It was now or never thought Cody and Lori Zurn.
The couple, who met their senior year of high school and graduated from Rice Lake in 2014, had been talking about a life off the grid and were concerned their hesitation would prevent them from pursuing an adventure which they’d later regret.
In spring 2023 they left their lives in Wisconsin for the remote Alaskan wilderness and have been documenting each step on the way on Youtube. Lori (Shervey) has a degree in interior design and worked in computer-aided design for Menard’s corporate office, with Cody a network and server analyst also for Menard’s. Lori was getting tired of the office work, and Cody didn’t see himself in his role for much longer. They were planning a new pursuit in life, and spontaneously they took the plunge and headed to The Last Frontier.
“We found this land, it popped up online,” Cody said. “We bought it within a week, just raw land, quit our jobs, sold our house and started driving.”
Documenting their remote life
What the Zurns didn’t expect was that documenting their work in Alaska would turn into a growing Youtube channel. Remote Life Alaska (youtube.com/@remotelifealaska) has nearly 18,000 subscribers as it shows all their successes and challenges in building a life in Alaska. The original plan was that recording videos and posting online was a way to show family and friends what they were up to, but it’s turned into more.
“In the back of our heads we were saying, ‘Maybe it will turn into something,’” Lori said. “We were joking about it, it’s never going to happen, and then kind of did really fast.”
At first the couple considered a plan of building a life off the grid while staying in Wisconsin, but Alaska provided greater freedom to build how they wanted. Arriving in spring the trail up to their land was a challenge to access, and their key goal for the summer was to build shelter for winter. Through their videos, viewers can watch the Zurns construct their cabin, outhouse and greenhouse, and other day-to-day activities they deal with. Every board in the cabin was milled by them from dead standing spruce on their land.
“I find it hard to believe we’ve got everything done that we’ve done so far in just a little bit over a year,” Lori said. “It seems insane. We really did lot.”
As the Zurn’s Remote Life Alaska Youtube channel has grown they’ve had to reconsider how they view their videos. They hadn’t put a lot of thought into the videos at the start, and admit it can still be a hassle having to record what they’re doing.
“Right now we have to shift from it’s a side thing we’re doing,” Lori said, “and now that it is growing and it has potential to be something, we have to make the shift of, we have to treat this like our job now.”
Off the grid
The Zurns’ camp is about five miles up a rough trail that takes 45 minutes to reach a gravel road, even in good weather, and it’s another seven miles to a highway. If in need of building materials or larger grocery runs, they travel more than an hour on the highway to Wasilla, a city about the size of Rice Lake and the fourth largest city in Alaska.
It’s been far from smooth sailing for the Zurns as just getting to Alaska proved to be quite a challenge. They had to outrun wildfires and evacuation orders to fuel back up their travels on the Alaska Highway through Canada. Going through the Rocky Mountains they hit a big hole that bent their trailer and they lost considerable time in getting a replacement U-Haul. The Zurns finally reached the trail on the way to their land and had to drive a side-by-side the rest of the way, leaving the truck behind at the foot of the trail. When they later returned to the truck they found its windows had been shot out.
To speed up the process of clearing the land the Zurns purchased a tractor but it broke down on the way up the trail, and while pulling it the rest of the way with the truck, that clonked out too. Trying to tow the truck back to camp, an electrical fire started in the truck taking out their only mode of transportation. In addition to those unfortunate circumstances, they’ve also had close encounters with wild animals.
“We had the dog chasing a moose through camp right up next to Lori,” Cody said. “We hear wolves constantly, see bear tracks everywhere. It’s an experience.”
The biggest things the Zurns miss from Wisconsin include fishing for sunfish, the fall colors and big thunderstorms. What they are happy they missed was this last year’s snowless winter. Up in Alaska it was a milder winter, with the lowest temperature at -37 degrees, but there was enough snowfall to enjoy a snowmobile ride up into the mountains to view the Alaskan range.
The first two summers the Zurns were able to grow a few meals out of their greenhouse but next year will have an outside garden to capture more of the rainfall. They went fishing for salmon that first summer and canned the fish, but now as full-time residents they were able to dip fish for the first time this year. They took a few days to drive south to the mouth of the river to the ocean and caught enough sockeye salmon to last the year.
“The nice thing about that is you can take one or two days and get as much as you could possibly need for an entire year,” Lori said, “versus if you have to use a pole, you can only get a couple this day or a couple the next day.”
A small freezer is connected to a solar system to freeze the fish, but in the winter sunlight only lasts four hours and doesn’t rise above the trees. They use gas-powered generators for electricity and this year have gotten a battery system. It takes three hours of running the generator to charge the batteries to last three days, Cody said.
Learn as you go
The Zurns moved to Alaska with some basic remodeling skills but a lot has been learned while they go. They had remodeled almost every aspect of their previous home in Chippewa Falls but actual construction was new. At the time it was a race against winter and every part of the cabin might not have gone up exactly how they would have liked.
“We’re not afraid to fail,” Cody said. “We’ll figure it out, and if it’s wrong, we’ll do it again. We’re not afraid to figure it out ourselves.”
Another change in the Zurn’s lives since moving to Alaska was the birth of their daughter Rowan, who is now 6 months old. They can no longer jump on the snow machine and ride out into the mountain for hours, and they have to develop a plan for how to keep her warm during the upcoming winter. Everything takes longer now with the baby, as they take turns watching Rowan and working on a project. When she’s down for a nap they work as quickly as possible, and that sometimes means not taking the time to record the work for the Youtube videos.
“It will be a lot easier when she can swat her own skeeters,” Cody joked.
Eventually the Zurns want to take more time to build a suitable house for their family as the cabin was only to be temporary. That project is for the future as they work on more pressing needs for their camp.
Next projects
This summer the Zurns have been constructing a new building for their sawmill so they can continue work in the rain. There is a solar kiln to dry wood much quicker and one side of the building will store firewood. Solar panels will be assembled on the roof, and freezers and generators will be stored inside. The plan is to finish the sawmill building before winter.
Next on the docket is an outdoor cooking and preserving space. That way they can harvest moose and fish, and get it cooked and preserved. The other side of the building will also include the shower house with a propane water heater and water tank.
The best decision
When the Zurns decided to drop everything they had in Wisconsin to move to remote Alaska, there were people who thought they were crazy, Lori said, and she doesn’t blame them — it was a little crazy. Others said they’d last a few months and then return to Wisconsin, Cody said, but if they could make it through the winter, they’d continue to call Alaska home.
“It felt so good to prove everyone wrong, that we weren’t capable of doing it,” Lori said. “We’re so determined and very bullheaded. We’re going to figure it out. We should have proven that by now.”
They’ve heard from a lot of people who’ve said they’re doing something they wish they had done. When debating whether to go all-in on their move off the grid, they figured the longer they waited, the less likely they’d go. It’s why when the decision was made it felt like a spur-of-the-moment plan. It’s been difficult but worth it for them.
“It’s the best decision I’ve ever made,” Lori said.
While they’re not sure if their current home is where they’ll be forever, they don’t plan on leaving Alaska. They dream of moving near a river or other body of water and building a larger house for the family. In just a short amount of time they’ve experienced a lot and have shared those stories with a growing audience, and there will be plenty more to tell as the continue their remote life in Alaska.
“I think in one year we already have a lifetime of stories,” Lori said. “I feel like [Rowan] has already done more in her life than I have. I’m excited to see how that’s going to go.”
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