A woman who lives in a remote cabin in Alaska, where temperatures drop to -40 degrees, says she “loves it”—despite having no running water or heating.
Karma Wilcox, 19, moved back into her childhood home in Homer, Alaska, in March 2023, as she admits she was craving a sense of “freedom.”
A California native, Ms. Wilcox first lived in the cabin as a child with her dad, the creator of Altruist Relief Kitchen, a nonprofit that helps people in war-torn areas across the world.
When she turned 8, she moved back to San Francisco with her mom, a life coach, but also lived in central Hollywood for a time.
After turning 18, Ms. Wilcox decided to head back to the cabin, which is over 100 years old and has no running water or heating.
She says she loves it and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.
“The insulation is not the best, the logs are cut down and layered around the cabin with moss with sticks nailed in between to keep some warmth in,” said Ms. Wilcox, a content creator.
“My main source of heating is firewood, which is on 24/7, and I go through about a box of logs a day.”
She enjoys snowboarding “pretty much every day” when it snows (which is often), and loves to garden around the cabin when the weather permits.
Ms. Wilcox enjoyed growing up living in the Alaskan wilderness.
“The cabin is such a good place to grow up as a child because you have no worries,” she said. “We used to play in the garden and go on really long hikes and ever since coming back it’s been nice to relive the memories.”
Her dad’s godfather rented the cabin to people in the area and had convinced her to move in herself when she was old enough.
“The cabin itself is owned by my dad’s godfather, Tom, and he is who I pay rent to monthly,” she said.
Ms. Wilcox moved back to the cabin in 2023—seeking a sense of freedom.
She said, “It’s a two-story cabin—the downstairs is the living room, so it has the kitchen and the lounge area and the upstairs has two bedrooms.”
Ms. Wilcox uses 5G to stay connected and doesn’t need to pay for wi-fi, as she gets a good signal, despite being out in the wilderness.
“People think Alaska is really off grid but it’s actually not—my 5G works just fine,” she said. “It’s such a lovely place to live, and I’m loving it.
“The cabin looked very different when I lived there before, and my dad has fitted a new roof, but I’m more of an interior designer than him.”
Despite loving her current lifestyle, Ms. Wilcox doesn’t think she will live in the cabin forever.
“I can’t live with no running water for my whole life, but I'll probably stay in here for another year before I go to med school,” she said. “I don’t want to stay in Homer, but I would like to go back there in the future.”