Living Alaska, Off the Grid

The Self-Sufficient Homestead

Photograph by Author Southeast Alaska

I was in a town yesterday that had no roads. It had a few board walks that allowed you to ride your ATV on, but it was clearly not designed for automobiles. They could build a road but chose not to. Reason being this whole community was off the grid. They even outlawed cell phone towers. There were some satellite dishes, they probably belonged to the Doctors’ and Lawyers who had second homes on the island. You might think this was an isolated town out in the middle of nowhere, but you are wrong.

Alaska is home to many off the grid communities. The one I visited yesterday was one of the larger ones. Let me first define what off the grid means. No connections to city, town, or municipal electricity, water, sewer, or telephone service. It means you are not connected in any way to the outside world. If the whole world had a blackout at the same time, you would not even notice. If the municipal water service went dry, you could still take a shower. If the telephone lines went down, or a cell tower was overloaded during an emergency you would not care because you have no phone.

The people that live in these communities work hard to maintain their independence from the outside world. It is not easy in some areas. In one area solar might be a viable source of power, but in other areas of perpetual rain…