# Alaska



## AdventureGuide (Aug 9, 2012)

Thinking of moving out to Alaska, can anyone tell me some pro's and con's


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## DKRinAK (Nov 21, 2011)

Do you have an employment contract in hand? If not, you may find it difficult to get a job, an Alaska drivers license is almost a requisite...

Pros - clean air, nice views and not too much regulation - for now.

Cons - a brutal 9 month winter that is cold, dark and shitty. And that's here in the banana belt, you go up to Fairbanks and the weather can be lethal - -50F is not uncommon.
Gas is 4 USD/gal and going up, electricity, gas, everything is more than you likely pay now - assuming you are not in New Porsche, Anaheim or San Fran.
Education for the kiddos is spotty, some really bad schools up here.
Did I mention the brutal, cold and dark winters?

Best bet to to come up and have a look, depending on what part of Califlower you are living now, it may actually look less expensive to live here. Rentals are a bit tight right now owing to winter being at hand.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

> Did I mention the brutal, cold and dark winters?


Wait, that is a con? Sounds like a good time to me. We get -25 winters all the time; love it! Maybe I need to consider moving up there. Do they pay LEO's well?


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## AlbertJohn (Oct 8, 2012)

Unlike all others, I will suggest you to definitely visit the place once before moving to it. Visit the local real estate agents and get a place to live. Find out the transport ways in the city. Once you are prepared by all this, you will be getting no problem in the city.


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## backlash (Nov 11, 2008)

In addition to long cold, dark winters the summers are filled with bugs.
Mosquitoes the size of humming birds.
My BIL gave me a can of Off when I got there.
That was so they bugs knew there was a new guy with fresh blood.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

I would think it only logical to visit in winter before you move. I'm guessing the winters there are different than California


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## cnsper (Sep 20, 2012)

It all depends on what part of Alaska you are looking at. 

Fairbanks - Very cold in the winter and hot in the summer

Anchorage - I saw it -30 for a week one year. Other than that it hovered around 0 for most of the colder days of the winter.

Aleutian Islands - There can be some VERY nasty storms. Rarely gets below 20 but then rarely gets above 60.

Southeast - Very wet with lots of rain.

Here is how you have to look at Alaska. Pertains to the lower 48 or any continent. The further you are from the ocean, the colder it will be in the winter and the hotter it will be in the summer. Fairbanks can see 60 below in the winter and 100 above in the summer. Anchorage does not have those extremes. The water has a cooling effect in the summer and a warming effect in the winter... See the Aleutian Island description.

Mosquitoes - The interior the mosquitoes are worse than they are closer to the ocean.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

Sentry18 said:


> Wait, that is a con? Sounds like a good time to me. We get -25 winters all the time; love it! Maybe I need to consider moving up there. Do they pay LEO's well?


Cold winters are a much bigger challenges after it hits the fan. A nine month winter would be very difficult to survive. So would a three month growing season. I think moving to Alaska would be insane.

I live in NE Wisconsin. The coldest I've ever seen it is -30º back on Superbowl Sunday, 1985. -20º is something we see over 5 years or so. -10º is probably the coldest it gets in an average winter. Our winters here are about 4 months long. We typically have snow on the ground from Thanksgiving to the end of March every year. I don't even want to think about how much firewood we would need each year at this latitude, which is about 44º N. Cutting and splitting firewood without a chainsaw would most likely be a full time job for one person after it hits the fan.


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## cnsper (Sep 20, 2012)

You all have the wrong impression of Alaska. Maybe further north there are 9 month winters but the short growing season is no problem because of the 20+ hours of daylight. You should look around at some of the veggies grown there.

Here is one guys world records, grown in Alaska...


> His Guinness World Records suggest that there may be some truth to that. His prize-winners include: a 35-pound broccoli; a 19-pound carrot; a 39.5-pound kohlrabi; a 45-pound red cabbage; a 42.8-pound garden beet; a 28-pound kale; and a 49.1-pound celery.


And this does not even get into the size of the pumpkins and squash that are grown up there.


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## AKPrepper (Mar 18, 2011)

BillS said:


> Cold winters are a much bigger challenges after it hits the fan. A nine month winter would be very difficult to survive. So would a three month growing season. I think moving to Alaska would be insane.
> 
> I live in NE Wisconsin. The coldest I've ever seen it is -30º back on Superbowl Sunday, 1985. -20º is something we see over 5 years or so. -10º is probably the coldest it gets in an average winter. Our winters here are about 4 months long. We typically have snow on the ground from Thanksgiving to the end of March every year. I don't even want to think about how much firewood we would need each year at this latitude, which is about 44º N. Cutting and splitting firewood without a chainsaw would most likely be a full time job for one person after it hits the fan.


I live in Anchorage and we don't really have 9 months of winter....it seems like it sometimes  .....but in reality our winters ARE 6 months long. We usually have snow on the ground between the middle and end of October, and pretty much gone from most areas by mid April. I've only lived here 4 years and each year I've taken my Harley out for it's maiden voyage around April 15-18th each year. That doesn't mean the snow is gone from all the yards, just off the roads. It can be May in the higher elevations, like on the Hillside, before the snow is out of the yards. Then there was this past winter when Anchorage hit an all time high for snowfall!! :surrender: I'm ready should things go belly up, but my ultimate plans do not call for staying here. I have a place back in east Texas that I'll be relocating to for the long haul. Since everything we use to live up here is either trucked in, barged in, or flown in, Alaska is not the place to be post SHTF since it's likely our transporation system will be FUBAR big time.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

When I lived in Minnesota, I seen it so cold the propane would not vaporize. So when you needed heat the most it did not work.


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

My advice....dont camp out by yourself in an old bus and eat a poisonous plant for lunch. I saw the movie and it didnt work out well for the hippy kid.

Oh, and dont set up camp around a bunch of grizzly bears and talk to them like they are children either. If you do please be considerate to the rest of us and leave the camera running like the last guy. That was just good good tv.


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## cnsper (Sep 20, 2012)

Hey that's not fair to the bear. He thought he was a bale of timothy grass.



> Timothy Treadwell (April 29, 1957 - October 5, 2003) was an American bear enthusiast, environmentalist, amateur naturalist, eco-warrior, documentary filmmaker and tasty(according to the bear)


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

OK, if the winters are 6 months long you have 6 months to cut 6 months worth of firewood for really cold winters. If you live in Montana you have 8 months to cut firewood for a much milder 4 month winter. In you live in Montana after it hits the fan you still a low population density. Which I think is the only reason you'd want to live in Alaska after it hits the fan.

I could see living in Alaska if I lived on a big property in the middle of nowhere and I had some huge propane tanks with 3 years worth of propane. But I still wouldn't want to live and farm in grizzly bear country. I'd want a 100 yard buffer zone around my house and all my fields just to feel safe there.


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## cnsper (Sep 20, 2012)

Truthfully the bears are the least of your worries if you practice good and sensible living. Things like no food left outside and this includes trash. Do not wipe your hands on your clothes after eating, cooking or processing game.

If you use your head and don't like camp among feeding grizzlies just before winter in a tent with food stored in it, you will be just fine. Besides, your dog is your alarm system.

I live in grizzly country now and the only issue I have is black bears attempting to get into the dog food barrel. 

Most people think that bears are always huffing and puffing, grunting, growling or just generally making a lot of noise while moving through the woods... Nah that is not happening, they are very quiet, especially for their size. I can tell you that they are quieter than Elmer Fudd hunting wabbits from personal experience.

Everyone has heard that banging on pots and pans or making loud noise will scare them off. Not always. The ones around here are not even scared of gun shots. I tried a boat air horn... Nothing. The one thing that works every time is small gas engines. They never come around if the generator is running. When I had one 10' from the front door one morning I tried everything and she would not leave. Then I grabbed the chain saw and fired it up and she ran like a scalded dog. Maybe she thought I was going to cut and wrap her.


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## cnsper (Sep 20, 2012)

BillS said:


> OK, if the winters are 6 months long you have 6 months to cut 6 months worth of firewood for really cold winters. If you live in Montana you have 8 months to cut firewood for a much milder 4 month winter. In you live in Montana after it hits the fan you still a low population density. Which I think is the only reason you'd want to live in Alaska after it hits the fan.


You have more than 6 months, especially in the Anchorage area. Once you get the logs to the house you can take your time cutting. The other thing is that there is not always snow on the ground for 6 months and the temp is not always below freezing for 6 months.

When I lived up there, I was asked many questions by people in the lower 48 that have no clue... What kind of houses do you live in? What kind of money do you use up there? and other such stupid questions... LOL

If it was not for family, I would be back up there in a heart beat. I would recommend that everyone visit Alaska one time in their life. Forget seeing something overseas when this country has a lot of amazing places to see.


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

If you want a picture of what it is like to live in remote Alaska read "Forty years in the Wilderness" by Dolly Faulkner. As far as living in the city, if you grew up in L.A. expect a change but if you grew up in small town Montana then not so much. I have never heard of someone retiring from Florida and moving here though I have friends that moved south to retire.


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## webeable (Aug 29, 2012)

Look at ammo sites ammo will be hard to get


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