I make it a regular habit to peruse Craigslist for interesting alternative housing.

Here’s a recent find that really gets my imagination going. A Craigslist ad for Flagstaff, AZ real estate that reads:

“$59900 Solar powered native american hogan on 10 acres of land for sale (Alpine Ranches, Flagstaff,AZ)”

The heading pretty much says it all. Apparently this is a  remodeled native american hogan, off grid, located just northeast of Flagstaff, near Sunset crater.

So it gets me thinking, The hogan in this ad looks pretty accomodating to me, but what are real hogans like? Well, it turns out all you gotta do is seach Google images for “indian hogan” and you’ll find plenty of examples. A couple pictures that I found here caught my eye:

What the above pair of pix shows is the outside and inside of an authentic Navajo hogan. I’m stunned by it’s apparent simplicity and harmony with the desert as viewed from the outside; yet it looks so inviting and comfortable on the inside! Comparing the “for sale” hogan at the top with the “not for sale” hogan sets the wheels turning in my head. Are hogans the purest form of an “earth home?” Could I build a hogan if I wanted to? Why couldn’t you build a hogan that is reasonably comfortable? Wouldn’t that be cool!

And, of course, the thought trail leads right back to the “for sale” hogan at the top. I think I could really get into the concept because I can picture all kinds of modifications and possibilities.