Co mountain men - Input on living in the mountains - Pinecliffe - Am I crazy?

[Manuel Garcia O'Kely]

Originally Posted by pfb

Lived in the mountains for 20+ years and loved it. But it isn't for everybody.

Some random things to think about...

Wisdom here.

I have to agree about the buying land thing - water, water water! Land without water rights costs 10% of land with water rights. Cheap land does NOT have water, utilities or anything else on it.

I like the google maps idea - had not thought of that!

Keep in mind that any house out in the boonies might have been built without permits - lot's of mountain folk disdain the permit process.

Surface water: A spring is good but you won't get FHA loans unless you are city water or a proved well. We bought we cash so are OK.

I think alot of this summs up as:

No 7-11 on the corner, or cops or fire trucks or ambulances - when my dad died, I performed CPR for 25 minutes waiting for the amberlamps.

Check your distance to 'town' we live 10 miles out, about 20 minutes one way - not terrible, we often go to town for dinner - but we have looked at a WONDERFUL location, but it's more than 45 minutes one way, on a much more precarious road, which washed out in 4 locations during a storm last week and were w/out power 14 hours. I would be OK with that, but the wife does not want to be that far out of town.

When looking at the land, also look at any right of way permitted - we have an easment for the existing power lines - cool, since out drop is on it, and the other is an irrigation ditch that runs above our house. There is a group that "own" the ditch, they maintain it, and actually, it's a nice walking trail for us and the neighbors - we treat it as a parkway space, neighbors using it is OK, you live on the ditch you can walk it.

Propane: If you need it, shop around, the price varies a lot depending on your needs - we use it for cooking only and currently have about 16 years of propane on site - in a 500 gallon tank - I estimate our annual cooking usage at 25 gallons. The tank has a full capacity of 400. Do the math.

Our prior owner had a 100 lb. tank for cooking plus this 400 gallon for a wall heater. We found that at $4 a gallon delivered price, that propane was 5x the cost of wood and 3x electric...

Roads: It can make a HUGE difference - we are on what must be considered a 'first tier' dirt road, it's right off pavement and only 5 miles long, and a county road. It's very well kept, summer and winter, the plow trucks come by by 9 am, and we rarely get so much snow in one night that it's a real hinderence, we are at 7,500 feet. Of course we have three vehicles, all of them 4x4 anyway, so it's not yet been a problem.

We also have phone and 1.5 MBPS DSL, which is pretty decent - for extra bucks they tell us we could have 10, but 1.5 is good for Netflix, which my wife uses as a substitute for satellite TV.

I guess that as things go, we are not very far off the grid, but it's far enough for us to be away from city lights and noise, and to have more horses for neighbors than people.

Lastly, make sure you are the kind of person who won't fall into a black hole out there in the boonies. We call were I live 'happy valley' but the county has a high suicide rate from depression. If you are prone to bouts of solitary drink you might consider being closer to people and town.

[Krang]

Wow, the response here has been nothing short of amazing. I spent some time riding around thinking about things and jotting them down, but came up with nowhere near as many things to think about as you've provided me with.

The difference of the 'mountain people', differences that some may find odd is really the largest thing attracting me to living in the mountains. Coming from a small isolated farm town, that's something I really miss.

I have a lot of thinking to do with regards to buying in the mountains, or even in the foothills. Everything here has just made me realize I'm no where near ready to make that decision yet.


Quite a few places I've been looking at have been off of 72 & Twin Spruce Rd. . . Not sure why, seems there are tons of houses for sale back there.

I can't thank you enough for all your feedback.

[GrizGirl]

Originally Posted by Manuel Garcia O'Kely

We also have phone and 1.5 MBPS DSL, which is pretty decent - for extra bucks they tell us we could have 10, but 1.5 is good for Netflix, which my wife uses as a substitute for satellite TV.

Consider yourself very lucky. We are only 8 miles to Lyons, 12 miles to Estes Park, I pay for 1.5 service from Century Link (it is the fastest speed available, I do not have the option of paying for faster service) and I only get that speed in the middle of the night. In the evenings it is not consistently fast enough to stream a video with Netflix or utube and I finally cancelled my Netflix service. There are several neighbors who are still on the waiting list to get DSL. We have no idea when, or if, Century Link will upgrade our service.

So don't just check for the speed available, make sure you won't be put on a waiting list as well and don't expect that your speeds will be consistent. It will depend on neighborhood and how many other users are on the main feeder line.

[flyingwombat]

I live near Pinecliffe and I have 3 words for you: studded winter tires. I get by just fine in the winter with a front wheel drive car and a Jeep as a backup. I only use the Jeep if the forecast is calling for a couple feet of snow. Each year around Thanksgiving time, I put fresh studded tires on the drive wheels and use last seasons studded tires on the rear. That's really the key, fresh studded snow tires, no matter what you're driving. AWD/4WD is not a substitute for real winter tires. If you have a nasty driveway or access road, or live deeper in the mountains, or just want that extra go power, you might need a 4WD... otherwise you'll only be stopped during those multiple-feet snowstorms. 72 is well maintained but can get icy in spots, that's where the studs come in. Most crashes are single-vehicle and minor. You will probably go off the road at some point. But wait, this is advrider, you should just stud up the bike and be a badass!

Check the train noise- it's a fairly busy track. Double-pane windows (which you better make sure you have) work wonders on eliminating the train noise from inside, unless you're really close to the track where it's going to shake the whole house.

Get a south facing lot that gets lots of sun! The difference in winter between north facing and south facing is incredible.

New wells are typically 500 feet or so. Old wells are often "only" 100-200 feet. All water quality problems (if you have any) can be corrected with the right equipment, provided that you have enough water. Some areas have plenty of water and some don't. The much bigger item of concern is the septic system. If it hasn't been maintained or has a field of aspen growing on it and is in bad shape, you could be talking about $15,000 - $30,000 to replace it. So make sure you get it inspected / tested. If they are maintained well, they seem to last forever.

Living up there requires more work. The peace, privacy, and starry skies are awesome. A full moon with snow covered ground will blow your mind. Every day is a little bit of an adventure, good or bad... usually good though.

It took us 2 years to find a house that we really wanted up there (we rented up there for one of those years).

[jcbikes1]

I have lived in the Denver area since 1978 and have had many, many friends in all those years that have moved to the mountains. ALL of them eventually have moved back within a few years for most of the reason described above. Renting for a few years is a VERY good idea.

[thump_co]

Bah.. don't let all these cautionary tales hold you back. Having a north facing driveway just gives you an excuse to build a big redneck 4x4. Haven't gotten stuck once since slapping on 37's and detroit lockers. I make up an excuse to go to the store on a big snow day just to make first tracks and tow out a few neighbours on the way.

Really, if you're an able-bodied guy it's not that hard. We moved up straight from the burbs of Superior about 8 years ago and haven't looked back. The first couple winters took a few adjustments, getting used to the annual "green dust" blanket was a bit of a surprise, the first time the bears raided our trashcans was a learning lesson, and the monthly power outages are annoying, but it's all easy to adapt type stuff.

The biggest thing I'd consider was as mentioned earlier - the isolation. If you're a social single dude then I'd stick around the metro. 45 minutes of scenic mountains isn't a bad work commute, but it's a deadly social commute.. and there's no public transportation back home for a night at the bar. I'd also recommend moving near some type of mountain community at first. Nederland has a grocery, gas station, hardware store and food/drink. It's a lot easier to adapt when all the basics are still only 10 minutes away than when you're stuck 30+ minutes out in Pinecliffe.

[DirtyDR]

I was born and raised in Denver, moved to Edwards in 1996 and haven't looked back, I could never move back to that rat race. Edwards is even getting too built up anymore. As far as the morning commute in the Winter all it requires is the proper vehicle,



Just make sure you stop at the store on yor way home from work and all is good.



This is what my driveway looks like 3 or 4 months out of the year.