Camp property found, now updates.

[jjeff]

Now wait a cotton picking second, you can bad mouth a YouTube channel, or the Jackery and similar, but you dont get away with bad mouthing Honda.

Snow drift but 4100+ hrs on this old 6k Honda gx powered gen set. All original only reason I took possession of it from my old employer before it went to scrap yard cuz it burns oil and no longer ran for a full day without adding oil. Low oil shutoff device. Anyways I can still run my smaller welders off it. And I plugged in the house for a day during a power outage. Always Starts in a couple pulls despite sitting for extended periods, after I removed in tank fuel filter and put a inline one on instead.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Our place has evolved over time, with increasing utility. Each major step in improvements has opened up broader use. I’ll outline them to show at least one set of steps.

The house is old - 1799 - but was never modernized and utilities never brought it. In 1985 it was essentially the same as it was in 1799. With no running water and no flush toilet, use was limited to a few days before you really wanted a shower badly, and only hardy guests would go.

In ‘85 we put in a gravity feed dug well and a septic system, plus a propane water heater. Then a regular bathroom. New also wired the house because we had all the walls open to insulate, but all you would do was plug it into a portable generator. This transformed the place completely, and made it accommodating for anyone, and you could stay as long as you wanted. Heat was via a wood stove only, and the road was not plowed. We designed the plumbing carefully so you just needed to open a couple of valves and everything drained so it wouldn’t freeze.

In 2000 we took another big step and installed central heat via propane, and put in a small solar+battery system to run the furnace circulator and to have lights. Refrigeration was all propane. We also hired a neighbor to keep the road plowed. With this, the place was usable year round, and you could just roll in at any time because we kept the heat at 55 when not there. We also added a full laundry, making it a fully functional house.

Since then we have made further improvements and expanded to include a full shop. One big step was a major fix up on the road, filling soft spots with rip rap and then covering the whole road in hardpack. Prior to this, the place was inaccessible during mud season.

Now we live there full time. It’s still off grid, but we barely think about power.

Somewhere in this spectrum I’m sure you will find what fits your needs and goals.

BADA$$!!! Living the dream!!!!

 

[HawkinsHollow]

WOW! This is the first time that I looked at the location on Google. 80 acres surrounded by that much state land. Hunters dream!! I know you don't hunt, but trail makers/maintainers dream too! I know technically you legally are probably not allowed to make trails on state land, but that doesn't mean you are not allowed to clean and maintain existing trails. Look at all of those logging roads on the sat image! No one cares if you clean them up and ski all over that in the winter!

Very cool!! How close is the nearest neighbors? Miles?

 

[airbiscuit]

Lots of good advice here - maybe more than ArlyA is ready for at the moment. He is a pretty thoughtful guy, and will probably put together a pretty good plan, once he's had a chance to take in what he's got. For a while he'll probably get by just fine with a CanAM 6x6, a cordless drill and a Stihl pole saw

 

[ArlyA]

WOW! This is the first time that I looked at the location on Google. 80 acres surrounded by that much state land. Hunters dream!! I know you don't hunt, but trail makers/maintainers dream too! I know technically you legally are probably not allowed to make trails on state land, but that doesn't mean you are not allowed to clean and maintain existing trails. Look at all of those logging roads on the sat image! No one cares if you clean them up and ski all over that in the winter!View attachment 4112173 Very cool!! How close is the nearest neighbors? Miles?

We are not sure how close the nearest neighbor is but there is another camp north towards Covington and just off the highway. Maybe 1.5 miles away? Its driveway looks unused.....

 

[MossRoad]

I don’t understand what either of those things mean. Can you elaborate?

Just below the topsoil is solid rock. The only way to drill a well would be, well, a well drilling rig that can dig through rock down to a water source.

In some areas, there is no rock just below the topsoil. You can pound a sand point by hand down pretty far to reach a water source.

A sand point is a pointed perforated section of pipe. You put a cap on it that's made to take hammer blows, and you pound it into the ground. Remove the cap, add a section of pipe, replace the driving cap and repeat.

Here's a kit. There are many videos on youtube showing how it's done.

Well Drive Point Kit,1-1/4 Stainless Steel Well Point+5Pk 39" 1-1/4 Galvanize... | eBay

Usually speaking, there is no enough water source in hard soil such as stone,rock,glacial deposits of river gravel. Ideally soil type is soft soils, loose sandy soil(sand,silt, clay, loam soil). The sand well drive point is better for driving your own shallow well/sand point well/garden...

www.ebay.com

 

[paulsharvey]

Just below the topsoil is solid rock. The only way to drill a well would be, well, a well drilling rig that can dig through rock down to a water source.

In some areas, there is no rock just below the topsoil. You can pound a sand point by hand down pretty far to reach a water source.

A sand point is a pointed perforated section of pipe. You put a cap on it that's made to take hammer blows, and you pound it into the ground. Remove the cap, add a section of pipe, replace the driving cap and repeat.

Here's a kit. There are many videos on youtube showing how it's done.

Well Drive Point Kit,1-1/4 Stainless Steel Well Point+5Pk 39" 1-1/4 Galvanize... | eBay

Usually speaking, there is no enough water source in hard soil such as stone,rock,glacial deposits of river gravel. Ideally soil type is soft soils, loose sandy soil(sand,silt, clay, loam soil). The sand well drive point is better for driving your own shallow well/sand point well/garden...

www.ebay.com

Well, the area is very wet, and if you can find a seem going 15-20 ft down, as remote as it is; water May be good. Even if bad, it can be pumped to a tank, and chlorinated, or used for house hold tasks, showers, ect; just not drinking. Might also be some springs or seeps around; depending on the topography.

It's one think to bring a weeks worth of drinking water; but another to bring a weeks worth of All water. Being very careful with water, thats still 50 gal of general water per weeks stay, plus drinking.

 

[MossRoad]

Well, the area is very wet, and if you can find a seem going 15-20 ft down, as remote as it is; water May be good. Even if bad, it can be pumped to a tank, and chlorinated, or used for house hold tasks, showers, ect; just not drinking. Might also be some springs or seeps around; depending on the topography.

It's one think to bring a weeks worth of drinking water; but another to bring a weeks worth of All water. Being very careful with water, thats still 50 gal of general water per weeks stay, plus drinking.

I was just answering the person's question regarding a sand point and why it won't go through rock.

The OP says the property is all rock underneath, so I'll take his word for it.

 

[jjeff]

Wonder if you can find a spring somewhere close to your new place develop it a little and use it for a water source? Who knows it might end up being the purest best tasting water in the area.

 

[hayden]

Now wait a cotton picking second, you can bad mouth a YouTube channel, or the Jackery and similar, but you dont get away with bad mouthing Honda.

Oh, don’t get me going on that Honda generator…..