The front range of Colorado is nice. Denver can be done on like $1200~, Fort Collins is like $800-1200, while the art and music scenes are somewhat small they're active and have great venues. If I piss in a circle, ten amazing hikes will get wet. There are PSL and DSA chapters along with a local SRA breakoff and mutual aid militia.
Highly recommended. I'd otherwise only move to the PNW.
edit: It's also the kind of nature that you'll never exhaust. I've been here since 2018 and have barely left one corner of the state. Recently in that corner I found out that there's a whole other wilderness zone with 70 lakes that just got lost between the other two I normally go to within an hour's drive. I can camp in dark sky areas within that hour.
Denver has mediocre public transit (dirty lightrail, buses), is hostile to its homeless population at the level of California, and the air quality is bad because the Rockies trap air. The cowfucker areas around it are Qanon territory. It's pretty white outside of Aurora, and both Denver and Aurora police are corrupt and unhinged departments. To me it feels on par with like San Antonio or Austin. It's a Little Big City and what makes it amazing is the mountain range behind it. The wildfires are also terrifying and can turn the air quality index like 150+ for multiple weeks. One hit an unforested suburb of Denver last December so nothing is safe but they take the place of Midwestern tornadoes or West Coast earthquakes.
If you lived in Denver/Fort Collins/Loveland/Longmont, you'd be about an hour from Rocky Mountain National Park (https://www.nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/hikes.htm). That place is a cathedral for naturalists, genuinely one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Especially if you're into hiking RMNP is the greatest thing you could ever live next to and I've grown immensely as a person by virtue of it.
That's what I moved here for after visiting the park. Haven't regretted that decision for a moment. The wildflowers are so abundant and ever-changing that I do some hikes multiple times per week and don't get bored of them. Plenty of wildlife even if our predator populations are tame compared to Wyoming/Montana, so you might get to see a bear but you don't have to hike armed. Every ecosystem above 10k' becomes a super fragile alpine wonderland where you see life surviving real extremes to the point that trees grow horizontally. Below that you have fascinating grasslands and canyons with some of the most interesting geology/paleontology in the country. Colorado's a place where you can really form an understanding of nature as process and relationships, in settings which visually humble you even without psilocybin, all while physically challenging yourself to whatever degree you want within day trip distance. Any hobby you want to pursue outdoors is at its absolute best here.
They're fantastic. A photography subject that exemplifies wabi-sabi and challenges your composition skills and hiking abilities to get the right shot. Next to Sky Pond in RMNP (https://s27363.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Sky-Pond-Hike.jpg.optimal.jpg) there's a big patch of columbines so thick that they scent the air. I'll hike up there before sunsrise, take a couple grammes of psilocybin, and do breakfast while the marmots run around me on a mountain on top of a mountain.
Columbines are my absolute favorites. Was thinking of camping and taking some psilocybin this weekend so that sounds literally ideal. Related I recently found a grove of bristlecone pines when hiking Backcountry and damn those are amazing trees. Want to take a few mushrooms and stare at em.
That's what my ex was paying in the northwestern suburbs. The downtown core is probably more expensive but she was in Littleton with a decent 1br. I'm north of the city and like that area more despite Denver having the good ethnic restaurants and botanical garden. Closer proximity to less crowded hikes.
The air quality is what kills it for me too because I associate it with strokes. During the Cameron Peak fire and even the big Californian ones it rained ashes from a sepia sky. That's god knows what straight into the lungs for weeks on end. I wouldn't buy a house here or live here ten years from now when the fires are even worse, but it's a tolerable tradeoff for the mountains. Living in a town like Nederland or Estes would be the ideal.
I'm not sure what's going on with Front Range SRA after the vote to leave National. When I was active in it there were a couple range days per month and regular business meetings. The instability with National turned me off to them until things are more settled and I have a sense of what they want to be as an org.
Gotcha. i just want someone to go shooting with. It took me like two months after I signed up with SRA to find out that Front Range wasn't part of the org anymore. What a mess.
Shooting here is miserable with all the chuds. I have to go to one particular isolated stretch of Pawnee National Grasslands just to avoid them. It's also the same place the SRA uses for range days for the same reason.
The front range of Colorado is nice. Denver can be done on like $1200~, Fort Collins is like $800-1200, while the art and music scenes are somewhat small they're active and have great venues. If I piss in a circle, ten amazing hikes will get wet. There are PSL and DSA chapters along with a local SRA breakoff and mutual aid militia.
Highly recommended. I'd otherwise only move to the PNW.
edit: It's also the kind of nature that you'll never exhaust. I've been here since 2018 and have barely left one corner of the state. Recently in that corner I found out that there's a whole other wilderness zone with 70 lakes that just got lost between the other two I normally go to within an hour's drive. I can camp in dark sky areas within that hour.
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Denver has mediocre public transit (dirty lightrail, buses), is hostile to its homeless population at the level of California, and the air quality is bad because the Rockies trap air. The cowfucker areas around it are Qanon territory. It's pretty white outside of Aurora, and both Denver and Aurora police are corrupt and unhinged departments. To me it feels on par with like San Antonio or Austin. It's a Little Big City and what makes it amazing is the mountain range behind it. The wildfires are also terrifying and can turn the air quality index like 150+ for multiple weeks. One hit an unforested suburb of Denver last December so nothing is safe but they take the place of Midwestern tornadoes or West Coast earthquakes.
If you lived in Denver/Fort Collins/Loveland/Longmont, you'd be about an hour from Rocky Mountain National Park (https://www.nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/hikes.htm). That place is a cathedral for naturalists, genuinely one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Especially if you're into hiking RMNP is the greatest thing you could ever live next to and I've grown immensely as a person by virtue of it.
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That's what I moved here for after visiting the park. Haven't regretted that decision for a moment. The wildflowers are so abundant and ever-changing that I do some hikes multiple times per week and don't get bored of them. Plenty of wildlife even if our predator populations are tame compared to Wyoming/Montana, so you might get to see a bear but you don't have to hike armed. Every ecosystem above 10k' becomes a super fragile alpine wonderland where you see life surviving real extremes to the point that trees grow horizontally. Below that you have fascinating grasslands and canyons with some of the most interesting geology/paleontology in the country. Colorado's a place where you can really form an understanding of nature as process and relationships, in settings which visually humble you even without psilocybin, all while physically challenging yourself to whatever degree you want within day trip distance. Any hobby you want to pursue outdoors is at its absolute best here.
Recently been spending time iding wild flowers when camping and hiking. It's amazing
They're fantastic. A photography subject that exemplifies wabi-sabi and challenges your composition skills and hiking abilities to get the right shot. Next to Sky Pond in RMNP (https://s27363.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Sky-Pond-Hike.jpg.optimal.jpg) there's a big patch of columbines so thick that they scent the air. I'll hike up there before sunsrise, take a couple grammes of psilocybin, and do breakfast while the marmots run around me on a mountain on top of a mountain.
Columbines are my absolute favorites. Was thinking of camping and taking some psilocybin this weekend so that sounds literally ideal. Related I recently found a grove of bristlecone pines when hiking Backcountry and damn those are amazing trees. Want to take a few mushrooms and stare at em.
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That's what my ex was paying in the northwestern suburbs. The downtown core is probably more expensive but she was in Littleton with a decent 1br. I'm north of the city and like that area more despite Denver having the good ethnic restaurants and botanical garden. Closer proximity to less crowded hikes.
The air quality is what kills it for me too because I associate it with strokes. During the Cameron Peak fire and even the big Californian ones it rained ashes from a sepia sky. That's god knows what straight into the lungs for weeks on end. I wouldn't buy a house here or live here ten years from now when the fires are even worse, but it's a tolerable tradeoff for the mountains. Living in a town like Nederland or Estes would be the ideal.
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The area around Buena Vista is really nice. I love how expansive both South and North Park are.
Are they actually active? I sent an e-mail a week ago and haven't heard anything back.
I'm not sure what's going on with Front Range SRA after the vote to leave National. When I was active in it there were a couple range days per month and regular business meetings. The instability with National turned me off to them until things are more settled and I have a sense of what they want to be as an org.
Gotcha. i just want someone to go shooting with. It took me like two months after I signed up with SRA to find out that Front Range wasn't part of the org anymore. What a mess.
Shooting here is miserable with all the chuds. I have to go to one particular isolated stretch of Pawnee National Grasslands just to avoid them. It's also the same place the SRA uses for range days for the same reason.