Help me find a cabin to rent!

August 29, 2022 10:31 AM

I am thinking about living for a month or two somewhere in nature within a day's hike + public transit of NYC. Does a suitable location exist? How do I find it? Details inside.

I am imagining a small cabin somewhere quite remote — I'd be fine with an hour or two of hiking being required to get to a road (I have done this kind of thing before, so I don't need your advice about how bad of an idea it is). Hard requirements:

• Some sort of permanent structure (a cabin would be ideal, but a thick canvas tent on a wood base could also be acceptable)
• A water source that is drinkable or can be filtered or boiled to be drinkable
• At least enough electricity to charge my phone, e-reader, and insulin pump
• Within a day's transit to NYC without a car (this can include hiking, buses, trains, and potentially biking, but only if there's a reasonable way to store the bike). It's fine if getting there takes almost a entire day, although closer to a half-day would be better.
• Able to be rented medium-term (month-to-month would be ideal) at a reasonable price
• Not near a lot of other people

Things that I would really like to have but are not necessarily hard requirements:

• Cellular reception, or other source of internet. Satellite internet would be acceptable — I'm capable of keeping my data usage quite low, and low speeds and high latency are fine — I mostly want to be able to check my email via IMAP, download new books occasionally, etc
• Enough electricity to run my laptop (probably ~150wH/day, via ≥65 watt AC or USB-C)

Nice-to-haves:

• A wood stove
• Access to a good number of trails

How should I go about finding a place like this? I looked at VRBO a bit, but they seem to mostly have easily-accessible, fairly fancy, expensive vacation cabins. Is there any sort of listing site that specializes in things like this?

posted by wesleyac to Travel & Transportation around New York, NY (5 answers total)

Hipcamp > glampinghub.com in my experience
posted by Press Butt.on to Check at 10:35 AM on August 29, 2022

Hipcamp is probably best, but I once found something like this on Craigslist. Here's one current listing for a cabin in the Catskills (obviously, this being Craigslist, you'd have to do some vetting to make sure it's legit).
posted by pinochiette at 12:33 PM on August 29, 2022

This also sounds like maybe state parks/national parks. Some of them definitely rent out cabins with varying levels of amenities. The NY State Campgrounds website has some different options you might investigate.
posted by atomicstone at 12:42 PM on August 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

The Pine Barrens would fit your away from it all, but it sounds like you still want a roof over head. Brendan Byrne might have some cabins.
posted by brent at 9:03 AM on August 30, 2022

Taconic State Park in Copake Falls NY might fit your requirements. There are both tent sites and cabins. Don't know if they do long term rentals. You could take Metro North to Wassaic, hop on the rail trail and walk or bike the 25 miles to the park.
posted by leaper at 10:59 AM on August 30, 2022