Mountain Living
From a city dweller’s perspective, there is so much to learn about mountain living. Really, we knew nothing when my husband and I shifted our search for a second home to the local mountain towns. For a long time, we focused only on the Southern California beach cities near us.
With due diligence, we did whatever everybody else does. We researched a lot on the Internet. And eventually, we made a committed effort to contact a real estate agent. She gave us so much valuable information each time we spoke.
Some tidbits were intuitive, but others we had never ever considered.
As much as we learned from our realtors, we learned even more with each visit. The areas surrounding the mountain lakes display considerable character. And if you’re attentive, you pick up on interesting nuances.
We have been living in the cottage part-time and the learnings have been endless. It thrills me to expect new discoveries everyday! But for now, let me share with you some of the things we have learned so far.
These are the 10 Important Mountain Living Characteristics
#1 Cellular service is spotty.
Connectivity is something you or your future guests just don’t think about in the mountain.
It was one of those things we didn’t anticipate which goes to show our reliance on our electronic devices. As we headed up the mountain, I noticed we lost all cellular service. Completely.
This meant I didn’t get our realtor’s text to meet her at a different location than what we originally planned. Google maps reverted to a very simple view format from the satellite view I had programmed. And my confidence was shaken since we didn’t know the area. Nor did we have a Thomas Guide—remember those??
Our realtor knew we were coming from the city below the mountain and guessed I didn’t receive her text so she showed up at our original location. All was good. Except we still had no service.
We followed her diligently in our car and channeled our teenage selves. I remember back in the day paying close attention to not losing sight of the car ahead of us. Because honestly, none of us back then knew the directions except the leader of the caravan. And even that was questionable. Somehow, we always made it to our destination.
That day, we must have followed our realtor to at least 10 different cabins and cottages. Some I would even consider chalets way beyond our budget! But they were fun to see and helped us set our expectations. Yep, we ruled out “chalet-ish” listings from that point on.
Some areas we had service and other areas we did not. Cellular services is spotty up in the mountains and we learned our lesson.
Be old school and print up road maps of the specific and surrounding areas you’ll be visiting.
You may not even be interested in mountain living, but you may want to visit every now and then.
The next visit up the mountain to look at more properties, we were ready. We printed out maps of several areas. Also we gave our itinerary and realtor’s phone number to family back in the city. Just in case.
I must say, there was a liberating aspect of being “unplugged” as it allowed me to be in the moment better. But after a while, I started to miss the convenience of looking things up quickly on my phone. Indeed our purpose for the visit was to find a cabin or cottage. That was my excuse.
This may determine where you buy your second home.
The mountain town we visited the second time around was different from the first. And gratefully, it had cellular service! I secretly had a bias for this town already although I realize it was silly. There are other solutions to overcoming spotty service like changing providers.
But I really didn’t want to do that. So yes, cellular service made it on our “non-negotiable” list when choosing the ideal location for our second home.
Keep a few things in mind if you plan to utilize your mountain cottage as an alternate solution to working from home. Fast and reliable Internet service is something to seriously consider with mountain living. Beyond your cottage location, know that your service may be spotty as you roam about the beautiful mountain towns and lakes.
#2 The type of car you drive is a big deal around here.
All or four-wheel drive is your best bet.
If you buy a second home in the mountains, strongly consider budgeting for an all-wheel drive car if you don’t already own one. Especially if you expect to use it all seasons. Our realtor asked us almost immediately about the vehicles we drive (we showed up in our son’s used Kia sedan).
It was the start of summer and our very first visit after years and years of not having traveled up the mountain. The Kia we were driving did fine. But I was unaccustomed to winding narrow roads and my anxiety must have been obvious. Our realtor reassured me I’d get used to it. She also made sure to mention the importance of having good cars that can handle the roads and weather conditions.
I was taking mental notes.
There are car trends people stick to—so pay attention.
Everyone is going to have an opinion when it comes to mountain living. Cars in particular.
One seller’s agent gave us her suggested car list when she realized we weren’t local. Even the home inspector and termite guy gladly gave us their perspectives on the topic.
We got the message loud and clear. People who live on the mountain or make a living here take their cars seriously. They want you to as well, by the way. After all, they’re looking out for their own safety from ill-equipped cars careening during a snowy icy winter.
They captivated us with nuggets of wisdom and told us “I remember when” stories about unprepared vacationers. As I listened, memories of my own surfaced—like the time we acted on a bit of a whim.
The kids were little and we loaded all three of them, my parents, and our St. Bernard puppy into our minivan (not all-wheel, of course). We headed to our rental cabin for a fun snow weekend. It was actually a few mountain towns over from where we now have our cottage.
Know your mountain destination’s elevation level. Snowfall differs considerably and this may determine the type of vehicle you choose.
That area we visited years ago is another 2,000 feet higher. It’s also more popular with tourists because of their ski resorts and much bigger lake. The journey was long with bumper to bumper traffic. With little kids and a puppy in tow, it seemed even longer. Skiers and snowboarders were taking advantage of the fresh dump of snow.
We made it finally to our rental cabin and I remember staring up the long steep driveway blanketed in snow. “There is no way,” I thought. Well we made it up the driveway and down over the course of the weekend without major incident. To our credit, we had chains.
My subconscious mind must have cataloged that experience in the “never again” category. This might be the true reason it was our first and only attempt at a snow weekend in the local mountains.
And here we were years later trying to acquire a cottage in the same mountain range. But alas, I vowed that we would be much more prepared if we ever found one. Of course, it had to meet all our non-negotiable requirements. One of which was a flat driveway.
While it snows in this area of the mountain range where we purchased our cottage, the intensity and frequency is less than the neighboring towns at higher elevations. Although as I write this, a major snow storm came and went. We were up to our knees in snow (I’m not very tall).
To a certain degree, knowing we would not be blanketed in snow all winter was an important detail. We city dwellers from down the mountain are unaccustomed to driving and living in the snow.
Don’t wait until the snow season arrives to get your all-wheel drive car. And chains.
So the day after we got the keys to the cottage with a flat driveway, we dutifully drove back down the mountain and straight to a Subaru dealer. And purchased a used Crosstrek.
We were following the advice of the realtors, inspector and termite guy. We also felt one step more ready for the winter. Luckily, one of our cars had the lease expiring that week so it all worked out!
Shortly after, we substituted the Kia sedan for another used all-wheel drive car as well. We felt more prepared and responsible, but most of all, safer as we were well into autumn.
We’ve used both cars repeatedly for our trips up and down the mountain. And it has provided us more consumer confidence as we get to know our cars.
In a span of two months, we bought the cottage, exchanged two cars for all-wheel drive vehicles, and started the cottage improvement projects. This type of craziness, I’m beginning to admit, is not uncommon for us.
#3 There are four distinct seasons. And often, this is the allure of the local mountain living and visiting.
Which is why the type of car you drive is a pretty big deal around here.
Snow arrives in winter, trees blossom in spring, the sun radiates heat in summer, and the leaves fall in autumn.
It contrasts sharply with where we have our primary home only one hour and 20 minutes away without traffic. Where we live down the mountain, we typically enjoy about two seasons a year. Trees don’t turn blazon shades of beauty before the mild winter like in the mountain. The climate differences astound me.
While it might be tempting to stay away from the mountains during the months of snow if that’s not your thing, we advise on toughening it out. Just make sure to get up the mountain before the snow falls and plan to stay until the roads are relatively safe and clear.
Experiencing how your second home holds up in different weather conditions gives you a lot of information important to a home owner.
If you’re not at your cottage or cabin during heavy rains or snowfall, you may not realize that the water doesn’t drain away from your house properly. Or there might be areas the sun never shines to melt the snow. Discovering too late the potential for water damage to your house and decks, soil erosion, and roof leaks may be, well, too late.
Invest in a shovel. Better yet, invest in a shovel for each kid.
The first mountain snowfall arrived during a period we had already planned to be at our primary home to tend to our garden and other projects. When we made it back up the mountain a week later, there was still snow on the ground. It was already ice by then but a novelty to us nonetheless!
We had one shovel. Having arrived at a fairly late hour, Luca just wanted to get the task done so he shoveled the deck driveway himself. All the while, he vowed he would get a shovel for each kid. And they would learn the art of shoveling snow. If your city kids (like ours) never picked up a snow shovel, this is a good time to introduce them to it.
Maneuvering our way around the seasonal differences when going back and forth between our home and cottage takes some getting used to.
#4 Woodpeckers are truly a thing.
And so are bears and mountain lions. Wildlife—all sorts.
But you expect bears; you hear stories about them all the time. The bear, after all, is the animal featured on the California flag!
And as scary as the thought is to encounter a mountain lion, I would also expect mountain lions in the mountains! Occasionally we also have coyotes wandering around our rather populous neighborhood in the city.
Woodpeckers though? When we were still in escrow, we inspected photos of the cottage exterior. We noticed that portions of one side, the least accessible side to humans as it faces the steep slope, was completely riddled with holes. Clearly they were way too big for termites. What in the world was it?
Curious about what my husband and I were speculating about on the computer screen, our oldest son joined our conversation. He studied the photo and offered a guess that made me laugh. Nervously. The holes, he suggested, may have been the work of woodpeckers. What??
When I was mentally preparing for mountain living, I was thinking of mountain lions and bears, oh my. But the thought of woodpeckers was nowhere on my radar. Prior to that day, I associated any mention of woodpeckers to a cartoon I loved to watch growing up.
Acorn Woodpeckers and our lovely cottage, their acorn granary.
Am I the only one surprised by this phenomenon of Acorn Woodpeckers—first even existing? But also becoming relevant because they are using a frequently used cottage to hoard their thousands and thousands of acorns?
If there’s only one of you out there who is as gobsmacked as I was, then I have enlightened at least one other person!
As we researched some more it became clear the cottage had been used as an acorn granary for acorn woodpeckers for who knows how long. Oh, this was not good.
We knew when we purchased the house that we would have to address the damage caused by these birds on the siding and trim. We just never thought that dashing to various windows or decks, screaming, “hey woodpecker!” would be our biggest pastime when we first began to occupy the place. Oh the joys of mountain living.
#5 A friendly neighborhood mailman is not a thing.
But don’t worry! You can apply for a P.O. Box.
You don’t get mail delivered to your door in these parts. You have to go get your mail at the post office down the hill around the lake and into town. There are several depending on how big the town is.
The post office is where you may catch up on the latest small town news as you wait in line for packages. Otherwise if you have mail that perfectly fits into your designated P.O. Box, you skip the line (the line to get your larger sized mail). And you’re in and out.
We pass the post office often. Each time we choose the route up the mountain that takes us into town and around the lake to our neighborhood, we pass it. What we notice is that during regular business hours, the parking lot is always full. It’s really quite the happening place.
An alternate solution for the second homeowner is to have all your mail diverted to your primary address. That’s exactly what we did.
Other mail delivery services do deliver to your mountain home.
I’m happy to report that FedEx and UPS deliver to your home in the mountains! Except in areas where it doesn’t so please check! Also, be advised that the delivery time is usually a little longer than what you might be accustomed to. Plan accordingly.
#6 The potential for vegetation fire (wildfire) is real.
This is a reality for a lot of areas in California, mountain regions in particular.
We knew this even before buying our cottage. It’s perhaps what concerned me most about considering a real estate purchase in the Southern California mountains.
The last several years have been particularly brutal for the whole state. But the strong winds, dry vegetation from no rain and just a little spark can be catastrophic up here.
We are extra cautious while staying in the cottage. When we lock it up before we head down to our primary home, we go through our checklist methodically. We have set up alerts on our phone from Southern California Edison for any pertinent notices along with the county’s system.
We have so far experienced two fires in the area.
The first was a structural fire (electrical) that quickly spread to nearby vegetation. The response from the various fire departments was phenomenal. Our cottage sits on a hill by the lake and is captured from afar on a webcam.
At the time of this fire, we had not yet closed escrow on the cottage. However, our real estate agent texted to let us know that there was no immediate danger to the cottage we were purchasing.
We were glued to the webcam image to see if smoke would start to come into view but it never did. The wind carried it the other way.
The benefits of owning property by a lake.
What we did experience was watching the helicopters scoop up water from the lake to bring it to the affected area out of the lens frame.
It was somewhat of a consolation to see that proximity to the lake was definitely a plus. The ability to view our property albeit from afar via the webcam also gave us peace of mind. I liked the idea of monitoring the area from a distance.
For the second fire, we were already cottage owners and having siding repairs done (from the woodpeckers, remember?). One of the workers on the scaffolding knocked on our newly installed windows and gestured over to the hill adjacent.
Very responsive fire departments.
Sure enough, black plumes of smoke pierced the otherwise pristine sky. By the time I was able to call in the fire, I was reassured by the nice operator that the fire was already being addressed.
The structural fire was promptly put out. An impressive 17 fire trucks responded. Apparently, this one was much smaller than the first one earlier that summer. So there was no need for the helicopters that scooped up and dropped water.
I watched from our dining room as night fell to see several rigs with flashing lights still in the area. They signaled to all that the brave firefighters were not going to abandon the post until all threat was gone. We slept peacefully that night.
But wow.
#7 Altitude can wreak havoc on you and your makeup and your rug from the makeup.
Altitude headache.
The first few times up and down the mountain, I always nursed an altitude headache—that’s what I called it. But that has since resolved.
Difficulty sleeping. I occasionally still experience it when we stay up in the mountain cottage. I tend to have a fitful sleep the first night. Now I make it a point to stay hydrated and drink some calming chamomile tea each night! These new habits have helped quite a bit. Or perhaps my body is adjusting to mountain living conditions.
Liquids leaking out of tubes and bottles.
The morning after our very first night in the cabin, I was a little sleep-deprived. So when I went about my routine, I didn’t realize that when I uncapped my liquid eyeliner, its viscous black liquid started flowing out. Rapidly. It practically poured out from the tube and onto the beige carpet of our newly purchased cottage. Awesome.
If anyone looks closely under the bedside table of the master bedroom closest to the door, you’ll find the evidence. We already had carpet cleaning scheduled for the next day fortunately. Between my attempt and the carpet cleaner’s attempt, we got almost all of the stain out.
That evening, something similar occurred with my shampoo, but that was more like a mild explosion.
Heed my warning, liquids at high altitude may “explode” in your bags or when you open the bottle due to lack of environmental pressure (pressure from outside the bottle).
#8 Some services are more expensive up here than down the mountain.
Budget accordingly.
We inquired about house cleaning services to prepare for when we host our extended family and friends after the pandemic.
When the first quote came in, we shrugged it off as an outlier. Surely they must get no business with that asking price. But after the third and fourth, I was starting to think I needed to open a housecleaning business.
The asking price was unheard of for us with hourly work being on average three times more than the rates in the city. Same goes for contractor work. Some contractors don’t want to make the trek up the mountain and others were quoting way beyond our budget. But we found one and so far, he’s a good one!
Contractor quotes we receive are never only about the work. A lot is based on location as well.
In addition to the work to be done, quotes are determined by accessibility to the house and location of the house itself. This was never a problem for our house in the city on flat property. But it sure is an issue up in the mountains.
Since our cottage sits toward the top of a steep down slope, no siding repairs can be done on the side of the cottage facing the lake without four floors of scaffolding. Yes. That side of the cottage is four floors. And conveniently, it’s also the side the woodpeckers prefer.
We imagined before buying the property that exterior repairs on the slope part would be costly. But we still experience sticker shock each time we read a quote.
Finally we found a contractor that quoted a fair price for the work and the cottage location. We appreciated that. And even more, we appreciate that he and this crew have so far delivered!
#9 The sense of building a “mountain community” is strong.
Neighborhood camaraderie, a huge perk of mountain living.
By all appearances, the people who establish their families and businesses in these mountains take pride in its friendly atmosphere.
Neighbors look out for each other. The online social network is busy with daily relevant information. You’ll find real time information on traffic, potential planned power outages, fires, lost pets, wildlife. You name it, and there’s a social media page that you can join.
Mountain-specific Facebook Groups you can ask to join if you’re a resident.
The two groups I use the most are for traffic (going up and down the mountain) and fire. I have found myself holding my breath when I first click on those pages and exhale when I see a friendly notification encouraging residents to adopt-a-fire hydrant or something similar.
Who knew that these things even existed? I didn’t but I’m glad our realtor informed us of this strong culture of community information sharing. But more importantly, how to access them.
Short-term renters or vacationers may be your temporary neighbors.
Even flatlanders or second home owners like us from the big cities buy into this “friendly, looking out for each other” mentality. And you begin to get used to it.
Matter of fact, there have been rare occasions on walks around the lake or in the neighborhood where we smile and wave. However, the greeting is not reciprocated. Immediately we rationalize that they might not be from the area or if they’re new, they don’t know yet the norms of behavior up in the mountains. But they’ll learn.
Just keep in mind that some of your neighbors may be regularly renting out their cabin or cottage. If that’s the case, you’ll see a stream of different faces using that property especially during the peak seasons of winter and summer. After a while, you’re able to spot them immediately.
Take into consideration as well the large volume of tourists the mountain attracts. Don’t underestimate that. If you plan on mountain living and commuting to work down the mountain, prepare to find yourself in endless traffic among the throngs of tourists. Especially during snow season. They’re trying to make their way up the two-lane highway, just like you.
#10 The serenity, breathtaking vistas of the sparkling lake, mountain range, pine trees, valley, sunsets, and changing fall colors. It makes it all worth it.
Since owning the cottage, we have watched summer turn into autumn. And autumn into winter. Each day paints a new landscape for us and we continue to marvel at all that nature offers.
My camera roll is full of stunning sunsets and the growing lake. The lake isn’t really growing but it sure seems like it is! As the leaves fall, more and more of the lake comes into view. I love this modest cottage and the little piece of paradise it offers to its residence.
A snowy winter transports you to another place. The pine trees, cottages and cabins draped with heavy snow blankets feel like a scene from Santa’s village. Cue the fog rolling in. And it’s truly enchanting.
I often gaze out the picture windows toward the lake, toward the hills surrounding it and the mountain range beyond. What a jewel. To my delight, I am not dreaming.
All of this make mountain living well worth the effort.
These are the 10 Important Mountain Living Characteristics
As the days progress and we encounter new experiences, other recurrent themes and surprising facts constantly emerge. I am enjoying our growth in learning and adapting to mountain living.
We hope to help others just like us to try to do the best we can in environments we know little about.
But we try nonetheless and that’s already half the victory!
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