Has anyone watch buying Alaska TV show?

I love to have a hunting cabin so I can go camping, hunting in all year round.

this is a clip from youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnggldWns...re=results_main

I caught an episode last night on Discovery channel. Standard house-buying show. Look at 3 houses, priced lowest to highest, then the couple discusses it and buys one. All wrapped up nice in 30 minutes.

It proves that you can buy what you want if you have the cash or the loan.

The show I like better is "Alaska: The Last Frontier." About the Kilcher clan's effort to live on a subsistence homestead. A very difficult proposition. Shows how difficult their life is. Lots of information that's of interest to the members of this forum.

Watching the show makes me delusional about wanting to do it.

I suppose both shows serve a goal: they both do great jobs of selling Alaska to people looking for a change of latitude.

There are some odd dissonances in the Kilcher clan. They seem remarkably well-educated and well-spoken in comparison to some of the hill-williams on discovery. Their clothing and equipment seems to contain a mix of high-end REI designer gear and expensive technology and home-made. Perhaps this is typical of rural alaskan homesteads, out at the end of the logistical chain, but it is not similar to the appalachian homesteaders I have met.

I think some left for schooling and came back home. Might be bringing stuff back.

I lived in AK for a month - Carhartt and Wall's were the 2 big clothes lines, Sorrell's for boots. "Technical" clothing was really no where to be found. Then again, mail works, y'know? They probably just have to order it a month ahead of when they need it.

[quote=NewsmanThe show I like better is "Alaska: The Last Frontier." About the Kilcher clan's effort to live on a subsistence homestead. A very difficult proposition. Shows how difficult their life is. Lots of information that's of interest to the members of this forum.
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Kilcher?? As in Jewel Kilcher? (One of my fav singers.)

Carhartt and Sorels are popular for general knock around and work wear. Helly Hansen, Grundens, and XtraTuff boots are popular when it's wet.

Regarding "technical" clothing....your month in Alaska must have been sometime back? We have our very own REI in Anchorage, as well as several smaller specialty shops. More REI, Pategonia, N Face, Marmot etc gear than you could ever want. Anything I order from "Outside" (Alaskaspeak for anyplace other than Alaska) I can get within a few days if I want to pay a bit extra for fast shipping.

Homer (where the Kilchers live near) has a big shop called "The Kachemak Gear Shed", which is mostly a marine supply, but also carries fair selection of recreational clothing and gear. It is only about a 5 hour drive from Homer to Anchorage.

Don't believe everything you see on TV.

Yes. Jewel is one of the clan. I don't think she spends much time up here anymore though.

Some years ago I picked up some fairly technical gear (high altitude down clothing) at the Anchorage REI. Perfectly normal store for climbing geeks. What is it they say? "The nice thing about Anchorage is that you are only about thirty minutes away from the real Alaska."

Being at the "end of the logistical chain" isn't too big of a problem anymore (although it once was). About anything you can buy down there, I can buy in Anchorage. Mail order works too, though we sometimes pay a bit more for shipping.

The real difference between life in Alaska (rural or in town) and the Appalachians is that our climate can be extreme at times. And things get wild in a hurry when you get to the edge of town. One of the lessons that people learn in their first season or two up here is that it pays to have good gear. "Good" in this sense means gear that works well to keep you warm and dry. Whatever seems to work best (and you can afford) is what we tend to use. High end technical gear, old fashioned gear, homemade gear....whatever works. Alaskans tend to be very pragmatic about clothing.

I well remember a picture in the newspaper from a few years back. One of our prominent (and quite affluent) citizens flew his plane down from Talkeetna one cold winter day, to attend some high society function in Anchorage. The picture showed him unzipping his insulated Carhartt coveralls as he got out of his plane. He was wearing a Tuxedo underneath.

Just did a quick look at Jewel's bio: she is Atz Kilcher's daughter. He's one of the main "characters" on the show.

I didn't put two and two together with Jewel.

Watching the show makes it seem they are way out in the sticks. But a search on Google Earth shows they are 25 miles east of Homer and maybe a mile off a paved road.

The associated family members run bed and breakfasts, outdoor classes, bird watching, etc. They have a variety of websites. The patriarch's homestead cabin is a museum.

So, like all reality TV shows, it's hard to tell what's real and what's "reality." (Nod to ASKER's comment above.)

But it's still fun to watch.

Note to nursemike: took me awhile to figure out the hill-williams comment. Just say hillbilly and be done with it. I take no offense at the term. I have second cousins who lived off the land here in the hollows of the Ozarks. I wish I'd been born a few years earlier so I could haven spent time with them to learn their skills before they died in the 1990s.

does Alaska have real hillbillies ? I thought they live only southern US.

'Steading in AK was a dream for my ex & I. While I want to visit & explore, I don't know that I want to take that huge plunge.