Sierra Highlands Ranch, Owners (buy, living, trailer)

[Davep50]

Originally Posted by DagoRanch

I'm also an owner in Sierra Highlands. I can answer both your questions for you.

Power to the sites? That will never happen in our lifetimes. The nearest power lines are 12 miles away as the crow flies on Highway 191. Anecdotal evidence puts costs of extending service at approximately $10k per quarter mile.

Do the math and that makes it prohibitively expensive to get power that far away from the nearest lines. Besides, this is the 21st Century and there are plenty of alternatives to making your own power. They aren't always cheap, BUT coupled with conservation you'll be surprised what you can do and have no utility bills

Just to give you an idea, I've actually camped up on my property with nothing more than a battery based 400 watt power station and had enough power to provide light, charge small batteries and watch movies on my laptop for the entire weekend.

For your second question, there IS a community well. It was put in around the time I bought my property. It's at what I call the backside (North-End) of the development along the Jaraloosa Draw. It's hard to spot, you'd best get a hold of somebody at the office in St Johns as to exactly where it is. I've seen it, it's capped and ready to go. You just have to provide your own power (portable generator).

As to how they are selling? I don't really know. Given our current economic climate, probably not very well. I have heard through advertising that foreclosures have occurred and they are releasing some additional properties because of it.

I was at my property the 1st week in April of this year. I could get cell
phone reception on highway 191 at the entrance road to the Ranch but could not get it at the bottom of my property near parcel 97 or at the top
of the bluff, the upper part of my parcel. I have AT&T service. Does anyone else have a problem with their cell phone service here. Also the
drive from the bottom of the property to the bluff is a wild one. I drove a
29 foot RV to the top and I didn't think I make it. It was dry though, no rain. The road was hard as a rock. Also I got lost on top of the bluff and I didn't think I would find my way back down. AS I said my cell phone would not work at the top of the bluff either.

[highlands]

We don't get cell service on our property either.

[Ron Walker]

Hi all,

Pam pointed us in this direction and we're glad to see that there is a pulse here in Sierra Highlands.

Julie and I purchased when the area opened up in July of last year. We live in the Phoenix valley and are about 250 miles from the ranch. I will try and comment on some of the posts here.

To those looking for property and really enjoy the wide open spaces, this is the place! There is a cleansing of the Soul and a renewal that is hard to put in words every time we come up here. This is a place "to get away from it all". Land is always a good investment, but if your looking to make a "killing" I don't think this is the place. Even less so with the current economic conditions.

Water (as has been posted) is available from a community well. A key will be provided once you show them your generator and it is approved. A small generator will drop down in voltage when the large pump motor is engaged and that could cause harm to the pump. Thus the approval. I would guess that with a small safety margin one would need at least a 5K power plant. You will also need something to move the water in. Just remember that water is around seven lbs per gallon when purchasing a tank and trailer.

Water is available at "The Ice House" which is just west of St. Johns, north about a half mile on 24th street (or is it 14th?). They charge $0.01 per gallon which is a bargain. You just park under the water hose and feed money into the automatic controller. A buck gives you 100+ (and it is always +) gallons. Unless you have horses, it will probably take a long time to pay for a large generator compared to purchasing water in town.

I have found that with a cell phone amplifier (I found a Wilson the best value for the money) gets me good reception for both my Sprint cell phone and my Verizon wireless Internet. (I love the isolation out at the ranch, but we must be reasonable about things ).

As far as the roads and two wheel drive vehicles go this is what I've found. If it hasn't rained is a while (several weeks) a 1/2 inch or less of rain will cause problems with the roads for a day. In other words, it takes a day of sunshine to dry them up. When the summer monsoons hit (basically rain every day at 3:00pm) have food and water and settle in. It will take around three days of no rain and full Sun to make them passable. If you must get out, forget about the main entrance and go out the back of the ranch on County Ranch Road 6268. It exits (or enters) the ranch at lot 1 and drops down through Woodland Valley and out to 191. This is a 20 mile trip however and you could encounter small lakes in the road from time to time. When we got stuck on the main entrance and spent the night waiting for rescue, this is how we finally made it out. The backhoe that came to get us also got stuck at the same turn and had to use its arm to pull itself out. Also we were told that a culvert we easily crossed the day before was totally washed out behind us.

To be fair, we were told that this is was the most active monsoon since they have been selling property in the area and that goes back at least ten years.

We originally planed on getting up to the ranch twice a month but that has dropped back to once. We are a bit "gun shy" about any kind of rain but after spending a few minutes at the ranch, the problems fade away and it is all worth it. My feeling is that we will try and lengthen our visits up to a week at a time. We were just up this last weekend and I must admit that the low temperatures are a bit much for a desert rat like myself, but the days are sure worth it.

We certainly would love to meet any and all of you that are in the meeting mood. Pam mumbled something about coming out in the spring and that is one of the best times as the roads will very probably be in good shape, the days are warm and pleasant, and the night are cool but not cold. The night sky "is to die for" if you have any interest in astronomy. I call it a "Zeiss Sky" and those that "understand", will understand.

As far as building, no permits are required for any building under 200 sq ft. You can build as many boxes under 200 sq. ft. as you want. If you like hacienda style accomodations you could have several "rooms" for various functions without government intervention.

Hope I have been of help.

Ron and Julie

[DagoRanch]

Originally Posted by highlands

Hi Tony and Madonna! Is that a premade structure you plan to have or is it something you are designing?

You know we've gone back and forth on what we'd do initially and quite frankly I haven't seen any thing pre-built or even in kit-form that is what "I" would consider inexpensive. So, we're going to dive in with both hands and build our own structure to start with.

It's under 200sq ft, so no permitting required.

We are thinking of a small mobile/park model to put in later, but that will require permitting, meaning at the very least septic. And then the main house when we're ready. For the main house we've been toying with the idea of a "round" house like a Deltec Home. Deltec Homes - Eco Friendly Round House, Circular Homes, and Dome Homes

It's great to see more people in here!

Madonna and I also live in the Metro Phoenix area, so if you'd like to get together somewhere, that would be great!

Before I forget...

Cellular service! Ron touched on it, and I'll add what I know. After doing a little research I've found out that the nearest cell tower is down by the power plant and it is in fact a Verizon owned tower.

If you have T-Mobile or AT&T, you're pretty much out of luck that far out of town.

In fact I couldn't even get my Sprint service to work, but that's probably because I have my PDA set to NOT roam and it would be roaming on Verizon's tower.

My personal cell phone is a Verizon phone and I could pull good signal and make calls without an amplifier at the southwest corner of the project if I was out on the bluff looking due south at the tower. (Great sunsets out that way)

On my property I couldn't get any solid signal but it wouldn't say "no-service" either. Ron pretty much confirmed what I had thought, that if I got an amplifier, a mast and a Yagi antenna and point it due south in the direction of the tower, I could probably get enough signal for cellular voice and Internet.

[Robert_Roy]

Howdy y'all...

One thing I was thinking was making a recommendation to build a construction block shelter around the community well. Put a full-time pump in there for community use. ...and fencing the entire thing in. ...of course anyone who wants to be malicious can compromise all that as well. (for that matter they could blow the cap on the well as it sits).

...but at some point there will be enough people around on an ongoing basis to provide some sentry to the area (that security thing I had mentioned previously). I can ride ole "Spot" (my one day to have paint pony) with my official "SHR Sheriff" badge around and look for bad guys.

...then again the dirt bike may be more efficient.

Robert

[debcost]

Have any of you looked into Straw Bale buildings? There's alot of info on the web and a group in Canelo, AZ that builds alot of these homes and has how to classes. I found it to be very intriguing, the insulation factor is phenomenal, a straw bale is much cheaper than wood, once you stucco the walls it is fire proof and the wall construction can be done by you and friends, as long as you supply food and beer. I'd spring for a Port-a-john too. If you go by the 200 sq. ft. theory of no permits, you could connect a bunch of these together easily. Personally, I like the look and I've seen photos where people have used Mexican style tiles as window and door frames. I'm from the Midwest so I'm up for anything thats not a city bungalow or the color beige. ; )

[highlands]

I went and signed up on the yahoo groups.

Robert, I love the pictures you've already posted on there. You do get some incredible pictures up there. The sky is always changing. It can go from completely clear to the perfect puffy clouds to dark and menacing as a threat of a storm comes in..... all in one day! And then the cliff adds a very nice touch to the scene.

[DagoRanch]

That's a great idea Robert, I'm always over-extending myself anyway and time is something I don't have a lot of these days!

Originally Posted by Robert_Roy

I can ride ole "Spot" (my one day to have paint pony) with my official "SHR Sheriff" badge around and look for bad guys.

Oh great, the rural ranch version of condo-cop (he he)

[Robert_Roy]

Highlands: Wow.... That's a nice picture. Where is that one taken from ?

Yes.... All that weather and sometimes changing even in hours !

Da-Go: Yea well a lazy person (or one without time - That's me) usually finds an easy way to do a job.

I don't know about the Sheriff business. ...but I have a lil fuzz-butt Aussie Shepard with bad breath and I'll send her over to breathe on them ! *blech*

[Robert_Roy'sSaloonGirl]

Hi "dedcost"
It's Pam....I'm usually over at the yahoo site, I didn't see if you signed up over there yet so thought I'd chat here.....Do you have property in SierraHR? yet? But, anyway I checked out the straw bale houses you spoke of, as an interior designer/Arch'l CAD person, I found them to be really interesting, I'm going to send for a DVD/Book Guide and read more about them....We(Robert & I) were looking though some sites that posted start to finish set up and it looked like something that could be done earier on our property than the slab or post and beams systems, avoiding their pros and cons, but, I'm sure the straw bales have their own...anyway still ponding about it all....but keep in touch and I will do the same will any addit'l info...Have Great Day...Pam