Potential move to Alaska

[VernAK]

Lotsa good advice above especially wildwilderness' comments on the trailer and moving.

I moved up from MN in 69 and never looked back. Of the four choices mentioned, only two are tenable to me. Soldotna is a very nice community with good fishing that was once great. Fairbanks will get you closer to big game and small game hunting and the town is decent with nice surrounding communities.

Your concerns about the cost of toys for accessing the backcountry are well founded. As I look back over all these years I find that my original toy was great and got me access to a lot of country with minimal cost. Boots, backpack and canoes will do wonders for you. The new inflatable rafts and boats would also be on my list.


Good luck!

 

[SaltySailor]

I was born and raised here, but spent 10 years in the Navy seeing the world before coming back. One thing you will find out pretty quick, you are basically on a island road-system wise. Look at a map, the roads only cover a small portion of the state. Haul road doesn't really count, nobody wants to drive that all the time. I thought it was so awesome to jump in the truck in San Diego and drive for a day and end up in Texas, just seeing stuff. Or when I was stationed in WA, hey, lets go see Yellowstone...... You can cover just about all our road system in a few trips in your first year if you wanted. This is why a lot of us have 'toys', so that we can see country that you wouldn't be able to see via the road we all have driven 147 times. Just the two of you its easy to fly back to the lower 48, but once kids get added to the equation it gets expensive. My dumb ass ended up with four kids: plane tickets, 2 hotel rooms, basically a minivan for a rental car, etc - its expensive to see the U.S..

 

[Clarktar]

No disrespect, a lot of “I’s” there. Remember you’re bringing a fiancé. Partnership deal. Please don’t think I’m trying to dissuade you, I am not. We see this same scenario time and time again. The number of people that make it is probably 50/50 regardless of all the glowing recommendations to pull the pin on the lower 48 that you’ll read here. I’ve been in Alaska for something like 26-27 years full time. I made that move you’re talking about. It worked out. But I surrounded myself with family. Someone mentioned above how difficult it is to walk away from friends and relationships that take a lifetime to build. It’s damn tough starting over.

Good luck my friend. I wish you and your fiancé the best.

I'll echo the sentiments that it's damn tough starting over. Leaving good friends and family ain't easy. I never even thought about it until I got up here.

Good thing I don't like people or company else I'd be struggling.

Quit my job, took a big pay cut and chased a dream I had left behind when I fished up here in my 20s.

Hunting up here is a production. But there is almost no limit to the possibilities. Analysis paralysis quickly sets in.

Good luck on your decision!!

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[rruchti]

Lotsa good advice above especially wildwilderness' comments on the trailer and moving.

I moved up from MN in 69 and never looked back. Of the four choices mentioned, only two are tenable to me. Soldotna is a very nice community with good fishing that was once great. Fairbanks will get you closer to big game and small game hunting and the town is decent with nice surrounding communities.

Your concerns about the cost of toys for accessing the backcountry are well founded. As I look back over all these years I find that my original toy was great and got me access to a lot of country with minimal cost. Boots, backpack and canoes will do wonders for you. The new inflatable rafts and boats would also be on my list.


Good luck!

Is there good use in a jet drive? A basic jet drive outboard is a reasonable investment and I feel would have multiple uses. May be a leg up from atv access

 

[AK_Skeeter]

I like interior Alaska because to me the other locations (Soldatna, Wasilla) feel so crowded...
especially during tourism season. I don't like combat fishing, traffic, etc.
I like 350 mile drive from North Pole to Valdez with no traffic lights.
I like the 500 mile drive from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay with no traffic lights.
I like the 200 mile drive from North Pole to the Canada border with no traffic lights.
I like the 150 mile drive from Fairbanks to Manley Hotsprings with no traffic lights.
I like the 150 mile drive from Fairbanks to Circle with no traffic lights.

I like the 27 mile hike from Eagle Summit to 12 mile summit not seeing another backpacker.

I like my home in the hills on 10 acres and that is affordable.
I like my neighbors.

I like that an international airport is 15 minutes away.
I like that the boat ramp on the Tanana is 5 minutes away.

I like the warm summers.
I like that we only get 12 inches of precip a year.
I like that I can hike, canoe, shoot targets without seeing anyone else.

I like the sugar snow and no road salt so vehicles last forever.
I like to see the aurora borealis, winter bonfires in our yard,

I like that I can hike the neighborhood roads and rarely see a vehicle,
when I do they slow down and wave.

I like interior Alaska.

 

[WRO]

Soldotna is one of my favorite places on earth..

Lived there 5 years, spent another 5 summers up there.

Love to fish, hunting is decent..

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[Catchfish]

I live here in Kenai and can answer slot of questions for living down here feel free to pm.
Jet drive is not real useful here, on the peninsula as much as they are in the valley and Fairbanks.

Would also suggest moving yourself with a trailer and selling it. Toys can be expensive and another way to make some cash if you can get things cheap down there. Also can find people who need things brought up.

Another question to ask is what does the fiancé do for work. Is that work available in all your work locations it may or may not matter to her.

 

[kwackkillncrew]

I live in eagle river and really like it. Centrally located and just out side of Anchorage. All of my fishing is south and most of my hunting is north other then sea ducks. Soldotna is kind of a zoo in the summer with the tourists. But most alaska towns near fishing are.

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[VernAK]

I've gotta throw in with Skeeter concerning our ability to travel far with minimal traffic congestion.

Skeeter FYI: We have an idiot on Delta City Council that wants a stop light in Delta because of the ore trucks that may soon be moving through.

RRuthci,
Jet boats are very numerous here in the interior especially in hunting season. The canoe with lift or surface drive can get you back into good areas for less cost and less fuel. The smaller canoes can get you into smaller creeks and sloughs. Mainer can fill you in.

The backpack and boots can be a year round tool for keeping in shape wherever you settle. Great hiking abounds in Alaska.

Be sure to move up in summer so the fiancé can see the better seasons. If you had moved this winter, you'd have probably lost your girl.

 

[kwackkillncrew]

Is mainer on this forum? He is probably busy doing his reality tv show. I am sure he is a great guy but that show has gotten pretty ridiculous with the dramatization. His freighter canoes do look pretty nice.

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[AK Troutbum]

I guess I’ll probably be the first one to disagree with everybody else on here, but I say you shouldn’t do it. I drove up here 30 years ago and for some reason I can’t seem to find the road back. The fishing sucks (all those photos that Salmonchaser posted must’ve been taken somewhere else), the hunting sucks (although, the squirrel hunting in my front yard can be pretty epic at times), and the people, for the most part, are assholes. I’m sure you’d find more thoughtful, caring, loving people in places like New York City then you would in Alaska, but that may be just because New York City has about 12 times the population of the state of Alaska.
Feel free to PM me if you’d like some more reasons not to move to Alaska.


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[dieNqvrs]

I moved to AK from MT at your age. Lots of unique opportunities with hunting fishing and outdoor lifestyles here that are not available elsewhere.

I miss MT, but after visiting friends and family over the years MT is not what is was and prices have out paced my ability to move back to where and how I want. I miss the 4, 3 month seasons. In AK they are mostly shortened and one is significantly lengthened (take a guess). I still go hang with buddies and hunt occasionally, and some come here for adventures.

My lady friend and I adventured up together and now have teenage kids. It is now harder and more $ to leave and visit others down south.

Many pros and cons of each state. You know what you have, never know what you don’t unless you try it out. Not always greener, just different.

I don’t have second guesses leaving, make ur decision and don’t have regerts.

Buy truck and trailer and bring your essentials up Alcan. Sell both if you don’t want them.

If you do come, establish friends through work, church, animal foundations etc. especially important your first winter.

Real estate has gotten more expensive since Covid like everywhere. So look at your options to what you can afford. You don’t always recreate and have to travel long distances no matter what, so go where there are the amenities you want.

There are like many different types of remote access toys. They all $ and each will help in a different way. Pick and choose if you want but boots will serve you the best.

Come visit in now and travel the state and see what it is like. Then come back in July and compare.

Good luck. PM if you want more specifics.

 

[frank church guy]

I guess I’ll probably be the first one to disagree with everybody else on here, but I say you shouldn’t do it. I drove up here 30 years ago and for some reason I can’t seem to find the road back. The fishing sucks (all those photos that Salmonchaser posted must’ve been taken somewhere else), the hunting sucks (although, the squirrel hunting in my front yard can be pretty epic at times), and the people, for the most part, are assholes. I’m sure you’d find more thoughtful, caring, loving people in places like New York City then you would Alaska, but that may be just because New York City has about 12 times the population of the state of Alaska.
Feel free to PM me if you’d like some more reasons not to move to Alaska.


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my age.

 

[JoeDirt]

Ive been temped to move up to Soldatna, being in the Oil and Gas industries I find job posting quite often.

 

[DawnPatrol]

Try it and see! If you don’t like it, you can always move back—MT isn’t going anywhere.

I lived in SEAK for a few years and loved it. But AK is not for everyone. If you don’t like it, you can always chalk it up to an adventure and move back down south. If you don’t go, you might wonder about it for the rest of your lives.

 

[AKDoc]

Truly great comments and suggestions from others thus far!

I'll quickly add (endorse) that Alaska is certainly not for everyone. Some of us absolutely love it, but some give it a test drive and say no. If you and your future wife seriously want to give it a try, then I'll endorse what some others have said and encourage you to give it a try for a preset period of time (one or two years) and evaluate...otherwise you'll always wonder, what if? There are down-sides to living in Alaska as others have mentioned, so definitely don't burn your bridges in MT, just in case!

I was offered a job here nearly 36 years ago after finishing my doctoral training in Colorado. My wonderful wife also came up for the interview, and it was a tough week as we went back and forth, do we do it or not? We exhaustedly reached the conclusion to try it for a year because we'd always wonder what if? We did it, and have never looked back after all these years. We happily raised our children here, and they still live here today with their spouses and children. For many, many reasons, it has been one of the top five best decisions of my life...but it's not for everyone (intentionally reiterated).

BTW...I'm an extremely active outdoor person, but Alaska is sooooo wonderfully huge that there is no way to see it all in one life-time...not even half of it, despite my best efforts!

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Buy a boat immediately if you move here.

 

[emarr]

I moved my family to Dillingham, Alaska last year. Best decision we've made! The places you mentioned are much more populated and are actual cities rather than the Bush where we live. Any questions let me know.

 

[Q child]

Haha. When you move up be sure to change your username to something with "AK" in it.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Haha. When you move up be sure to change your username to something with "AK" in it.

You're god damn right!!!