Hi, Jim,
Just adding some thoughts on your assessment of Arizona. There are two Arizonas, the lower half at an average elevation of less than 3000 feet, and the half up on the Colorado plateau at 5000-8000 feet, and the two are totally different. You are absolutely correct about Southern Arizona being too populated, too close the border, and too much crime, almost all of which is in metropolitan Phoenix. If ones does their research (and I am not going to spell it all out here), there are some locations that come in very high. First check your groundwater availability, some areas have intermittent surface water, and no aquifer. Other areas have excellent, clean, well flowing, deep aquifers. You will probably have to put in a well, either wind or solar powered. Solar power has an advantage in that it can be hidden better, but it had the disadvantage of being more technologically complex. [JWR Adds: The folks at Solarjack/SunPumps of Safford, Arizona [1] are both knowledgeable and reputable PV [2] powered pump dealers. I first did business with them in 1991.] With a good well, you not only have drinking water, you can grow crops. There are large concentrations of LDS [2] members in some areas, this is a good thing to look for, crime is low, and they make good neighbors, even if you are not LDS. Land is reasonably cheap ($200-$500/acre) out of the towns a few miles, but you will have the added expense of your well, which will cost $12-$15K including the windmill or solar, and solar electric generation for lights, and other power, which can add that much again, for a modest system. Game is available, and the population density is these localized areas is measured in square miles per person. My nearest neighbor is 3/4 of a mile away, the next closest is two miles in the opposite direction, and more than 3 miles each in the other two directions,yet there is a town of about 5000 people, only 9 miles by rough road, away. (The place I selected, allows my retreat to not be seen from the little traveled rutted dirt road in front of my place; the only indication that someone is even there, is a slightly overgrown track leading over a low ridge through some trees, from a nondescript barb wire fence gate. After one rainstorm, the track looks like it hasn’t been traveled for months. The CONEX [2] boxes are painted olive drab, and hidden by trees. blackout curtains are used at night in the neutral colored dwelling, you cannot see the place, day or night, from 40 yards away, even though there are large meadows on two sides, as I made sure at least some trees were between the open areas and the structures.) Cattle and crops are grown in the area, and there is game, ranging from rabbits to antelope to elk. Topography ranges from savannah, to juniper to tall pines, depending on the elevation. You are close enough that you can work/live in Phoenix, if needed, yet have a retreat available less than 200 miles away, just know ALL the ways out of town, and have stuff propositioned. And, if you have the money for $20-40K an acre, there are a few select areas in the 4000-5000 foot elevation that have year round running surface water, good flat ground for crops are isolated, surrounded by high mountains and easily defended, as the only two roads in, can be easily defended, or blocked – AZDoug