Emigrate to Alaska

There’s one thing you’ll never experience in Alaska: a traffic jam on the highway! Instead, seemingly endless roads from nowhere to nowhere, past 3 million lakes, 100,000 ice-blue glaciers and 3,000 thundering rivers. The landscape of Alaska looks like a gigantic cinema set, everything is a bit bigger than you can grasp – and also lonelier than some can bear.

In the unmanageable vastness of this country, Claudia Werner has nevertheless found a comfortable place to live: Her hut is hidden like a witch’s house in the dense fir and birch forest. Far and wide no people. Your lived dream of freedom, silence, natural romance. Albeit with restrictions, because there is neither a toilet nor running water in their hut. They get it in huge canisters from the next town, Talkeetna, 15 kilometers away. “Without a car, I would be absolutely lost,” says the 39-year-old.

Just as indispensable: Austin, a shepherd-husky mix, by her side day and night, because even the silence can sometimes be loud: “When it cracks and creaks outside, I sometimes get queasy.” But she knows: Most of the time it’s just a lynx looking for food. Completely normal in the wild. When Claudia backpacked for six weeks 13 years ago through “the big country”, as Alaska is called in the Eskimo language, she felt: “This is mine!”

She didn’t want to stay in Germany anyway, the longing for a different life that was close to nature was too great. She only knew that Alaska should be her new home after she had experienced the rough beauty herself. Luck in the green card lottery helped the Darmstadt native to restart. Even the inhospitable reception in Fairbanks on a December day in the dark and minus 55 degrees didn’t deter Claudia. In exchange for board and lodging, she signed on at a husky farm. “Driving alone into the night on a dog sled, hearing the silence and seeing the northern lights twinkle, that’s pure happiness,” she says.

Today, during the summer season, she tours the country with tour groups, showing them the old gold mining villages of the 19th century, when thousands of fortune seekers set out for the banks of the Yukon and Klondike Rivers. Join glacier cruises through Prince William Sound or into Denali National Park with towering Mount McKinley. At 6194 meters it is the highest mountain in North America. Glad to see the light in travelers’ eyes. Especially in Denali National Park: Here bears, moose, caribou, lynx, Dall sheep, wolves, musk oxen and coyotes roam through nature. “True goosebumps come up when you turn a corner and suddenly see a mother moose or bear with her cubs,” enthuses Claudia. “These are always touching, overwhelming moments,

Wild animals can also be found in the cities. With a population of 280,000, Anchorage is the metropolis of Alaska, surrounded by majestic peaks, deep blue lakes and dense forests. Anchorage was not founded until 1915. Before that, red foxes, moose and bears grazed here – and it almost seems as if the animals also consider this city a permanent residence. More than 2000 moose are said to live permanently in the city, they graze in front gardens or plunder vegetable beds, while brown bears like to play football with garbage cans – a sight to which the residents have long since become accustomed. 670,000 people are spread across Alaska and in an area five times the size of Germany. The northernmost state in the USA is also the loneliest. You can only hate Alaska or love it – so they say.

Preconceptions and truths about Alaska’s men

Mary loves the country. She has lived in Alaska for 30 years. At that time, the ex-stewardess took part in the international airlines ski championships and not only won a number of medals, but also the heart of a bush pilot. After a few months and a “wild back and forth flight”, Maria moved from Lower Austria to Willy in Anchorage, worked as a teacher, gave piano lessons and coached children in the ski club. She won skiing, cross-country skiing and cycling races, got her pilot’s license: “No big deal, flying is as natural here as driving a car,” the 56-year-old dismisses. There is a great need for bush pilots to fly fishermen and hunters into the wilderness or to take engineers to the oil fields in the north. “Besides, it’s the best job in the world,” says Maria, “you can’t experience a greater feeling of freedom.

“The best thing about Alaska? The clear, pure air that you want to drink.«

When their two children were born, Willy turned out to be a mistake for the role of the family man. “His plane and his desire for freedom were absolute priorities. A typical Alaskan,” she comments dryly. Charming and daring at first, but in the long run quite unsuitable for long-term relationships . The cliché of the untameable outdoorsman? Might be. Sometimes clichés are true. On the other hand, what is not true: the rumors about the allegedly huge surplus of men, which has already lured some single women from Boston or New York to the rough north. 51.5 percent of the residents are male, a vanishingly small advantage.

Maria didn’t mourn Willy for long. Self-reliance is as important to Alaskan women as breathing. They go fishing, can use a gun, pilot pick-up trucks, snowmobiles and airplanes – there is no time to whine. Maria found a new partner, a Norwegian. “He suits me perfectly. We’re always outside, whether it’s 30 degrees plus or minus 30 degrees.” They actually live in Anchorage, but they spend most of the summer in their cabin on Lake Iliamna. “Not a soul within a radius of 100 kilometers, but tons of fish, mushrooms and blueberries. But the best thing is just this air. So pure you want to drink it!”

Minimum of culture, maximum of nature

Anyone who lives here will probably automatically become an outdoor fan. “Yes, the good air is a real beauty aid,” says Stefanie Flynn. Every morning she goes out with her two dogs for at least an hour. Jogging in the summer , cross-country skiing in the winter. The 42-year-old runs a bakery and breakfast restaurant with her husband Michael in Girdwood on Mount Alyeska, between Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula. At Alaska’s largest ski resort, you’ll see the sea in your eyes with every turn. Of course, the “Bake Shop” is overrun by hungry hikers and skiers, good bread and Bavarian pretzels are just rare in the American States.

Many guests also come to look: because of the colorful flowers that swell from the pots, baskets, buckets and boxes in the entrance area. Stefanie’s work: “I’m incredibly proud of the flowers.” The trained hotel manager from Bruchsal came to Alaska in 1992 with a stopover in San Francisco, where she met Michael from California. At first just because of a hotel job, but it didn’t take long for both of them to fall in love with the country. And into the people. When they heard that the bakery was looking for new owners, they didn’t think twice. What she liked best was the thought of seeing her daughter Annika growing up here. “The climate is open, honest and extremely relaxed.” Only one thing bothers her: “The cultural offerings are poor.” You have to go to Anchorage to see the cinema or museums,

But she has the full nature right in front of the door. And is happy to be hired as a tour guide when friends visit her. She is always amazed when orca whales suddenly appear on a wildlife boat tour off the Kenai Peninsula or when hundreds of sea lions lounge on a rock in the sun. “There’s a very special feeling in Alaska: feeling tiny and big at the same time.”