Ever dreamed of quitting the rat race and getting away from it all? If modern life is getting a bit too much for you to handle, you could always make like these five rugged outdoors types and build your very own off-grid bolthole in a remote forest somewhere. It's not as hard as you might imagine. Take a look at how they pulled it off and start planning your great escape right now.

Escaping to the wilds of Quebec, adventurer Billy Rioux (left) set about building a 12-foot x 16-foot hand-hewn log cabin back in 2007 using only traditional tools. The bushcraft and history enthusiast was keen to emulate the experience of Canada's intrepid 19th-century voyageurs.

Rioux, who was only 25-years-old at the time, made a beeline for the remote location, a piece of land measuring around 400 feet that had been in his family for several generations – his grandpa built a cabin there in the early 20th century, while his father constructed one in 1975.

Once there, the resourceful adventurer was super-careful to use tools and methods employed by Quebec's early frontiersmen and women – forget chainsaws and circular saws, Rioux stuck to using basic axes, hatches and saws to build his throwback cabin.

In fact, zero modern materials were used in the cabin's construction. As you can see here, Rioux even camped out in a traditional canvas tent during the build, making the whole historical experience more authentic.

Rioux opted for the old-time full-scribe saddle notch technique to construct the cabin. This involves cutting out a curved semi-circular scribe at the end of each log, which slots in neatly to the log below, forming the corner.

Likewise, Rioux plumped for a 19th century-style pitched roof complete with the sort of wooden tiles the early voyageur fur-trappers would have used, which he applied over asphalt-saturated roofing felt that was used from the latter half of the century onwards.

All in all, the build took 63 days, an impressive feat given the traditional tools and methods used. In 2012, Rioux lived in the cabin entirely off-grid for 12 months, drinking water from a nearby river, as well as trapping and hunting rabbits, grouse and other game animals. 

Since then, the inspiring adventurer has built an additional cabin for storage, and though he has returned to civilisation, living in the city of Trois-Rivières, Rioux regularly visits and kicks back at the cosy log cabin. Inspired by Billy? Check out these incredible off-grid homes built from trash.

Rioux has also worked with the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi on a number of fascinating historical projects, which have included building replicas of voyageur canoes and tracing a river route to James Bay that hasn't been explored since the 1870s.

Fed up with the stresses and strains of modern life and desperate to live mortgage-free, 42-year-old Becky Perez aka Homestead Becky turned her back on suburban life in 2005.

Together with her husband Victor, Becky snapped up two-and-a-half acres of affordable land in rural North Florida to turn into a rural home with space for growing food and keeping livestock. The couple decided to use a log cabin kit to streamline the building process and began work on their 800-square-foot, two-bedroom home, with the bulk of the work was carried out by Homestead Becky.

North Florida is prone to hurricanes, so Homestead Becky was scrupulous about establishing a strong foundation for her log cabin, ensuring the blocks were installed below the frost line to make the structure extra-secure.

Ground beams were laid to boost the strength and resilience of the cabin, and then Homestead Becky got to work on the joists and subflooring, all the time making sure they were as level as possible.

The walls came next. Following the kit instructions to the letter, Homestead Becky used the 'butt and pass' technique, which doesn't require a notch. The technique is ideal for beginners and helps cut down significantly on the build time.

Like Billy Rioux's cabin, Homestead Becky's wooden house has a pitched roof with an asphalted felt underlay, but uses timber panels rather than tiles, another option that saves on valuable build time.

In addition to the asphalted felt underlay, she added steel panels for extra insulation, as well as Icynene spray foam, to minimise energy bills and make the structure ultra-sustainable.

The log cabin was finally completed in 2007, the same year that Homestead Becky started posting videos of her lifestyle on YouTube. Her channel exploded in popularity and these days, the plucky homesteader has 317,319 subscribers. 

Almost entirely self-sufficient, Homestead Becky is currently raising a hog for meat, chickens for eggs, goats for milk and horses for riding, and also tends a small organic fruit and vegetable garden.

Across the pond, jaded Londoner Kris Harbour decided to leave the Big Smoke and his two mortgages behind in May 2015 and start a new life for himself in the idyllic Welsh countryside, after spotting an 18.5-acre plot of land for sale on eBay.

After selling his London properties, quitting his job and acquiring the land, which is located in a picturesque forest, the former lift engineer headed there and started building a round cobwood 'hobbit house' using 90% natural, recycled and reclaimed materials.

Harbour opted for recycled tyres for the base and reclaimed wood for the ground beams, before harvesting local timber, which he used to construct the walls, filling in the gaps with an all-natural mortar made from clay, sand, and straw.

Keeping things as simple as possible, Harbour, who had no prior experience in construction, settled on a traditional round design with a self-supporting roof that would blend in perfectly with the bucolic surroundings.

The ex-Londoner kept costs to a bare minimum thanks to his focus on using natural, recycled and reclaimed materials. In fact, Harbour spent just $900 (£700) in total on parts for the eco-friendly build.

Harbour, who has chronicled the build on his YouTube page, used earthbags to insulate the property and hefty stones to add extra strength and stability, providing a tough base for the structure. It's a low cost, highly insulating and eco-friendly method of building that's perfect for a real-life hobbit house in the woods.

Even the doors and windows are made from upcycled materials. Harbour used old windows gifted to him by a neighbour of his mother, not to mention an old glass fridge door he came across discarded in an alley.

The finished cabin boasts a natural turf roof and is powered by solar panels, which Harbour picked up for £75 ($96) a-piece. The solar tech is bolstered by hydro-electric power units, which are used to heat the home in winter.

Delighted with his simple new life, Harbour, who no longer has any bills to worry about, spends his days happily maintaining the structure, enjoying the peaceful countryside and surfing off the Welsh coast. Love this idea? Check out these passive houses that cost nothing to run. 

Michigan native Kellie Nightlinger is a bushcraft expert and adventurist who has been voted the world's top female survival expert. The self-described “Wild Woman” is all about the great outdoors, and has pretty much single-handedly built her own log cabin in the Montana wilderness.

Nightlinger spends most of her time living off-grid in the backwoods of Alaska but frequently travels to her self-made Rocky Mountains Montana retreat, where she does everything from hunting wild game to fishing, kayaking and free-climbing, as well as teaching survival skills.

Nightlinger bought the land surrounding the cabin a decade ago and has since established her Mountain Magic survival camp there. Like the other cabins in our round-up, the Wild Woman's cabin is entirely off-grid.

The dedicated adventurist used a combination of sturdy timber planks and even sturdier hand-hewn wood that she harvested for the ground beams and flooring, fine-tuning a myriad of practical skills along the way.

Starting from an early age, the survival pro enjoyed camping and bushcraft as a child and went on to become a conservation officer in her home state of Michigan, before leaving modern life behind and retreating to the wilds of Alaska for good.

Before she made the big move, Nightlinger was contacted by the Discovery Channel and ended up appearing in the first season of hit reality show Naked and Afraid, spending 21 days in Tanzania's Serengeti Plain with fellow survivalist E.J. Snyder. The episode aired in June 2013.

A skilled woodworker, Nightlinger used the challenging Scandinavian saddle notch technique to build her cabin, which unlike the butt and pass or other methods (such as the simple corner post technique), is far from easy.

Nightlinger did however use modern equipment for the build, in contrast to the techniques used by Billy Rioux, who as we know, relied on traditional tools to complete his log cabin project in the Quebec wilderness.

Instead of a simple pitched roof, Nightlinger went for a Dutch-style barn gambrel roof, which has the advantage of freeing up plenty of additional interior space for a sleeping and storage area. The end result is a roomy log cabin with space for several people.

Another rugged outdoors type who wanted to “go back to basics”, Canadian Shawn James has become a veritable YouTube star with his channel My Self Reliance, which follows his experiences at his off-grid log cabin, and has amassed a staggering 686,184 subscribers.

James started building the 10-foot x 20-foot cabin on a plot of land near Ontario's Algonquin Park in June 2017. Like fellow Canadian Billy Rioux, the nature-lover eschewed modern power tools for the build, relying solely on traditional saws, hatchets, and so on.

In order to complete the project, James felled 100 pine, cedar and balsam fir trees by hand, echoing the sort of back-breaking work lumberjacks of old had to engage in. Each log was dragged by James to his chosen plot of land, calling for some serious muscle, and then some.

James then worked the wood using manual tools, which can't have been easy, fashioning each log, board and piece of timber by hand. After placing the foundation logs, the skilled woodworker used the difficult Scandinavian saddle technique to construct the cabin walls.

Once he got into the flow, the project no doubt became easier and easier, and in no time at all, James had built four sturdy walls made up of interlocking logs that fit perfectly together and are level straight.

The next challenge was to cut out the windows and doors, which James executed with ease, making the whole thing look a lot simpler than you might imagine. Again, he did this using manual tools with no chainsaw in sight.

As is traditional and thoroughly practical in a location that gets a lot of snow during the wintertime, James opted for a steep pitched roof, using long wooden planks rather than tiles as coverage.

Amazingly, the entire project was finished in under six months (the completion date was sometime in late November 2017), and James was able to enjoy the fruits of his labour in time for the harsh winter.

James now spends most weekends in his extra-snug log cabin, and frequently posts videos of his off-grid adventures to YouTube. Loved this? Check out the extreme lifestyle that comes with these homes at the end of the earth.