I was staying on 40 acres in the center of Colorado in a valley surrounded by the continental divide and Pikes peak national park attached. It was about 9000 ft above sea level. I was staying in a two bedroom 5th wheel while I was trying to build. The summer is short at that elevation and the winter would get -40 degrees. I made it through the first winter but the second winter I moved to Florida after the water and septic froze. Lower elevations and towards the south are not as severe. I was in a community that everyone was off grid generating their own power. There was no mail man or anything. I miss it a lot but mother nature isn't a force to reckon with especially when I have a daughter. Make sure you take some good winter clothes and gear. Makes you feel alive again the challenge of living in remote places.