The town and county of Mariposa 159 years of history.
20 years offgrid. Visit my webpage for offgrid solar at http://www.sierratel.com/offgridsolar/ Click on the picture and then click the link.
Winter in the California Sierra's at Camp Oso. We may call it camp but it is really a fairly normal life. It may be extreme rural, but inside the home it is hard to know that we are independent.
Spring & Telegraph Mtn. in distance about 1 mile on left. Merced river fed from Yosemite about 1.5 miles.
Taken from "Frank's log cabin" just after a major wildfire on Mt. Bouillion. Our home is center right.
Winter in gold country looking at Potato and in the distance center Telegraph. It is so quiet you can hear a pine needle hit the ground. The stars at night are amazing when you are this remote!
Mariposa county at 3028 feet. The county has elevations from near sea level to over 13,000 feet near the Tioga pass.
Compost bins and Merced river canyon with Yosemite to the right.
Added panels got us away from ever using a generator in winter.
A simple power system that scrolls the data so there are "no buttons to push" Solar hot water system is very easy to install and the propane back-up in winter is very efficient.
The XW Inverter and it's high and low voltage chargers. It is designed for convection cooling and is very quiet and extremely reliable.
These tanks are gravity fed from rainwater (snowmelt) off the roof. We then pump this water to tanks above the house that can supply the house without electricity for pumping. Everything is planned for low energy but we have never had to go without electricity! There are critical electronic spares for some of our offgrid neighbors and ourselves just in case. The creature comforts of modern life are all there. We always look forward to stormy mountain weather offgrid!
The 3 raised bed square foot garden boxes used about 1500 gallons of water this year.
Solar Hot Water System, foreground​.The roof in the background is our water source. Not only does rainwater taste better than most well water, there is nothing like showering and doing windows with rainwater. Washing windows and cars just air dry with rainwater. We can store 16,000 gallons and always want a bigger tank!
The year round pond near our home.
Electra! Her buddy Merlin is feral and after 2 years they have started to get along. They are quite happy in the yard below.
Heat pump system was added for cooling after the fire. It is great for keeping smoke out of the house during fire season. We realized that living with wild fires was a challenge and with solar we can stay comfortable inside when our grid powered neighbors have to leave. It took alot of research to find a heat pump that was efficient enough to run without a generator. We can use the heat function on sunny days during winter for heating. It is the perfect use of excess energy for an offgrid household.
You know we would tell you if we found gold, right? The Diltz mine is about 500 feet as the crow flies!
Camp Oso Snowed-in! Dave's sister and brother's children.
Our old sailboat "Astraea" New owners are taking her out where she belongs once again! Nearly 10 great years of going where the wind moved us! Off an island in Panama friends told us we would end up in the mountains offgrid. We really can't imagine not being independent. It still is just as "enjoyable" as it was cruising. A little less adrenaline but some of that same spirit of adventure. Definately miss our mates from the cruising world!
We have been travelers! We find it very hard to be anywhere but at Camp Oso! We are stunned by some of the most amazing places and people we have met thru the Offgrid Solar business. There is always a way to realize your dreams once providence is on your side. We are providence enablers! Just do it! I do admit my brother's wife thinks we are crazy!
