As we are packing to return to Alaska, I am also planning our 2025 budget.  It is much easier to anticipate what we might spend now that we are on our fourth season!  Last year, I tracked the cost of all our mini-vacations, from 3 to 10 days.

It cost us $2630 to drive our Toyota Tundra double cab from Alaska to Virginia.   In 10 days we traveled 4408 miles.  I published a post for each day of the journey.  Here is a link to the first day of that trip when we started with a wolf siting and ended with the bear posing above: https://roaming-nature.com/2024/09/22/healy-ak-to-destruction-bay-yt/

Our fall drive to Virginia was $132 per person per day.  The only 2024 Alaska trip that was more expensive per day was our shortest trip, 3.5 days at Eklutna Tailrace and Hatcher Pass.  We spent a whopping $978, or $139/pp/day.  Over half of the expense was an unsuccessful, guided king salmon fishing trip. https://roaming-nature.com/2024/07/01/hatcher-pass-and-eklutna-tailrace/

Our cheapest trip at $27/pp/day was a 4 night camping and fishing trip along the Parks Highway.  Most of that cost was gas as we also picked up a friend in Anchorage, thus driving over 500 miles. https://roaming-nature.com/2024/09/06/labor-day-weekend-coho-iv-2024/

Another inexpensive camping trip, which we plan to recreate this year,  was driving the Denali Highway to Tangle Lakes.  We had so much fun that we double-checked our spending, convinced we had left something out.  We paid for campgrounds 5 of the 6 nights and ate out several meals while spending $372 total, $31/pp/day.   https://roaming-nature.com/2024/06/19/denali-highway-june-2024/

Other trips include $41/pp/day for 8 days at Caswell Creek and Talkeetna;

$46/pp/day for 7 days at Russian River and Nikiski;

$49/pp/day for 7 days at Seward and the Parks Highway;

and $63/pp/day for 6 nights fishing the Kenai Peninsula and Parks Highway.

Our Dalton Highway trip cost us $882 for 6 days.  We drove over 1000 miles, including driving 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle.  Over half of the $74/pp/day cost was gas. https://roaming-nature.com/2024/06/06/dalton-highway-part-ii/

While we do not plan to drive the Dalton Highway again, a pricy trip that we are going to repeat is our trip to Cordova and Whittier.  It cost us $2000 for 10 days  ($100/pp/day).  This year, we are planning 12 days, and have already purchased our ferry tickets leaving Whittier on August 31.  https://roaming-nature.com/2024/09/20/whittier-and-cordova-a-few-highlights/

All those trips!  It is hard to believe Charlie was working full time while we were in Alaska (8 days on/6 days off).  In addition to our travels throughout the state, we also had plenty of time near home to watch the northern lights or look for wildlife.