Mountain Living

[Jay Orlauski]

I've talked to a lot of people who are interested in living away from the city and want to move to the mountains. Maybe they've been watching too many episodes of "Mountain Men" .They talk of the romanticism of saying goodbye to the city and living the tranquil mountains. But, things are a little different there - for example - most people use propane instead of gas and electricity - they have wells and water pumps - there are certain restrictions on fire days or access to rivers - things of that nature.

In any case, I was wondering if any one had any experience with buying a home in the mountains and what kind of experience you had with it. I sort of imagine it like arriving there and then suddenly finding out a bunch a stuff I never thought of before like the road is snowed in 3 month out of the year - or that there is an annual fee to the forestry department for clearing roads or anything like that -

just looking for some insight on some of the things that a normal city dweller may not think about before making a move to the mountains. Would be interested to hear what people have to share about this.

[Jon Holdman]

We're both from "the west" so fire is a big hazard. I see too many people around here who move into the mountains and then want their house surrounded by trees. Nice. Until they catch fire.

Lots of folks here right now are having problems even getting to their houses, so many roads were washed out by the torrential flooding.

In many mountainous locations there are wild animals. The can eat pets and can endanger and ocasionally kill people, too.