I left my cushy California life at 19 to live in a log cabin in Alaska where temperatures drop to -40... there's no running water or heating but I love it

• Karma Wilcox, 19, from California, moved back into her childhood home in 2023
• She lives in a remote cabin in Homer, Alaska, that has no heat or running water
• READ MORE: Two giant MOOSE stop traffic outside Alaska McDonald’s

A Gen Z woman has given up her cushy California lifestyle to move back into her childhood home – a remote log cabin in Homer, Alaska that has no running water, heat or Wi-Fi.

Despite temperatures dropping to -40C, Karma Wilcox, 19, from California, says she ‘loves it’ there and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

In March 2023 aged 18, she decided to return to the 100-year-old Alaskan cabin to live life off the beaten track, as she found herself ‘craving a sense of freedom’.

She was born in California but immediately moved to the two-storey cabin in Alaska, where she was raised by her father.

Karma lived there until she was eight years old and moved to San Francisco, California, to live with her mother.

A Gen Z woman has opted to move back into her childhood home, which is a remote cabin in Homer, Alaska that has no running water, heat or Wi-Fi

Despite temperatures dropping to -40C, Karma Wilcox, 19, from California , says she ‘loves it’ there and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else

Working as a content creator, she also spent some time in central Hollywood, Los Angeles.

But her father convinced her to make the move back to Alaska as soon as she was old enough.

The 19-year-old content creator said: ‘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.

‘My main source of heating is firewood which is on 24/7 and I go through about a box of logs a day.

‘When it snows, I go snowboarding pretty much every day which is so fun and I’m very lucky to have an endless garden around the cabin.’

Homer is a small coastal city on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, with a population of just 5,719.

Surrounded by glaciers and mountains, it’s best known for being the ‘Halibut Fishing Capital of the World’ as it’s home to large commercial and sportfishing fleets.

Reminiscing on her childhood, Karma revealed: ‘The cabin is such a good place to grow up as a child because you have no worries.

The interior of the two-storey cabin includes a the living room with a kitchen and lounge area, with two bedrooms upstairs

The interior of the two-storey cabin includes a the living room with a kitchen and lounge area, with two bedrooms upstairs

The 19-year-old content creator said: ‘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

She pays $275 per month in rent to her dad Luna’s godfather, Tom, who owns the cabin and rents it to people in the area

Reminiscing on her childhood, she added: ‘The cabin is such a good place to grow up as a child because you have no worries’

‘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.’

As a youngster, Karma had lived in the cabin with her dad, Luna, 43, who is the creator of the Altruist Relief Kitchen Project – working with people in war-torn areas across the world, meanwhile her mother Misty, 38, is a life coach.

Now living there as an adult, she pays $275 per month in rent to her dad Luna’s godfather, Tom, who owns the cabin and rents it to people in the area.

The teenager explained: ‘It’s a two-storey cabin – the downstairs is the living room, so it has the kitchen and the lounge area and the upstairs has two bedrooms.’

She uses 5G to connect with others as there is no Wi-Fi in the area, however she insists she gets good signal.

Adding: ‘People think Alaska is really off grid but it’s actually not – my 5G works just fine. 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 enjoying the freedom this home gives her, Karma admitted she can’t see herself living there for forever.

She said: ‘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.’

Despite enjoying the freedom this home gives her, Karma admitted she can’t see herself living there for forever

She uses 5G to connect with others as there is no Wi-Fi in the area, however she insists she gets good signal

‘I don’t want to stay in Homer, but I would like to go back there in the future.’

It comes just after another creator, Salina Alsworth, shared a tour of a very remote cabin in Alaska, built by the late naturalist Richard Proenneke.

Proenneke constructed the simple lodge on the shores of Upper Twin Lake in Alaska during the summers of 1967 and 1968 using mostly local materials and simple handheld tools.

While he only planned on spending a year in the cabin, he found a beauty in the simplicity of living at one with nature and he spent 30 years there until he was 81.

The adventurer lived there for decades without electricity, running water, telephone, or other modern ‘necessities.’

In the YouTube film, Salina – who lives in a remote village close by – explains that the only way of getting to the cabin is via a floatplane and her grandfather would help fly supplies in for Proenneke every now and then.

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