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Comment by walrus01 | Hacker News Reader

There's plenty of places in rural WA state where you can buy 20 acres for $20,000. In some really beautiful remote places. With starlink and much lower costs of photovoltaics, and better batteries in the past 3-4 years, a high tech life off grid isn't technically hard.

But I would budget at minimum an additional $50k for septic system, water well drilling and setup, and PV+wind+battery setup. Before you even start with the cost of laying a foundation for a house.

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In a part of Europe I’m familiar with many families still have (often inherited) family cottages in the country that, in modern times, serve as summer houses.

Many still have hand dug wells and septic tanks. Composting outside toilets are not unknown and were normal within living memory.

Modern families often bring bottled water for drinking and brushing teeth. No matter that bottled water is expensive, it is massively cheaper than investing in a bored well etc.

So I have no idea about “code” and other aspects of the US system or WA in particular, but i would put the cost on working water and waste at about $100 if you are the kind of person cut out for living off grid remote self sufficient and don’t mind grabbing a spade while the rest of us hang out online :)

It’s fine to hand-dig a well when the water table is 2-3m below grade, but when it’s 20-30 or more, you really need to have it bored. That said - if you’re ok hauling in water, you don’t need either.

I did SERE school near Spokane during the early spring and it was already pretty miserable out in the woods. I literally can't imagine camping/living off-grid there during the winter lol. I think it would be hard mode personally, compared to a winter in like Arizona or something ;P

Miserable how?

From experience with the area, probably very wet, very little sun, and miserably chilly (not deathly cold, just the kind of ‘ughh this sucks’ wet-cold).

Pretty much what the other reply said: very damp and cold. Having lived in Spokane for a few years too the summers are also fairly brutal. That region has pretty extreme temperatures both ways.

Camping and living are pretty different. Camping for a few days just requires the right gear and knowledge of using it. Living in a cabin, you'll probably want to have a wood stove that you keep fed and some warm blankets. Obviously (most parts of) Arizona in the winter are easier though water is a bigger problem there.

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