Buying land in Alaska (Fairbanks: rent, house, camp)

[Sandybcn]

Hi,
I have always been fascinated by Alaska. Unfortunately I have never made it there yet. I was wondering how safe is it for a woman to travel there alone.
I have been watching bbc programme about Duane a Rena Ose who live off grid on ose mountain. Amazing.
Thanks in advance if anyone can shed any light.
Thanks.

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by Sandybcn

Hi,
I have always been fascinated by Alaska. Unfortunately I have never made it there yet. I was wondering how safe is it for a woman to travel there alone.
I have been watching bbc programme about Duane a Rena Ose who live off grid on ose mountain. Amazing.
Thanks in advance if anyone can shed any light.
Thanks.

Of course a woman can travel here alone...BUT, and it's a BIG but...the purpose for the travel and what you know about the activity you plan on doing matters a lot. If you think you want to buy some mostly inaccessible patch of tundra, tramp out into the bush by yourself, and expect to live having never even been here before, it would be a dumb idea. If you want to fly up, rent a car and tour the big iconic parks for a summer, that's an entirely different thing. If you want to come up, get a job and work out of some small community while on your own, again, certainly doable.

Shed any light? On what? Where? Alaska's a huge diverse place. In order to give you reasonably helpful suggestions we need a few more details! Watching experienced people do it on some BBC show isn't very real. The probably edit out the mundane wretched aspects. In some ways, long time AK residents wish TV producers had never discovered us.

I'm a woman and I have always lived here alone. I do not live on some mountain by myself. I've worked and lived in small bush communities for years and have done subsistence living off the grid seasonally. It certainly can be done, though there are necessary tasks I need to get help or hire help to do, but that's because I'm only one person, not because I'm female. Risks and hazards exist regardless which gender you are. Not to discourage you, but be smart about it. Come for a visit. Come for a job. Then you'll have some clue what it would take.

[Metlakatla]

I remember Duane Ose was advertising for people to come and camp on his land and learn "wilderness ways" or some such BS. He was just trying to get free labor.

That said, there's a lot more to Alaska than Ose. It's safe enough for anyone as long as you avoid being stupid.

[Sandybcn]

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate it. It is wise advice.
I was born and raised in a kind of isolated house so I have an idea of what it's like but it's a fact that Alaska is daunting.
Of course, first I'd just come as a tourist for a short while to get a feel for the place.

I had in mind the area of Fairbanks.

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by Sandybcn

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate it. It is wise advice.
I was born and raised in a kind of isolated house so I have an idea of what it's like but it's a fact that Alaska is daunting.
Of course, first I'd just come as a tourist for a short while to get a feel for the place.

I had in mind the area of Fairbanks.

Living in an isolated house with some utilities and road access to services and shopping is totally different from living off grid 20 walking miles from anything. With wildlife than can and will tear the house up and decide to have you for a meal. Add to that sub-zero temperatures for months each year.

Remember, if you come visit during summer that isn't going to give you a hint about living there in winter. Especially as far north as Fairbanks.

[Sandybcn]

I am aware of this and I thought exactly the same.
Would definitely be a challenge.. But I have endured some challenges already.. Not like the ones in Alaska but harder in other ways. I guess, when a life like this even crosses someone's mind is because they have a ' special' kind of personality.

[riceme]

You would be wise to pay attention to Parnassia. She has lived here a lot longer than I have and knows what she's talking about. No one here is being firm with you to be mean. None of us want anything bad to happen to you.

I am a woman and live alone about ~35 minutes outside of Fairbanks (this varies widely based on season, weather, road conditions, and is not well-measured in miles, but it's actually only 13 miles). Before I moved here I also always lived in places that are considered "isolated" in the states, and my life was exceedingly tough at times. It is not the same. At all. Forget what you think you know. It does not apply here. A person needs to come here willing and ready to learn and know how to take action on the things that have been learned. Your tough times might speak to your character and fortitude, but they are not to be used to measure your ability to survive in Alaska. Even so, one should not strive to merely survive, but to thrive.

I have family here and lived across the road from them until I knew what was going on and how to take care of things by myself. They allowed me to struggle, and to a certain extent, they let me figure things out myself, mistakes and all. But they were THERE, I paid attention, and they would not have let anything bad happen to me if I was in real trouble. It is hard to live alone here. It is not easy. It is really hard to figure out HOW to live alone here.

I started trying to explain winter in Fairbanks to you and gave up. I'm not sure that it can be explained. Last month would have been a great time to come up for a visit. It was pretty cold.

There are a couple other women on this board and hopefully they will chime-in, but I hope that the men do as well. I think there are two other women from Fairbanks, but only one of them is a frequent poster.

I am curious what you would do for a living here, and where you would be coming from?

[Sandybcn]

Thanks for advice. Really appreciated.
What do you exactly mean by this.. Are you thinking about weather, loneliness (would not be my problem),...
It is hard to live alone here. It is not easy. It is really hard to figure out HOW to live alone here.

[Sandybcn]

I'm originally from Ireland but live in Spain at the moment..
Forgot to mention in last post..
By the way.. How willing to help are people there.. I mean would they give you a hand if needed,help is non existant where I am now, and people are not friendly at all contrary to what you might expect in this country.

[AustinB]

Originally Posted by Sandybcn

I'm originally from Ireland but live in Spain at the moment..
Forgot to mention in last post..
By the way.. How willing to help are people there.. I mean would they give you a hand if needed,help is non existant where I am now, and people are not friendly at all contrary to what you might expect in this country.

You do know that moving to Alaska has the little immigration issue..., besides it is a lot harsher than just living by yourself in Spain.