Living in Luxury Off The Grid... with cable car adventures!
On the run, off the grid, in a cable car; it's a challenge and a feature!
Our 'Home-Sweet-Resort', Snowslide Gulch has had 3 versions of transport from the roadside to the main property where the house is. The first was a climbing harness dangling from the cable over the river which was propelled by man-power, hand-over-hand. This cable still stands but due to a flood the terminus is on a mini-island in the middle of the river.
The second was a 2-seater cable car suspended from the cable, propelled by bicycle action…
… before we moved in a flood washed out the land that the pedal-power cable car was anchored to and its carcass became an entertaining way to freak out visitors.
Flooded out vacation cabin beside fallen cable car
The third and current version uses an electric Harley Davidson golf cart engine (and you'll notice the addition of a roof) - a necessary innovation for the "life of luxury” concept we were searching for. I can't imagine pedaling across the river in the usually wet Washington State weather carrying groceries and DIY supplies .
Most of the time the trip over the river is an amazing affirmation of how good life can be - beautiful wilderness, clean fresh air, and the feeling of flying free. Other occasions, not so much…
Wet slushy snow can add extra weight to the tram, can whip into the cab from off the cable, and the snow or rain make it so we need long coats that cover our backsides so we don’t get wet seats!
The tram is very reliable but in the first couple years of living at Snowslide Gulch each of us became stranded on the cable car in the middle of the river without power. The day I got stranded, Doug went to town in the early morning and I wanted to leave later after dressing and doing a few household chores. I got up, took Doug across the river in the tram, and dropped him off on the road side. He left in his car then I started back home across the cable. Halfway across the river the tram suddenly stopped working and I was stuck there in my pajamas. I wanted desperately to get back to the house so I could dress but the landing near the house is somewhat higher than the landing in our parking lot.
After nearly 4 hours of trying to reach the landing on the house side of the river I finally gave up. I could only pull myself and the cable car back to the road side tram landing. Hey! I'm shy! I was somewhat embarrassed that I had to drive into town in my pajamas to get help (there is no cell phone service available because of the height of the mountains.) The cable attached to one of the battery terminals was tightened too much and the terminal had broken off. We had to get a new battery and we were able to get home with no trouble but it’s not something I want to do again. My shoulders, arms, and back muscles ached for a few days afterward.
Thats an awesome adventure. Thanks for sharing.
And it's not just our adventure! We've had 2 or 3 people who found their way across the river and show up without warning over the past 15 years. This past spring I came home from a grocery trip and found a guy shivering and soaked through, sitting in the gazebo overlooking the river. He was able to get across the river earlier in the day when the weather was nicer and was hiking around in the surrounding forest. It started raining, the river rose quickly, and he was stranded on our side of the river. He was a VERY miserable, finding only our large dogs home and being forced to sit in a covered enclosure that is very open to the wind that sweeps down the river!
Ah, the pros and cons of living remote