Seasonal statistics: Summer 2018 by the numbers

, 4 min, 748 words

Tags: data-science kayak-adventures

As a data scientist at heart, I enjoy understanding the world around me through numbers. Coming into this season of kayaking, I had lots of questions: how many trips would I lead? Who would come visit me? What is money, anyway? If you too have wondered similar things, read on! This is my attempt at some seasonal statistics, if you will. If not, I'd go ahead and skip this post.

Another note: I haven't had the time to figure out some numbers, though I hope to in the future. Those are marked with a little red TBC (to be calculated).

Trip statistics

  • Total trips led: This summer, I led upwards of ninety trips: 93 if you count trips exclusively for friends and family. In addition, I shadowed four trips led by returning guides during the check-out process, and one three-day trip in the later part of the season.
  • Trips to a Aialik: I led 35 trips to Aialik Glacier, and spent a total of 41 days out in Aialik Bay (or 42 if you count exploring there with the Spirit of Adventure).

Working statistics

Coming into this summer I knew I'd be working hard, and I've talked previously about dealing with that. Here's the grand total of days worked and off throughout the summer

  • Days worked: 92

    • Of those, days I was on driving duty: 9

  • Days off: 16

  • Days with a total blowout: 4 (no trips run because they were cancelled due to weather)

If you're like me, you're now looking at those numbers and thinking "how did you guide 93 trips in 92 days of work?" The trick is that if you lead a morning trip (8am-noon), you can also lead an evening trip (6-10pm). Plus there's shadowing, and I guided a couple trips on days off for friends and family. What this all boils down to is that I got an average of one day off per week, with days off strangely distributed based on scheduling. Because of this strange distribution, I had stints of working (in some capacity) for 14 and later 15 days in a row. Other times, I had two days off in a four-day period. It just depended.

Weather stats

TBC

People stats

  • Visitors: I was lucky enough to have seven different friends or family members visit me in Alaska! Thanks you all!
  • Total number of clients guided: TBC

Finances

Alright, fair warning: I'm about to talk about money. If you're uncomfortable with that in any way, skip to the rest of the post and stop reading now. I'll write a little filler and then stick in some blank lines so nothing hits you in the face. Have a nice day!

 

First, income!

  • Total income: $11,368.72. A natural question is how this breaks down between pay (as in paychecks) and tips for the season. Returning guides suggested that pay and tips end up being about equivalent, and it looks like they were right!

    • Total pay: $5,651.61
    • Total tips: $5,717.11

  • Tip breakdown: TBC

And expenses! Here I had the benefit of housing included with my position as a guide, so most expenses were for food and fun, with a mix of flights and health insurance in there too.

  • Expenses prior to arriving in Seward: $1,433.80. This covered flying to Alaska and buying gear for the season. Even with the occasional manufacturer discounts for outdoor professionals, this adds up fast!
  • Expenses throughout the season: $4,262.42. Including flights on my way back to Chicago, more gear, more fun, and lots of insurance. If I calculate correctly, around a third of my expenses for the summer just paid for health insurance. Guess it goes to show I value my physical well-being!

On net, I'm positive by a little more than $5,500 for the summer. Take that as you will.

 

Seasonal statistics in sum

Much as it pains me to admit it, the numbers do a terrible job of capturing this season. It was surreal and amazing and inspiring in many ways, and raw statistics just don't do it justice. However, I find it nice to know how finances worked for the summer (not terribly), how many trips I led, and just how much time I spent out in a place that has started to feel like home.