The cabin where we lived at Echo Park is a small, one-bedroom log cabin located about a half mile from the campground. Situated at the end of the road, with the high canyon wall behind us and a view of the field and Steamboat Rock in front of us, we had privacy and seclusion even from the campers staying nearby. Our cabin was completely off-grid, although that doesn’t mean that we didn’t enjoy some creature comforts of home.

This is the view from our front porch; I would sit out here almost every day near dusk to admire the view.

Inside the cabin, we had a small living area with a large wood stove in the middle of the room. Jon chopped plenty of wood to heat the stove during the cold days at the end of our stay in October. Adjacent to the living room was a kitchen, with an oven/stove combination, sink with hot water, refrigerator, and freezer. A bedroom with a queen-sized bed was located off the kitchen and a bathroom/storage area was just past the kitchen. We had a working toilet and hot water available in the shower. A small loft was used for storage. The best part about the cabin was the front porch, with benches and chairs where we could sit and watch the sun set every night.

We used our wood stove every day for the last few weeks we lived in the cabin. It got cold in October and we made a small dent in the pile of firewood that Jon chopped.

Two large solar panels decorated our front yard, providing electricity to power the appliances and lights inside. There were two power banks for the electricity; if the power bank was full, then lights, hot water heater, and outlets would work normally. If the power bank was getting low, then electricity to these items would be cut off and all power would be used for the refrigerator and freezer so that the food would not spoil. When we first arrived at the beginning of August, we had long, sunny days and did not have to worry about the availability of power. Toward the end of our stay in October, the days grew short and we had to conserve electricity, using gas lanterns, the wood stove, and candles.

We had a group of AmeriCorps volunteers erect fencing around our two solar panels in our front yard.

Cooking was fairly easy and we made a variety of meals. The only constraint that we experienced was the fact that we would only go into town for groceries once every two or three weeks. We bought a lot of food that could be frozen and would eat the fresh fruits and vegetables within a couple days of purchase. With a stove and oven, we were able to cook normally – omelets, casseroles, pasta, and desserts were all easy to make. We even had a small grill that we used a few times for bratwurst, cheeseburgers, and grilled vegetables. One treat was a large zucchini (and I do mean large – longer than my forearm and as thick as a football) that was given to us by one of the rangers. I researched a few different recipes which featured zucchini and we ate meals featuring the vegetable for a few weeks.

We made so many dishes from this one zucchini! We mentioned to the ranger who grew it that we liked it, and next thing we knew, he had dropped off a second one for us! We ate zucchini with every meal for a couple months!

To communicate with the outside world, we had two options. An internal radio system was set up for communication with the rangers and law enforcement, in case we had questions or needed assistance at Echo Park. Rangers would call us to ask about road conditions (since the dirt road would become impassable during and after a rain), alert us to group reservations, or give us information about special guests. We would call them for assistance with medical issues, when we discovered an elk that had been killed by a cougar on the road, or when a river rafting group lost an item and needed it to be recovered. In addition to the radio, we also had a cell phone booster on the corner of our cabin. Phone calls and texts could be sent and received while in the cabin, although certain corners provided better reception than others. Email would come through eventually, but sometimes take a couple of hours. It was just enough communication that we didn’t feel disconnected from the world, but not so much that we were addicted to the internet like we tend to be otherwise. It was the perfect balance of seclusion and connectivity.

Some people may wonder if we ever got lonely during our stay; the answer is no. Every evening, we would meet and talk with new campers, getting to know them and what they thought of the park. During the day, we would have day-trippers stop to ask us questions or just have a chat. Rangers would always come to the cabin to say hello, make use of the cell signal available from the booster, and get an update on the campground. Out of the three months we lived at the cabin, there were only two or three days when we didn’t interact with anyone else – that was primarily caused by the rain which kept people away from Echo Park.

We had a few young bucks who would come by our cabin, but they were more skittish than the does.

I never thought that I would be able to live off-grid; I’m a city person used to having a comfortable place to live. Our cabin at Echo Park was cozy and contained everything we needed to be happy. I was surprised at how much I liked living there; in addition to the cabin, we had trails and beautiful scenery just outside of our front door. My favorite part was the family of deer who lived with us. They would come almost every evening to graze and then bed down in the bushes surrounding our cabin. We had a wonderful life for the three months we lived off-grid and our time there reminded us that it is possible and even enjoyable to live simply.

Our home away from home for three months! We loved our cozy little cabin.