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Where are you thinking of calling home? Did you like the Athol area? Cougar gulch is my favorite area. Close to town, but all the greatness of being in the country.
Where are you thinking of calling home? Did you like the Athol area? Cougar gulch is my favorite area. Close to town, but all the greatness of being in the country.
I like Cougar Gulch area too. If I had to be near CDA, I would live there, the Rimrock/Dodd area of northern Hayden, or Mullan Trail area just east of town.
We are looking to relocate to NID. Have been scouring internet for homes, took a trip there to look. Got some confusing info about the are in Bonner county. Anyone familiar with that area, specifically Moyie Springs?? Also, some folks have told us anything above Rathdrum/Athol area is likely to get snowed in 1/2 the year...is this true?? A realtor said, it's all north Idaho...doesn't really matter. We were also considering St Maries but found my dream farm/property in Moyie. Any thoughts, advice would be most welcome.
Likely to get snow, absolutely. Likely to be snowed in? If you're on a private access road, yes, you'll have to do your own snow plowing (which we haven't done yet, but our neighbors do). But no, you don't have to stock up for 6 months of being snowbound!!! Unless of course you're off the grid, way up high in griz territory...Wonder who those "some folks" are...
We almost bought property in Moyie Springs, 7 acres with a mountain view across the Kootenai. We loved it, but we loved the property we saw in Clark Fork more. Moyie is a bit on the remote side, with shopping in either Bonners Ferry or Troy, MT, but it is beautiful. If you found your dream property, hunker down and do the research! Is there a well? How long is the access road? Any power lines crossing the property? Any plans for development in the area? How far away are your neighbors? How far is it from the train tracks along Highway 2? Does it have easy river access? And so forth.
If Moyie Springs calls to you, then maybe that's where you should be! But do the research. Over in Troy they boast that it is one of the warmest (and certainly the lowest) spots in Montana, and MS is not too far away.
Likely to get snow, absolutely. Likely to be snowed in? If you're on a private access road, yes, you'll have to do your own snow plowing (which we haven't done yet, but our neighbors do). But no, you don't have to stock up for 6 months of being snowbound!!! Unless of course you're off the grid, way up high in griz territory...Wonder who those "some folks" are...
We almost bought property in Moyie Springs, 7 acres with a mountain view across the Kootenai. We loved it, but we loved the property we saw in Clark Fork more. Moyie is a bit on the remote side, with shopping in either Bonners Ferry or Troy, MT, but it is beautiful. If you found your dream property, hunker down and do the research! Is there a well? How long is the access road? Any power lines crossing the property? Any plans for development in the area? How far away are your neighbors? How far is it from the train tracks along Highway 2? Does it have easy river access? And so forth.
If Moyie Springs calls to you, then maybe that's where you should be! But do the research. Over in Troy they boast that it is one of the warmest (and certainly the lowest) spots in Montana, and MS is not too far away.
DFF is absolutely correct.
The further one is away from the grid, the more the expenses will rise. A long access road makes owning something big enough to plow the road out mandatory. If there are no electric lines close by, the property owner will either have to pay for the lines or plan on using a generator and/or solar cells/ whatever for electricity. Propane will have to be hauled in by truck, and the further out a property is, the more propane delivery will cost.
The well. Ah, the well. The higher up a mountain one goes, the chancier finding good water at relatively shallow depths drilling a well becomes. Oftentimes the the first water is not the best water. A well can need to go down 1,000 feet sometimes to find good, pure, reliable water. And the pumping costs will increase the deeper the well is. No one ever knows just how deep a well may go, or how much it will cost beforehand.
The septic tank field has to be considered carefully, and dug to a depth where the septic won't mess up any surface water, like a creek or spring, and will need to have sufficient drainage angle so the septic won't back flow up to the house's plumbing. The tank needs to be a size large enough to handle the family's needs.
… not a job for someone who's never dug a septic tank.
Cell phone reception can be very spotty, cable is non-existent, and satellite may have problems, too. Very much depends on the particular spot, placement of the satellite dish, etc.
As fire is a fact of life in the Idaho boonies, the further out one is, the more a person will need to plan to make their own defense when a fire breaks out. Firefighters will take longer to arrive, and priorities are now set in firefighting policies; in some areas, defending a subdivision takes priority over a single home, or other requirements or policies may be in place. Anyone building far out needs to know what the local policy is, and plan accordingly as one of the first steps.
This may require a home to have a firebreak, a pond that contains up to 30,000 gallons, road access wide enough for 2 firetrucks to pass each other, a turn-around, or other measures of home defense.
The little log cabin nestled in the pine trees may be a pleasant thought, but one fire, even a small one, can reduced the cabin to ashes. A grass fire can burn a house down, or a prairie fire.
The expense all adds up, and all this stuff requires full consideration and forethought beforehand. It really pays to learn about every possible thing a person can think of, and thinking of the worst possibilities is smarter than thinking only about the best.
A dream property might not be so dreamy after all when the expenses and maintenance costs are factored into the dream.
Often times, the things people want in country living- peace and quiet, dark skies, reasonable costs of living, good access, etc. are better found in places that may not be a scenic, but are much more civilized. If a feeling of isolation is wanted, planting a pine windbreak or similar stuff is often a much cheaper way to get it.
Good luck to all. Once anyone actually comes out and looks Idaho over, the easier it is to understand the dream of living in the mountain west can be found a lot easier than considering only the extremes first and foremost. The folks who have spent their lives in high population areas don't really understand how common isolation and all that comes with it is here.
The other thing I've observed is very few newcomers are really prepared or want to live a 19th century lifestyle when they come. Things like electricity are not a given here. Nor are all the typical services found in all the states with bigger populations.
Banjo...I really appreciate you. I benefit from your knowledge and how well you represent the true nature of the Idahoan.
I imagine my Idaho ancestors were a lot like you. Can you imagine what they saw in Coeur d Alene in 1895, when they first arrived?
Maybe we should create a travel business that takes people into the forest to live for a month, without the services you mention. At the very least, we would re-create some behavior.
DFF is absolutely correct.
The further one is away from the grid, the more the expenses will rise. A long access road makes owning something big enough to plow the road out mandatory. If there are no electric lines close by, the property owner will either have to pay for the lines or plan on using a generator and/or solar cells/ whatever for electricity. Propane will have to be hauled in by truck, and the further out a property is, the more propane delivery will cost.
The well. Ah, the well. The higher up a mountain one goes, the chancier finding good water at relatively shallow depths drilling a well becomes. Oftentimes the the first water is not the best water. A well can need to go down 1,000 feet sometimes to find good, pure, reliable water. And the pumping costs will increase the deeper the well is. No one ever knows just how deep a well may go, or how much it will cost beforehand.
The septic tank field has to be considered carefully, and dug to a depth where the septic won't mess up any surface water, like a creek or spring, and will need to have sufficient drainage angle so the septic won't back flow up to the house's plumbing. The tank needs to be a size large enough to handle the family's needs.
… not a job for someone who's never dug a septic tank.
Cell phone reception can be very spotty, cable is non-existent, and satellite may have problems, too. Very much depends on the particular spot, placement of the satellite dish, etc.
As fire is a fact of life in the Idaho boonies, the further out one is, the more a person will need to plan to make their own defense when a fire breaks out. Firefighters will take longer to arrive, and priorities are now set in firefighting policies; in some areas, defending a subdivision takes priority over a single home, or other requirements or policies may be in place. Anyone building far out needs to know what the local policy is, and plan accordingly as one of the first steps.
This may require a home to have a firebreak, a pond that contains up to 30,000 gallons, road access wide enough for 2 firetrucks to pass each other, a turn-around, or other measures of home defense.
The little log cabin nestled in the pine trees may be a pleasant thought, but one fire, even a small one, can reduced the cabin to ashes. A grass fire can burn a house down, or a prairie fire.
The expense all adds up, and all this stuff requires full consideration and forethought beforehand. It really pays to learn about every possible thing a person can think of, and thinking of the worst possibilities is smarter than thinking only about the best.
A dream property might not be so dreamy after all when the expenses and maintenance costs are factored into the dream.
Often times, the things people want in country living- peace and quiet, dark skies, reasonable costs of living, good access, etc. are better found in places that may not be a scenic, but are much more civilized. If a feeling of isolation is wanted, planting a pine windbreak or similar stuff is often a much cheaper way to get it.
Good luck to all. Once anyone actually comes out and looks Idaho over, the easier it is to understand the dream of living in the mountain west can be found a lot easier than considering only the extremes first and foremost. The folks who have spent their lives in high population areas don't really understand how common isolation and all that comes with it is here.
The other thing I've observed is very few newcomers are really prepared or want to live a 19th century lifestyle when they come. Things like electricity are not a given here. Nor are all the typical services found in all the states with bigger populations.
You're sure right about the expenses and the work involved living in a wooded area away from the city. I'm pretty close to CDA but had a house built on a forested 10 acre lot. I had to get a good two stage snowblower to clear the driveway in the winter and a big generator since I figure the city areas will have priority in a power outage. I lived in the city before moving to NID so I didn't have a good chainsaw (and the required PPE) and a good brush cutter to clear the undergrowth for a distance of about 100' from the house to make things a bit neater and hopefully help in case of a fire. It sure was a heck of a lot of work and took a lot of time. Oh yeah, had to get a wood splitter too for firewood to feed the wood stove in winter.
Here's a couple of before and after shots. You couldn't see very far with all the undergrowth and saplings and it kind of hard to walk through.
There were a bunch of fallen trees in the tangled mess and it was tiring work cutting them up and moving them out. I ended up buying a tractor to do a lot of the heavy work. That was huge expense, at least for me. It costs almost twice what my Subaru cost.
I don't have a phone line to my house so I rely on a cell phone. Fortunately the signal is strong here. Also for internet access I use 4G since there is a Verizon tower close by. TV is by satellite.
I'm finding that you have to enjoy doing yard work and be fit enough to do it. If I let things go the undergrowth starts growing back quickly so I've been keeping up using the brush cutter and mower. Clearing snow in the winter is a lot of work too, especially if the snow is wet. I think I'll get a hydraulic snow blade for my tractor to supplement my snowblower. That's another big expense. Seems like there's no end to what I could get to help maintain this property. Something like an ATV would sure come in handy. I'll probably end up getting one sometime in the future.
One more thing is the quietness of this place. My builder who lives in Post Falls spent a few nights out here when he was working on the house. He said he couldn't handle how quiet it was. I'm the opposite and really enjoy it.
You did a really good job, oldafretired!
Clearing out that thick undergrowth really made even your forested areas a lot fire safer. It's almost always the undergrowth and the brushy stuff that catches fire the first in a forest fire, and the stuff creates enough heat to get the trees going. It also speed up a wild fire considerably, especially in a hot dry summer.
A lot of the national forests in Canada look like your place. Their forest service has been doing this for a very long time in the most popular campground areas, and while a wildfire can break out, it sure takes a lot longer to get going when the undergrowth is low. I watched them put out a small wildfire nearby once while spending a day at a small glacial lake. The smoke began in late morning, and it took a while for the aircraft to appear, but the fire was out by early sunset.
You will find more deer and game will show up now, too. That's always a bonus.
I really enjoy the quiet, too. Even when a town is really quiet, its still quieter out in the wild.
Banjo...I really appreciate you. I benefit from your knowledge and how well you represent the true nature of the Idahoan.
I imagine my Idaho ancestors were a lot like you. Can you imagine what they saw in Coeur d Alene in 1895, when they first arrived?
Maybe we should create a travel business that takes people into the forest to live for a month, without the services you mention. At the very least, we would re-create some behavior.
Good idea!
Yes, I can imagine what it was like up there in 1895. My own ancestors on both sides showed up only about 5 years sooner than yours, and I heard what it was like from their grandchildren, my great-grandparents.
The one thing that was always mentioned was how exhausting life was, no matter what. On one side of my family, one great-great grandad came out by himself as a young man, leaving wife and a child behind in Iowa until he could make shelter for them, and walked out, driving a herd of cattle he sold once he got here.
From then on, everything was always a race against the clock. EVeryone had to get a garden going and harvested, shelter made, and wood cut for the winter. One set lived in a shallow dugout made high enough to stand in with piled rock walls, held together with cow manure and dirt as mortar and insulation. The other lived in a canvas tent for 2 years, piled high on all sides with the hay cut to feed the sheep as insulation against the cold. By early spring, they were all freezing as the hay was being eaten up.
The dugout became one family's first spud cellar, and the tent burned down, taking everything inside with it. That family made do with a few pieces of borrowed furniture and beds made out of flour sacks stuffed with straw for another year afterwards. They were so afraid of another fire in their log cabin that they turned all the kerosene lamps out early, and one of the parents was always awake, watching the wood stove while the other slept. They were very afraid the sap oozing out of the logs would catch fire.
That kind of hard life is unimaginable to most folks these days. And it really didn't get much better later on, for years to come, for the folks who came out later.
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