The basement had a second entrance from the driveway, some random rooms, a somewhat crummy bathroom and a laundry. 

Old installs did not always have a weather head, they just screwed an insulator into the home and dropped the line to that, then taped the the service entrance to drop.Home owner owns and pays for the weather head.Maybe the power company will just tighten up the line for free.

So I am looking at other possible options one of which is town of Hatch just outside Bryce Canyon NP along Hwy 89 which is also close to Zion east entrance.

@Albert Johnson,You may want to consider putting an automatic gate at the entrance(s) to the property such that if left open for a fixed period it will close itself.My $0.02 ...

I did 2 separate 12-month leases for 2 of the bedrooms and then did the basement room as an Airbnb with its own private entrance. 

Youre near the entrance and I was alongside it.  

Long distance investing is also good, just another approach of doing things.To answer your question on house hacking, in my case is convenient for me and my wife because we bought a duplex and there is a top and down floor and each floor has a bath so though we share the entrance, everything else is completely cut off.

If you want something closer to home, look at the Olympic Peninsula - Port Angeles and Sequim are good ones close to Hurricane Ridge and the entrance of Olympic National Park.

On the other side of the wall is the living room and front entrance.

Duplex; 3/2 each side with separate, gated entrances.