Life on the mountain/off the grid

Back in the 1980s I lived on a small mountain for nearly a decade. Life there was simple and sometimes beautiful, but also full of challenges that most people never think twice about. Something as ordinary as laundry became a serious task. The nearest washing machines were at a little store at the bottom of the mountain, and it was a long forty-minute walk down the trail carrying a duffel bag of clothes. The trip itself was hard enough, but then there was the washing, waiting, and the long climb back up.

At some point I realized I needed a different approach. I began buying used clothes whenever I could find them, and as cheaply as possible. When it came time to change, instead of making the long journey down to wash, I would add the old clothes to a burn pile and simply move on to the next set.

It wasn’t elegant, but it worked. That simple shift freed me from hours of labor and gave me more time for the life I was living up there. Looking back, I see it as one of many small lessons that mountain life taught me. Sometimes survival means letting go of the usual ways and finding a path that fits the moment. It was a reminder that life can be lived with creativity, even in the smallest of things.