Alaska on a Budget

Alaska on a Budget

The video you are watching was made in April of 2024. It is the announcement of our upcoming trip to Alaska. In this video we tell you how much money we budgeted for this trip, and what items we have in our budget.

We are estimating that the total mileage for the trip will be 10,000. If we pay $6 per gallon for gas, that will be $6,000 for fuel alone. Although we love dispersed camping and we plan on doing that as much as possible, in Canada has provincial parks which are similar to state parks in the US.

When you buy a National Parks Pass in the US, it's good for all who are in the vehicle with you. Not so with Canada's National Parks Pass. In Canada, everyone over 17 needs a pass. We have alloted $1,500 for campsites when we can't find dispersed camping.

Next is the cost of groceries. Most of the time we will prepare our own meals. We may or may not eat a meal or two at a restaurant. We feel better if we prepare the meals ourselves. We have budgeted $3,500 for groceries for the 3 and a half to 4 months we'll be gone. As with most of the things we have told you about the cost, this is just an estimate.

Sharon knew when we planned the trip to Alaska, she was going to want to fish. She had about decided she would buy a half day charter to go fish. It was going to cost about $350 plus an of state Alaskan fishing license. After some research, she discovered that a nonresident fishing license for a year is only $100. At Thanksgiving we saw a cousin who helped Sharon set up an Amazon cart with things she would need to fish. He chose some relatively inexpensive fly fishing gear. With the money she wasn't going to be spending on a charter, she was able to buy lots of flies, and she even purchased a set of waders. For $322 she can fish in Alaska anytime we are near water.

We are going to try to keep track of our expenses, so you will know how close our estimates are to the actual cost. If you are thinking about a 2025 trip to Alaska, you may want to follow us to see what we would and wouldn't do again.

To answer a question I addressed at the top of this description, no we did not head to Alaska in early April. We will, or when you view this, we left in June. We don't post videos announcing that we will be gone. We don't feel it's a good practice.