Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska For you Valley residents

What are your impressions of living in the valley (Palmer/Wasilla area). Good, bad, indifferent?
Are there areas that are better or worse?
If we move back, thinking of taking up residence there due to the size of the house lots and the fact homes cost less. Wife and I are both retired so not concerned with the commute to Anchorage.
Please give me the good and the bad.
Thank you

The criminals in Anchorage patrol the valley. Don't buy a property hidden in the trees. No costco in the valley I think.
If you don't mind real Alaskan weather, try Fairbanks.

Wasilla is like Katy is to Houston in many ways to me. But its way better than anchorage.

Retired. not sure I'd want to be in the valley at all. We are closer to Fairbanks with our retirement setup. Fairbanks has a Costco... and enough of other to be good enough as a city goes. And not much more.

Been here for the better part of 50 years. It has changed over the decades (more people!!!), but so has the rest of Alaska. Lots of cultural refugees moving here from Anchorage, including former Anchorage Assembly conservatives. It has been a great home.

I've lived both sides of the Valley: Wasilla, decades ago, then Palmer for the past 34 years ........actually between the two, but on the Palmer side of the "border" (Trunk Road). This is the place to be, or even closer to the Palmer side. There's currently lots of new, big homes popping up nearby between the Parks Hwy, Fairview Loop, and the Palmer Hay Flats. The bigger lots can be a bit pricey there, but it's an excellent location, lots of great views, and excellent access to Wasilla, Palmer, and Anchorage. The hospital has attracted much of the new medical growth in the area. The college is nearby, and the Valley "greenbelt" is here (huge area of government lands between Trunk Road, P/W Hwy, and Glenn Hwy). That's all owned by the college, borough, Experimental Farm, and state, and it will remain undeveloped for decades, or longer. There's already a state recreation area, and there's now a public trail network used by cyclists, equestrians, xc skiers, & hikers.

The east side of Palmer (Butte area) doesn't get much winter sun due to the Chugach Mountains. North of Palmer (Farm Loop, Soapstone, Wishbone, Palmer Fishhook, Hatcher Pass gateway) is real nice. More larger lots are available.

If you go more toward the Wasilla side, I'd keep going to the Big Lake area. Wasilla is a pretty busy place.

I’m not sure that Alaskans know what that means!



If I was moving here, I’d definitely be going to the valley.

Too cold in Bareflanks for Snowwolfe
Grins

I do, and I have to say.... [bleep] Texas. Just kidding, kind of but [bleep] Houston for real.

Anyway... There's lots of great in both Palmer and Wasilla. Lots of bad too. And they are frequency not far apart from each other.

I like a lot about the meadow lakes to big lake area, and would look closely at that if I were retired. Also up to Willow and further on the Parks. Nice places to be found.

I also like a lot about Palmer. Lots to do and cool views of the Chugach. What I don't like is the wind. It's downright ridiculous at times and the last couple winters there were times you didn't even want to drive through due to wind. Something to keep in mind when you look at places.

I spent 33 years in Anchorage, when I came back, checked out the valley. Glad we did. We live in Palmer but could live in some parts of Wasilla. I think the real estate prices are better in the valley. Very impressed with the medical facilities here. Just had a Reverse complete shoulder replacement and it went very well. I stayed over night in the hospital, and the folks were younger but very willing to help. For the most part the valley has everything I need.

Down side, the choices for eating out are meager, and no Costco. I only go to Costco every month or two anyway so don’t mind going into town.

Fuel is cheaper here than town. Not sure why, but I only gas up here. I talk to people who haven’t been to town in months and don’t miss it. Glad we made the choice.
I have rentals for income and vastly prefer local people.

I had a good real estate agent if you need a contact.

No natural gas after you cross the little su. So if buy Houston North you be heating with electric and wood stove. Meadows lake good neighborhoods and some real bad ones. There is an area in Wasilla itself williwaw and the city of wasilla will not annex into the city limits because the crime rate is off the charts in that area. The state troopers are always in that neighborhood/subdivision they would love to see wasilla annex it. Wasilla doesn’t want anything to do with because wasilla version of Mayberry police department would be there all the time. Big lake be careful lot of riff raff out there as well, to me nothing really appealing about big lake for me. I take the valley over anchorage no question asked. The valley for now is the conservative stronghold of Alaska. No way in hell I live in squarebanks as you know it’s a weird town, with weird people with a liberal streak.

The Anchorage Assembly passed a $0.10 per gallon gas tax five years ago. It just went up to $0.12 per gallon. If you get the fuel card at Three Bears, you can get an additional $0.10 per gallon savings out in the Valley. Over time, those facts make a huge difference.

Another thing to consider: A 30 minute drive east of Palmer, and across the Chickaloon River, and you're in federal subsistence territory. No natural gas out there, and not a lot of real estate pickings, but if you can find a lot for sale out there, my bet is that you'll be caribou hunting while the rest of us are shut down for the next dozen years or so.

I really appreciate everyone’s input. You guys have all given me information that is helpful. We have no plans of going as far north as Big Lake.
Fairbanks? No fricking way, lol. I lived there for almost 4 years back in the 70’s. Call me a wussy but wife and I never want to experience that kind of weather again.
Keep the advice coming. If our place here sells I’ll be 71 and moving back! I blame my son and his family as they moved back to Anchorage with our only grandchild.

As far as property values go, I been checking out the listings on the Alaska MLS and there is no doubt the valley is less expensive. Plus I want a place where we can park future toys such as trailers, boat, etc. And that is pretty hard to find in Anchorage.

You don't want to know what that means... lol. I"d be moving to the valley for sure, if my other choice was closer to anchorage. The folks we bought our place from in Delta I think had the right idea. Get further away than the valley. And close enough to Fairbanks and call it done. But they were retiring.

OP. Not going as far as big lake. While I don't get that, its by all means your choice. Friends live in the Trunk RD area and I stay there a lot. Its getting big. Used to be rural type and nice. I think I might opt for looking hard at the far side of Palmer and or up towards Hatcher too. Having been through there a lot it would make me happier than Trunk road and at least off the parks highway area anyway.

Texas is fine but its turning liberal. Just too hot for me in summers. Almost in winters too.
I was damned to be born in Houston and lived there for 14 years until we could get out to the farm. Never stayed in Houston in the summers.. ugh. That is a horrible place. Wouldn't wish that or Dallas on anyone. Or Austin. We are kind of pinned between Austin and Houston.. but still rural at this point, though I wish we had 1000 acres instead of 100. Is what it is and I digress.

No gas would not be an issue as we don't and we have fuel oil and Toyo stoves in Delta and no issues. BUT we all have different "comfort" levels so to speak. I hated it when they paved part of our road south of Delta some years back. Prefer it to stay gravel and less people.

I know Anchorage residents can order most furniture on Costcos web site and have it delivered to their homes.
Does the same apply to Palmer and Wasilla?

Drive through country.

We fuel at Wasilla 3-Bears and maybe grab a bite on our way to FBKS or back. That's it.

Traffic getting through Wasilla is always bad, if you want to spend time on the Kenai Pen. its a lot farther away, if you could find a large lot in Birchwood or Eagle River that would be ideal in my opinion love the no traffic ease to get around in Eagle River hate suburbs, wish my lot size was bigger. Need a shop for my boats!

Valley resident? I thought it was referred to as Valley trash.

Yup, at least disassembled items. My wife does it regularly, and I have a bed headboard downstairs to assemble as I type. I use Carlile MyConnect to freught forward everything that won't ship here, including ammo.

If you like windstorms then Hatcher pass and Palmer are great choices.

We are proud valley trash. Great thing about living outside city limits state troopers only enforce state law. Not city or Burrough ordinances. When anchorage was shut down for Covid wasilla was still open, when anchorage assembly mandated you must wear a mask in the stores/public places. Matsu burrough did no such thing. We are a class 2 burrough the Burrough assembly has no authority to shut down anything or mandate. We enjoy a lot of freedoms out here in the valley.

If you want to ride the roadside trails, then Wasilla is your choice, Palmer doesn't allow it. But if you hate hearing ATV's and Snowmachines buzzing around all the time, then Palmer may be more your choice.

I'm always comparing the weather between Anchorage, Wasilla, and Palmer. Most of the time the winds are within 2 mph for all 3 places. When does Palmer get the bad winds?

What is a ball park figure for having a 12x24 shed built on site in the Valley? Heat not needed but minor electricity for a few lights.

You live in a nice Burro pard

Lots of talk about windstorms. We had some pretty good winds this winter. Going by the weather people, we had gusts of up to 55 mph. When I lived in Anchorage off Muldoon, wind gusts were twice that.

Snow loads affected several roofs in Anchorage.
The wind blew our snow off the roof.

Pro/Con. Which is more important to you.

January-February we get some doozies granted some last 2-3 days others last for a week at times. September-October we get windstorms as well they don’t seem to be as bad as the ones in the winter. If I were looking I find a place out on Fairview loop. Another area is off church and seldon. When you get to seldon hang a left you head towards meadows lake. You will see nice house nice house nice house then wtf trash dump for a place. Hang a right on seldon going towards bogard, wasilla fishhook rd a lot of nice homes and big lots. That’s another area to look at is wasilla fishhook rd a lot of nice homes and big lots. wasilla fishhook road sucks but supposedly the state is going to start fixing it soon.

The Mat/Su Valley sucks, go to Fairbanks

Figure you'd get quotes starting around 10k for the structure and going up from there.

We are pretty familiar with the winter chinook winds. We lived in Eagle River from 1987 to 2013. Seems gusts of 100 mph. I'm just trying to find out if they are worse in the Valley.

I part time live in the Church/Seldon area. House is in a little depression with lots of trees so we don't get a lot of wind.
There's a new development starting up off Church, so that's an option if you are wanting new new house.

Eagle river is still in the Anchorage borough, they call it a municipality. High property tax. Sales tax. Far left assembly destroying the area.
How often do you want to see the grandkid? Drive to Anchorage can be a breeze or a scary expedition depending on time of day and weather. I would want to be somewhere I trust the neighbors and they can see my property when I'm gone. ESPECIALLY if I have trailers and toys!

Not very concerned about driving to Anchorage once or twice a week. Right now we make a 80 mile run (each way) to hit Costco. If we move will not be visiting every day, kids need their space. Our closest town down here is 15 miles away but we generally drive to a larger town that is 24 miles away. The drive to Anchorage is not even going to be a consideration.

The worse I ever seen is 90 mph or so but that was yrs ago. But most seem to be in 70 mph range.

When your old "or" thinking you might have the miss-fortune of getting old, proximity to medical facilities becomes a relevant factor in where to reside.

I also am looking to relocate "FROM" Alaska to more-or-less somewhat near simulated Alaska, yet still near medical facilities.

I have a friend who was CEO of an Alaska hospital. I asked him if there was a rating system of hospitals. It turns out that there are two.

My wife and I have lived off Wasilla-Fishhook/Seldon since we came to Alaska 40years ago. Population has increased tremendously since then with folks trying to escape Anchorage. Rush hour traffic out here lasts 3hours in AM/PM so I go to traffic lights to turn safely. We do still have to go to Anchorage for some Dr. appointments but now most are out here in the Valley. We schedule Anchorage appointments outside rush hour, hit COSTCO and get out ASAP. Our property assessment has tripled since we moved here but the property tax exemption for seniors is wonderful. We have Carr's, Fred Meyer, Wal-Mart and 3 Bears for shopping - no COSTCO yet though.
There's been an increase in crime area-wide but none in our neighborhood thankfully - everybody is retired so we look out for each other.
I wouldn't trade Valley living - I just wish I had enough property to put in a shooting range.

Thankful for this thread popping up. I'm about 30 days out to move into AK - I'm also looking at the South Wasilla/Palmer area. This has been a long time coming and very exciting to live there as we are planning to stay for good.

Being 71 next month I should have my head examined for wanting to move 4500 miles back to Alaska. But everywhere we lived since leaving never felt like “home”. Once Alaska gets into your blood it’s hard to forget about her. And wife feels the same way.
I just have to convince KK to take me trout fishing if we make it back

That area is great all the way to bogard. Nice nieghborhoods etc.

Randy no problem Kurt

been in the Valley since '74, grew up off grid .... fishing, hunting & trapping as hobbies, used to have a helluva king salmon sport fishery but not anymore , in the good ol days we used to bring 50-70 lb kings outta Willow, Sheep & Montana Creek, hell 30-40 lbr's were "too small" to keep, now I'm thrilled to escape to Homer, just to catch a couple 15-20 lb "winter kings"

Moose hunting was spectacular, my bro & I, as pre-teen boys, all we had to do was walk away from the house to the nearest muskeg or lake and ya '06'd one to the ground, nowadays it's a wagon train of ATV's & SXS's non-stop, with wild eyed, itchy trigger finger, shoot first then check if it's legal size, gun dummy mfkrs tearing up the turf and leaving camp trash and booze litter wherever they stop, the rivers are a continuous drone of boat motors and during moose season, the river banks are basically a blue tarp & tent city, used to go for miles without seeing anyone before,

Wasilla used to be a one horse town on one side of the railroad tracks, and it was a grand place to be !

not so much anymore, far too many people and way too much traffic for a small town, luckily it's still a heavy conservative leaning crowd but "they're" coming, seeing more and more non-whites starting to pollute the once beautiful snowy white landscape & it's gonna get worse, the ORWACA & other blue state lib wacko's are moving in and buying up homes and large parcels of land all around Wasilla and Palmer, soon enough the Valley will be just like skAnchorage and Fartstinks, a full rentacan left out in the July heat too long, full of brown crap from all over the place

Still livable though and I'd much rather live here than in skAnktown, although I have been commuting into town for the past 30 years for work, the "city" is a necessary evil I suppose, got used to the drive and the morning/evening run can be entertaining at times, especially after a snowfall, a bunch of vehicles in the ditches, ass over teakettle, you'd think the non-4wheel drive cars would be in the hole but it's mostly full size 4 wheel dr trucks, it's pretty funny, I've got a vid I shot with my iphone one winter with over 10 trucks in the ditches on a one way morning commute

If they'd only terminate that damned PFD payout to everyone, It would quickly send the trash scurrying back to their old holes and drag their multiple crotch droppings with 'em

Progress can be good but even a beautiful woman stinks when she sh its

When driving from Anchorage, right before you enter Wasilla there is a development on the left close to Wasilla Creek. Plenty of trees and bigger lots. One of the streets in there is Sweetie Pie .
What are your opinion of that area?

That's where I'm looking too! I drove the neighborhood last June and it seemed like a good place to be with easy access to the main road headed towards anchorage. My friend lives on fetlock street close to wasilla creek he talks about how nice the area/people are in that area.

I've lived in both wasilla and anchorage. I grew up way out of town up in Northern Maine. So wasilla was nothing like living in the country.

Super busy, and full of suburbia cock-suckers.

Same with Fairbanks. Too busy and full of suburbia cock-suckers.

Northpole, also full of suburbia cock suckers.

I actually like Anchorage though. Bear Valley is one of my favorite places in the Anchorage area. Which makes no sense.

That’s the area I live in. When we first moved in, it was mostly oil company employees, military, and a few other trades. Most of the oil workers left, as they were engineers, etc. We do have some slope workers in the area, and for the most part it is quiet. Housing prices have gone though the roof since Covid here, but have leveled off mostly in the pay year. If you commute to Anchorage, you miss all the crap in downtown Wasilla.

I’m on Fetlock and just FYI, we do have an HOA. It pays for the street lights and insurance on them. We just agreed to drop our feed from $140 a year to $100 a year. The other side of the creek on the school side has an HoA as well, and is cheaper. We found out we have been paying for part of their lights, and they also manage the HOA themselves. Our side has a property management company that does it for us. Makes it a lot less painful in my opinion.

100% correct about Wasyphilis as it is now ...

But this urban sprawl of "suburbia cock-suckers" all came from Anchorage and their relatives who moved here from Washingstan

Not to concerned about HOA's as long as they allow trailers on the property.

Come on Mainer, tell us how you really feel, LOL.

OK, no problem! The dingleberry of Alaska, just dangling there (Kenai peninsula): also full of suburbia cock-suckers.

Valdez: yes, also full of suburbia cock-suckers.

Fairbanks is the biggest town I have ever lived in, and I’ll concede it is full of suburbanites. Too many college weirdos and too many 18 year old soldiers/airmen who have never driven on ice cruising around.

Luckily I don’t live there per se, but out in Fox.
Driving into town for work every day gets me my fill of traffic, even at 5:30 AM.

They just aren’t supposed to be parked in front of the residence. That’s in the CCR’s and not HoA rules. Our HOA hired a lawyer 6 years ago and was told if we don’t enforce the CCR’s put in by the developer the HOA could be sued. Most of the time the Borough enforces it before the HOA.

We are going to slowly move back to the Basin. It just costs less if you live the Homestead way. Kenny Lake High School, my alma mater, doesn't have any high school students going there anymore. The place is drying up. That is exactly when I want to move back. Fairbanks is still a decent place. I guess I feel I experienced the late 80s and early 90s in Anchorage when it was pretty good as a city goes. I went out to the Bush and moved into Town 20 years ago. Now FAI is starting to turn. There is a lot of crime starting to pop up and it is starting to lose its appeal. The Fairbanks PF ChitChow is testament of this. I do like the 320 acre moose reserve that buffers my property and the ability to go look at guns that pop up in 10 min from the house. But there are things in the wind that are getting me to think of buying the requisite 5 gun safes( I have three) to go from Gun Room to Homestead Reinforced shop and Security Room.

Don't get me wrong, there are cutthroat cock-suckers out here too:
John schandelemeir and Zoya Denure. Got my fingers crossed that John and my paths cross one of these days............

Ask him about Jack Johnson. He was Jon’s first father in law.

. Jon didn’t like my dad much. His name was Vic Kennedy. Let’s say we had a run in with him on the Denali Highway back in the early 90s.

You fit right in, in willow. Also don’t say small town in Maine. Be proud and say the reservation cousin/uncle/nephew

I see plenty of homes out in the valley with wells vs city water.
Any on going issues with the wells?

None that I've heard of. Ours has been here since 1968, and it still produces the sweetest water one might desire, and the only cost is the electricity to pump it up. Some wells on the Wasilla side can be stinky sulphur water.
I'd be concerned about any water near the landfill, though. All water is well water, including Palmer and Wasilla city water. Anchorage gets theirs from Eklutna Lake, and the natives are on the verge of getting the dam dismantled. I think they're leveraging the dam for a casino.

They do not have a reservation so the casino is going to be a tough one. Once one gets built there will be a bunch more in a hurry.

Yup. That's why they're using the nuclear option: No casino? We'll cut 95% of your water and 20% of your power generation. And the feds (who built the original dam to begin with) will be our muscle to get 'er done.