My wife and I are moving to Libby, MT on Sunday after 24 years in Alaska. I'm going to miss the friends I have made over the years, but it is time for something different.

Without prying, what about Alaska do you need a change from that Montana will give. If the answer is personal and not geographical ignore the question.

Rob-
Have a safe trip! Hope to see you 'down the road' in a year or two. We'll miss you at the rodeos.

When you get to Libby, look up a local taxidermist there, you can usually find him hanging out at his shop, the Ford dealership or the gym.

Ask him when was the last time he had his azz whupped by the handsomest, nancy boy, hair curling machine in existence!


Or alternatively, just ask him how many caribou he's killed with a hatchet.

That sucks man. Spent 18 years there and moved outside 2 years ago. Regret it every day. It's a tough choice. Good luck

Good luck. I lived on the KP for about 17 years. I stayed in AK but was ready for a change so I know what you mean. The friends I have there are about the only thing I miss. Kept my house in Sterling until this past year just in case I needed/wanted to go back.

I moved to Alaska in '82. In the fall of '14 I moved to Fairbanks to be with my wife while she goes to school. I've missed Alaska ever since. (I'm sure 2L2Q knows what I mean. )

lol do I ever Klik


couple in here yesterday from Oregon, she flew him up here for his b'day to see the northern lights.

they were so bored she came to get her hair done late afternoon. They left this morning to head to Anc.

Missed the UAF museum, small but nice as she was here till 7 and they close at 5 p.m.

they saw a trickle of aurora, but that's about it.

when they asked me what there was to do here???

told em it's a great jumping off point to go see Alaska

I did the opposite of you Klik. I moved up in '91 and resided on the road system up until 4years ago and then moved more remote. I worked remotely(guiding) across the state and then of course played remote as well for all those years. But I wanted to reside off the road system. We now live in a very small town and I hunt and fish a lot. Life is good. We have road, it just ain't connected to the world!

I rather enjoy NW Montana. Troy/Libby/Yaak/Cabinets... It's like anywhere, reap what bounty the county has... I wish you the best.

Once Alaska gets her hooks into you its hard to leave... My family moved back after a 10 month trial in the lower 48 come late September momma said she wanted to go back. So loaded them up packed a uhaul trailer up and took them back home. I'm going to finish my time in the Army roughly 3 years until 20years at Ft Carson Colorado and head home to Alaska.

One upside for Fort Carson, good Kraut food at Edelweiss and Uwe's in The Springs. The trout fishing isn't awful in the South Platte below Spinney Mountain Reservoir.

Leaving AK was the hardest thing emotionally I've ever done. I guess that's not bad because obviously I've had a good life. After leaving, I've returned twice. I realized visiting was not fun because I still want to be there and leaving all over again was hard. I doubt I'll ever go back unless I'm moving back.

None of that is bad, but IMHO, its not nearly CO. Tromped a lot of ground between Florissant and Spinney a few times bowhunting. Never had time to fish though.

I been up around meeker and rifle scouting for elk beautiful country we bitch about crowds during moose season we were up their during 3rd rifle season holy smokes talk about a crowd people everywhere it was crazy.

Prepping for a move, such as yours, myself. After almost 64 years here, we are headed to Eastern Wa. My parents used to tell me I'd get tired of the dark and ice. I'd tell them BS, but here I am looking forward to more moderate/sunny weather and more daylight in winter. There are many things I will miss and many I won't. Worst case is if I don't like Wa. I can always move back.

Have friends that say, and they ain't young, they are so used to it all they'd rather die there than move, even with winter and aging.

RE people in CO and elk season vs people in AK and moose... yes on both counts.

But the difference, in AK moose season if you walk 1/4 mile off a trail you don't see anyone hardly ever. In CO even if you walk you are liable to see folks. Though we rarely did in MZ seasons in CO, but I can only imagine the crowds in rifle season.

LMAO!!

I know what you mean. I moved from Seward to Anchorage back in '83 while Anch was still kinda an Alaska town. Then it went downhill rapidly.
Moved to Bethel in '88 and have been here since. I went to Squarebanks to go to UAF fall of '98 to '04 and only came back on holidays and summer 'cause my wife stayed here. It made for something to really look forward to when I was out of school. But since I had to sell virtually everything I couldn't go hunting, with working on my breaks and all.

I thought Squarebanks wasn't that bad actually. The best Korean food ever is under the bowling alley.

Sqaurebanks is not a bad town. I can only deal with Anchorage in small spurts LOL. I live well my family lives in Wasilla its not too bad. I'm glad folks in Eagle river and Anchorage look down on us lowly valley folks. Keeps them out of Wasilla and Palmer.

Alaskan women travel for hundreds of miles to the beauty parlors of Fairbanks. Not only a great hair-do but the "charming" owner is the guy of their dreams!

LOL I bet you are to the native gals

At least Libby MT is near some gorgeous country. A guy could do worse. Good luck!

Alaska is for visiting, Montana is for living...

That's right folks, nothing to see here. Horrible place to live.

I agree nothing to see in Alaska fishing sucks, no bears to shoot, caribou are all gone, moose are nonexistent... Move to Montana please have a nice day!

To the OP, good luck with the move.

I moved to Bethel when I finished college in 99. I met some really good people there. In 01 I moved to Wasilla. I loved it there. I had a great job and knew many wonderful people.

With my schedule, I was able to travel and hunt several times in a lot of places in SE, out to western AK, down the Kenia Pen. and the AK Pen below King Salmon. Plus trips to South Central, the AK Range, four North Slope trips, and out of Barrow. Not counting fishing, scouting, camping etc., just hinting, I have over 240 days afield throughout AK.

In 06 I lost my job and also had to deal with a degenerative eye disease and lots of trips outside to work with specialists. Also, while I thought I'd just spent seven years in paradise, (Yes, the mosquitoes and tourists can be annoying!), my wife had really struggled with missing her family and with the dark. (And my being gone A LOT.) So rather than relocate in the state and travel back and forth to see the doctors, we moved by my wife's family in SE Idaho.

Last July we moved here to SW Montana. I like it here a lot. I don't like the crowds and private property and the boats on the river being end to end, but it is beautiful here. The weather is nice and there is a lot of hunting and fishing relatively close by.

Plus, I haven't lived by family in over twenty years and I'm really enjoying it. I've thought about moving back to AK, maybe out to Kotz, but my wife and kids really like it here and are doing well. Besides, my health issues mean I'm not getting out to hunt and fish like I used to, so moving back just for those activities wouldn't make any sense. My mom, aunt and uncle, and grandparents all live a few blocks away. We are in a position to help here as they get older. (My grandparents are 90 and grandpa has dementia.)

But with all that that said, there hasn't been a week that I haven't missed AK. I mean, it's literally painful. From catching fish until my arms ached, to hunting brown hear, sheep, and goat with over the counter tags, to seeing hundreds of caribou and on and on, the experience I had were amazing and they changed me. I am so grateful I had the chance to live in Alaska.

Sorry for the long post and again, good luck with the move and the transition. If I can't live in AK, MT is great, too!

I'm moving to ! ...eeer... I mean I think I will get up an move toward my fridge and get myself another beer .....anybody leaving AK HAS to take a wolf and two foodstamp sourdoughs with'em !! less folks is better ..I remember being on my 4wheel- 4wheeler back in the early 80's (nobody had one!) the place to myself and no tracks other than mine .....maybe those dayz are coming back ? good luck to those that are leaving, but you'll be back ...I see it all the time.....

PAK, has to do a monster thread on smoking salmon, the best ways/the old ways to, ie: the finger size, smoked in a oiled jar ... complete with pictures....before he can go .....The Alaskan salmon gods have spoken !!!

Good luck on the move. I moved to Alaska in Jan 81 and finally left in June 2013 to move to Idaho. Still going through withdrawal. But I've been back once already, my son still lives there so there will be plenty of visiting.

If I couldn't live in Alaska, Idaho would be my next choice, I enjoyed my 3+ years living there.

Same here I would live in eastern Idaho, Rigby Idaho to be exact.

You can send me to hell or NYC; it'd be about the same to me!

You oughta write country songs...oh wait, HJ mighta edged you on this one!

Yeah, blatant theft!

I was born in Libby. All my relatives from there are dead or have asbestosis, since they used vermiculite (zonolite) for everything. Pretty country, but dangerous IMO. I used to visit there as a kid from Alaska, but wondered why nothing ever really happened there like in Alaska. I haven't been back since the early 2000s.