Talk me out of moving to Ketchikan (Anchorage, Wasilla: transplants, sale)

[myellen]

I am looking at a job opportunity in Ketchikan. I have only visited on a cruise, so I don't really know anything about the area. I have read as much as I can find. I have previously lived in a rural area north of Seattle, so I am familiar with rainy weather.

I love to hunt and fish. If I had my way, I would like on a remote island, and self sustain, but that isn't a possibility. I have seen the housing costs and they are crazy. I can afford it, but what I can afford will be very different from what I have now. But with that said, I am looking for something different than what I have now.

What I can't seem to find online is what is it like to live there day in and day out? Will I have enough activities on the island to keep busy, or will it be necessary to travel off the island regularly (which is expensive). I could care less about night life or social activities. I would prefer to spend time, with my family, outdoor activities and friends.

Its hard to get a sense of the cost of living. I know food is more expensive, but I really want to hunt and fish for food, and preserve it for the year.

What I don't want it to move, just live in a house and work a job. I have at least that now, and then some. I understand that anyplace is what you make it to be.

What about the Ferry system? I understand that it is in danger of being shutdown. Obviously this is a big deal and I am sure that there are a lot of people who be affected by this. What options will exist? If it were to be shutdown, would Ketchikan be a bad move?

[AKStafford]

Remember, you have to live here a year to qualify for a resident fishing & hunting license. Until then you'll pay more for a non-resident license.
Ferry: unless you need to transport a vehicle, most of your travel in & out of Ketchikan will be on Alaska Airlines.
Grocery: look at the sale ads of the local stores to see what pricing can be like: https://www.tatsudaiga.com/ or https://coupons.safeway.com/weeklyad/?store=1818&s= or https://www.akandproud.com/WeeklyAd/Store/184/

[Metlakatla]

A lot of things are said on this forum about how you've got to be "outdoorsy" to be able to live happily in Alaska, but I think there's more to it. Sure, it helps to like to hunt and fish, but you'll actually be spending most of your time indoors. No matter how much someone is into outdoor activities, they aren't going to be happy in SE Alaska unless they've got the inner resources to handle the long, gray winters. You'll be going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark, and the daylight, and despite Ketchikan's relatively mild temperatures, that doesn't always translate to "good weather." It helps to have hobbies or whatever so that you're not just watching TV when you aren't hunting and fishing.


I actually don't think the ferry is going to shut down, but who knows; there's a lot of noise being made right now by a grandstanding governor that "Alaskans" with dollar signs in their eyes voted into office, and the ferry is just one more thing he's trying to leverage in his end game. If the ferry does shut down, however, it's going to affect a lot more than just the people who use it. Read this:

https://www.ktva.com/story/40006867/...ngs-by-october

Sen. Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, a former F-22 Raptor squadron commander at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, noted ferries’ vital importance in the event of a disaster. He mentioned an exercise shortly before his retirement from the military, which showed that “without the ports we’d die” because supplying Anchorage alone would take an airlift effort three times larger than the Cold War-era Berlin Airlift.

“Trust me on this one, if you shut down the ferry operations, you are potentially — I hate to say it — but you’re potentially strangling those communities, because they may not make it through the winter without that if the airports can’t support them,” Shower said. “And my guess is that they can’t; I don’t think that infrastructure’s there.”

The fact that you want to be talked out of it tells me it's probably not a good move, though.

[myellen]

I say talk me out of it, because I know that there is safety in the multitude of council. I have wanted to move for a long time. It has just never been the right time or opportunity.

It's easy to overlook the negatives about a place, when you want to do something. It's also easy to get sucked into the brochure/tourist presentation that most places have, which is not representative of real life.

In WA state, I was very used to driving to work in the dark, looking outside and seeing grey raining sky's and then back home in the dark. That is just how winter was.

[myellen]

Originally Posted by AKStafford

Remember, you have to live here a year to qualify for a resident fishing & hunting license. Until then you'll pay more for a non-resident license.
Ferry: unless you need to transport a vehicle, most of your travel in & out of Ketchikan will be on Alaska Airlines.
Grocery: look at the sale ads of the local stores to see what pricing can be like: https://www.tatsudaiga.com/ or https://coupons.safeway.com/weeklyad/?store=1818&s= or https://www.akandproud.com/WeeklyAd/Store/184/

Thanks for the links, that helps a lot.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by myellen

In WA state, I was very used to driving to work in the dark, looking outside and seeing grey raining sky's and then back home in the dark. That is just how winter was.

Ketchikan is a little like Washington on steroids, but whenever I land in Seattle in the winter, the light hurts my eyes.

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by myellen

I could care less about night life or social activities. I would prefer to spend time, with my family, outdoor activities and friends.

As is very common, we are hearing all about what YOU want for yourself. Will family be moving along with you? If so, read on. If not, ignore.

Having lived in SE and elsewhere up here for decades and watching other people come and go, it is important to consider that not everyone in your family is necessarily going to be satisfied with the AK lifestyle. The majority of the reasons families end up moving down south again is due to "family members", not you. THEY get frustrated, THEY get bored, THEY don't have services, schooling, community THEY need. THEY miss relatives and friendships in the south 48. You may be happy with the outdoorsy lifestyle because as you say you don't care about social or nightlife, but this doesn't mean the rest of the family will. The kinds of things that bother transplants are the unexpectedly mundane everyday things that living in AK creates.

[rwjoyak]

Average annual precipitation:
-Seattle: 36 inches
-Juneau: 92 inches
-Ketchikan: 152 inches

Average annual precipitation days:
-Seattle: 155
-Juneau: 222
-Ketchikan: 229

Average annual sunny days:
-Seattle: 152
-Juneau: 86
-Ketchikan: 100

The above stats are from multiple web sources, and some sources don't agree, so these may not be totally accurate. But I think they are good enough to convey the relative nature of weather in the Ketchikan vs Seattle. I also threw in Juneau weather to provide additional comparison.

You said you are familiar with rainy weather, but Ketchikan is a lot more on the extreme than Seattle. Lot more rain and snow coming down, lot less of a balance between sunny and rainy days.

I'm a sunshine guy, so couldn't take Ketchikan. Maybe you're not, but figured I would point this out to you to be sure you understand just how gray and wet it typically is in Ketchikan.

[myellen]

Originally Posted by rwjoyak

Average annual precipitation:
-Seattle: 36 inches
-Juneau: 92 inches
-Ketchikan: 152 inches

Average annual precipitation days:
-Seattle: 155
-Juneau: 222
-Ketchikan: 229

Average annual sunny days:
-Seattle: 152
-Juneau: 86
-Ketchikan: 100

The above stats are from multiple web sources, and some sources don't agree, so these may not be totally accurate. But I think they are good enough to convey the relative nature of weather in the Ketchikan vs Seattle. I also threw in Juneau weather to provide additional comparison.

You said you are familiar with rainy weather, but Ketchikan is a lot more on the extreme than Seattle. Lot more rain and snow coming down, lot less of a balance between sunny and rainy days.

I'm a sunshine guy, so couldn't take Ketchikan. Maybe you're not, but figured I would point this out to you to be sure you understand just how gray and wet it typically is in Ketchikan.

Thanks for the stats. I have looked at them before, but I also know that’s it’s hard to understand how things are just from the numbers. In Florida, there are seasons where it rains about every day, but it’s a hard shower and then the sun is out. The stat would say that it rains all the time but reality says that the vast majority of the Day was nice.

I have seen YouTube videos and read blogs from people who like in ketchikan. Most of them talk about the rain and then about how great it is on a nice day. I have randomly looked at web cams in the area and it seemed fine, but that is a snapshot in time.

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by myellen

In Florida, there are seasons where it rains about every day, but it’s a hard shower and then the sun is out. The stat would say that it rains all the time but reality says that the vast majority of the Day was nice. .

It's the opposite in SE. The majority of days are overcast and drizzly all day. Ketchikan gets more moderate to heavy rain than most places in the region, hence the bigger yearly total. The sun is weak at our high latitude except for a few months, so you really don't get any of that rainy, then nice! effect except during summer. Rest of the year you're either enjoying a brief dry spell of days when the sun is out most of the day-but it's not warm- or it's overcast conditions day after day, week after week.

For your interests of hunting and fishing, obviously this is a pretty good place to go. I would look into the ease of access to the outdoors from your place of residence, but it should be good just about anywhere. You will probably want/need to buy a boat.