A while back I looked at a piece of property that had the acreage and distance that I wanted in a piece of dirt, but one of the tings that queered the deal was the road.
See, I don’t mind a piece of property that says in its listing “have to snowmobile in in the winter”. I have no problem with that. I have a fantasy of taking a week off over Christmas and ensconcing myself in my cozy little casa and watching the snow pile up outside as I listen to the fire in the woodstove crackle and I enjoy the utter lack of people.
But the problem is, while that sounds awesome there are other things to consider. If youre buying a piece of land with the intention of building on it, you need to get things there. And while a barely-a-road is great for keeping the Golden Horde at bay, it works against you when it comes to things like well-drilling rigs, propane trucks, cement mixers, prefab concrete septic vault flatbeds, cranes, and a bunch of other rather large and cumbersome vehicles that youre probably going to want to have to make things easy.
Could you build your dream bunker using just supplies you haul in on a small trailer on the back of your four wheeler? Sure…I’m sure it’s been done. But your expenses are going to multiply at an exponential rate. A dozen ten mile round trips to haul what could otherwise have been done in one fell swoop with a large flatbed truck is an expensive way to do business.
And so, we are back to the survivalists dilemma – you want remote enough to give you privacy and keep folks away, but you need it to have a level of accessibility that directly results in the opposite.
I suppose one tradeoff is to lower your expectations – either on the privacy and remoteness, or on the grandeur and scope of what you plan to build.
Of course, people will start mentioning in the comments how there are super 4×4 trucks that can navigate a 90-degree incline and climb hills that would freak a yak. Well, that may be true…but the odds that Billy Bob’s Well Drilling or Guido’s Concrete Pumping in the middle of Sheephump MT has those is….slim. Now, another option would be that you have a decent road to get in the vehicles and equipment you need and then once thats done you make the road indecent. There’s a thought.
And let’s not be confused…a simple dirt road is fine. There’s a lot of equipment that can be brought in on a regular dirt road. I’m talking about a road that is rutted by cattle, poor drainage, and a host of other factors…in addition to being narrow and bracketed at points by trees right up against the edge of the road.
So, what I’m saying here is that something I hadn’t thought about factoring into the decision process was the accessibility of heavy vehicles and equipment. Look, I love the idea of being far enough back in the sticks that every yahoo without a 4×4 is gonna look at the route to my place and go “Yeah, no.” But I can’t afford to spend tens of thousands of dollars doing some logistical workaround to a problem that is avoided by simply not having a goat trail for a road.
A good road for the good times can be turned into a bad road with a chainsaw and tractor, or even pioneer tools and lots of elbow grease. Falling trees in an interlocking criss cross pattern is effective at blocking roads. (xxxxxxxxxx)
Your point about a propane truck getting in and out is really good.
Even if you have a good solar panel system and a couple of wind turbines, having a big propane tank would be nice indeed.
Anonymous: I Have looked at, and game planned the same things and same factors as those you bring up. At some point, a realistic person will consider how an Ambulance, maybe a rural Fire Truck can navigate the Road from Hell. If you have a Female companion, and she needs to go to town (a job or shopping) you need to factor that in, unless you like Divorce lawyers. When constructing a retreat are you going to have a buttload of stairs to climb to get into said Refuge? Are you going to get old and have mobility problems? A ramp may be in order. All the feel good……needs to be tempered by reality, practicality. Forget Mr. Gummer He is fictional.
Along that same train of thought, since I am an old medic, I tend to think of “How does an ambulance get here? Howzabour an engine? Or a tanker? Maybe a couple engines and tankers, which means a nice reasonably level spot holding, say, 6 big ass fire apparatus? (apparati?)
All of which speaks to your “this is one bad road!” insight.
Assuming that you are just thinking about the viability of this place for your lifetime, perhaps you could reassign your examine your assumptions. Could Give up…trees… for example, in exchange for a better road, and resulting better access for sports service? I’m thinking of something less remote (and therefore more populated)…like the equivalent of the Palouse in Washington. High plains, rolling hills. Not much in the way of trees or annual precipitation, but with an accessible water table. Get back a couple of miles beyond the road sightlines and you’d have all the privacy you want.
Sorry, Siri since I can’t keyboard anymore
Meant to say “re-examine“, “support services“
All good points. As a part time EMS we are going to do our best to help you.
But an difficult road really hurts YOUR Situation as we not going to high center our ambulance or firetruck helping you.
I personally have a serious chain and lock for the driveway and a pair of “hunting points ” in overwatch to remind folks to call first.
A drawbridge if built to support a dump truck would be nice BUT any obstacles with out fire “support ” is But an annoyance to rude visitors.
A sandbag hunting post is But a few hours work but always have 2+ with support for flanking rudeness.
Well you being a smart guy don’t forget about the concrete mixer and concrete pump trucks that will need access to build your insulated concrete form (ICF) casa that you know you need 🙂
When we built ours it was only about 200 yds off a county maintained dirt road so all we had to do was cut the driveway and the clearing for the home/yard. Did that ourselves, along with putting in the range and a few trails, with a D5-sized dozer I rented for a couple days. In the 20 years since I’ve rented smaller dozers and skid steers about half a dozen times for various projects, including regrading our dirt driveway each time. It’s fairly easy to do and not like I operate this equipment for a living or anything, the tracks and the weight of the machine do a lot of the work, then back drag it. Great way to intro yourself to the new neighbors if you’re smoothing out of the ruts on the private road that they use to access their property too. Not to mention one or more might be more experienced operators since they’ve probably done it before, or know someone who has, saving you time and money. Skid steer rental here is $275 a day or $1,100 for a week, including the trailer rental to haul it but fuel and delivery is extra if you need it of course.
Good luck, hope you find the property you’re looking for.