'll love it. And if you hunt or fish, you will be in heaven.

* If you don't like people, you'll love it. Alaska has by far the lowest population density of any state. And the "big" cities aren't very big.

* The state pays you to live there: https://pfd.alaska.gov/ (At least for now, although that could change at some point. But so far, even through the worst state budget issues, the PFD has not been raided.)

* The northern lights (aurora borealis) has to be seen first hand to fully appreciate it. Even the best low-light cameras do a very poor job of capturing it.

Random comments:

* There's a bit of a culture shock for some people when they come to Alaska. If you're an urban dweller and you're used to going to the local mall and having dozens of stores to look for clothes/shoes/etc., or you like to go to clubs or concerts or pro sports events, that's just not an option. Sure, there are malls (a few small ones) and concerts (rarely the big acts), but nothing like you'd get in any mid-size city in the lower 48.

However, online shopping is a huge change compared to when I lived there 30+ years back. Being able to order anything you want online and getting it in a few days has made a huge impact. Of course, that's also made a lot of smaller local businesses close.

* There can also be culture shock because of the distances involved in the state. Driving 100 miles to get to the nearest city is no big deal. People in Fairbanks think nothing of driving to Anchorage (a 300+ mile drive each way) for the weekend. Those distances may also mean a 911 response will take an hour to reach you.

* Alaska is a "red" state, which might be an issue depending on what your political views are.

* This has changed some in the past few decades, but by and large Alaska is a "no whining zone". There's an expectation that you should be able to take care of yourself. Drama queens are not tolerated. (Many years ago when I first heard the term "prepper" I kind of laughed because that's how everyone lives in the rural areas of Alaska! Everyone has weeks if not months of food in storage, extra fuel, cb or ham radio, guns, etc.)

* If you're in the military, that's one way to move to Alaska. There are big bases outside Anchorage and Fairbanks, and a bunch of smaller installations.

* I would really recommend visiting Alaska both in the summer and winter to get a feel for the area you're considering before moving. The summers are short but can be very pleasant, so you can't really form an opinion off a week's visit in July. You really need to visit in December or January too.

[Wartstein]

I am an European and have only visited Alaska once in the late 90ies,I think...

I really am an outdoor guy and so on the one hand it was heaven for me. On the other hand, I can remember while the nature and enviroment were MIND BLOWING it was the only "place" (I´ve been to many "places" in Alaska of course) where I constantly felt a bit tense and not always relaxed. Just due to the perceived danger of bears to be honest (mostly based on what everybody was talking about on that issue)... Of course I had no gun and nothing, it is not that I was frightened and I still really did enjoy my stay, but it was not totally relaxing.

To put that into context: I have been to other "bear areas" (in the US and Europe), but never felt that way there.
So: If you are like me, and move there and like the outdoors, a gun (and knowing how to use it, which I don´t (European, you know...)) might give you some peace of mind

[Doc Dan]

I love Alaska. I was stationed there in the late 70s and early 80s. I still dream about that place. If I were not married I would probably be back there still. However, and there are challenges as people have pointed out. You have to go and get prepared and learn how to live there. And the cold is no joke. It can reach very low temperatures like below -60 Fahrenheit. And those temperatures even with the best clothing your bones hurt and heat is never quite enough. But you get used to it. Mosquitoes are so bad in places it looks like a heavy rain but it’s actually the air filled with mosquitoes. Chickens are a good defense against mosquitoes says the mosquitoes like chicken blood better than yours and you can also plant chrysanthemums. Of course bear is our reality even ends on the small towns. It’s weird the things that are cheaper there. Boats and hand carved teak desks were so cheap but things like milk and sugar and blue jeans cost an arm and a leg. There was also the culture shock of seeing people walking around with handguns in open view. It was illegal when I was there to carry a gun concealed but out in the open was perfectly fine even in the city . Also I will remember being in downtown Anchorage and seeing pet reindeer tied to a lamp post outside of JCPenney’s. It was a different world. It was still very much a frontier. I hear that drug problems are a major issue up there now.

[Cambertree]

Hey Doc,

I don’t have any personal experience of Alaska, except to say I’d love to visit there.

Linda Barsi has some cool, light hearted Youtube vids on the subject:

https://youtu.be/cMyy4uJclN0

An entertaining ‘survival’ series set in Alaska:

https://youtu.be/QBB0rK3EIRs

And the real deal: Heimo Korth and family-

https://youtu.be/UlPzlmqp7tI

https://youtu.be/Iq0rZn8HFmQ

[ferider]

I've been in Alaska on vacations and loved it, absolutely gorgeous (Anchorage, Salmon River, Fairbanks, and Denali). And, my better half and I have decided to move away from California a few years down the road, and Alaska was on the list ....

However, in the end, we picked WY instead. Has much of Alaska's wilderness attraction for us, similar population support of American civil liberties and rights, but compared to Alaska, WY seems just a little safer in terms of a bit denser population and infrastructure, longer spring/summer/falls, healthcare accessibility, etc. Just last week, we finished a cabin to function as vacation home and temporary housing before we move there in a few years and build our "final" home .... Very exciting :). Note that Idaho and Montana were close contenders.



Roland.

[Water Bug]

As a friend who was stationed in Alaska once told me, if you can deal with the Alaskan environment, it's a beautiful place to live in.

While stationed in the Washington DC area, I received a phone call from someone at Eielson AFB, Alaska (Fairbanks). During our conversation, he asked me how the weather was in DC... I looked out the window, told him it was a nice, early spring day with the sun out, the snow nearly gone from the shaded areas, a slight breeze, and that the high for the day was supposed to reach 60 degrees F. He laughed and said he was looking out his window to see no sun, snow piled to the eaves of the building, the expected high for the day was to hopefully reach -60 degrees F, and that didn't include the windchill factor caused by the high winds blowing at the moment.

Later when I was stationed in Okinawa, I spent two weeks in Alaska in July (around the 4th of July) and found it to be, overall, a really nice place...

...I first visited Anchorage. I was told almost half of the population of Alaska lives there. I found that even in July I needed to wear a jacket while everyone else was walking around sweating in shorts and t-shirts... one guy in shorts and a t-shirt came up to me and asked, "You're wearing a jacket? Aren't you hot?" I told him, "No. It's kind of chilly." He then said, "You must be from Okinawa or something." To which I said, "Yes. Actually, I am." He laughed... "That explains it." In July, you could go outside at 10:00 PM and there would still be more than enough sunlight to throw a ball or frisbee around. Even at midnight there was sufficient light outside to see what's going on. If you can deal with near-constant evening light in summer then Alaska's not a bad place to be. We were invited over to a colleague's home for dinner... they told us that towards the end of winter/start of early spring when the day temperature finally reaches 0 degrees F, there are people outside in shorts and sandals cooking on the grill.

...I next visited Fairbanks, which is even more of the extreme than Anchorage. The people I met there told me that real men and women lived in Fairbanks. I definitely needed a jacket there in July and the mosquitoes (from the surrounding marshlands I saw while flying in) were quite prevalent. I was told by a colleague who lived there for a while that in the winter the sun rises around 10:00 AM and sets by 2:00 or 3:00 PM, with winter lows around -60 to -80 degrees F without the windchill. He told me in winter he would be outside on a tractor working around 4:00 to 5:00 PM with the headlights on and the aurora borealis flicking above him. While I was there in July, the darkest the skies got was around 2:00 AM, and it looked like early dawn/early evening with more than sufficient light to see what's going on outside. There were "hitching posts" on the base and downtown where people plugged in the engine block and oil pan heaters for their vehicles to keep them from freezing up in winter, and my colleague noted that while he was there that 5W-10 was the standard motor oil of choice in winter.

So, overall I found Alaska to be an interesting place and the people who call it "home" love it. The remoteness, summer and winter sunlight periods, and the winter temperatures, and how you handle them, seem to be deciding factors on whether to live there. I was not in Alaska during the winter and don't have personal experience on that topic... I found the winters in Washington DC and Illinois to be bad enough.

[Ankerson]

I've been kicking this idea of trying to move out there around. Maybe this isn't the best place to ask, but I like the community here so maybe someone has answers.

If you're from or have moved there, what are the actual struggles? Regrets? Little annoyances that make life difficult? What makes you want to leave?

I would check it out carefully, things are not good at all up there now.

From what I have read over the past few years the crime rates are extremely high, jobs are VERY hard to find.

And everything is VERY expensive.

For the most part unless you work in the Oil Industry or other high paying job you will have a rough time to say the least.

A lot of the good stuff you hear is from people who got in in the good times back in the 70's and 80's.

It's not even remotely close to that up there now so check it out completely.

[Doc Dan]

Jobs have always been hard to get that allow someone to stay all year. That’s one reason I did not stay.

On another note, I remember there being so many mosquitos that when it came time to eat, our food was blanketed in them. I’ve eaten a lot of those things. I still buzz when I walk... :D

[Ankerson]

Jobs have always been hard to get that allow someone to stay all year. That’s one reason I did not stay.

On another note, I remember there being so many mosquitos that when it came time to eat, our food was blanketed in them. I’ve eaten a lot of those things. I still buzz when I walk... :D

A lot of fresh water up there so yeah that would make since.

The worse I ever saw was when I was stationed in Guam, OMG.. :eek:

At dusk you could see huge clouds of them, it was very bad...

They sprayed a lot too, but it never really helped much, only rainy season helped.

[Doc Dan]

[Doc Dan]