Durango CO

[Apexelectric]

Doug,

I work in Durango and live in the next town over if youre ever looking for a connection in the area. Been here 20 years now.

Mike

[EL34]

Doug,

I work in Durango and live in the next town over if youre ever looking for a connection in the area. Been here 20 years now.

Mike

I split this topic off because I want to know more about Durango

Cool, I am thinking about a trip to CO

Durango looks cool
Some of the things I like that I have read

Lots of trails for hiking, Mountain biking
Close to the 4 corners so you can branch out to NM, Arizona, Utah
Not too far north like steamboat springs

But, have also read lots of reviews on line that there is some sort of attitude there?
A snooty local attitude?
Looking at Zillow, the prices of real estate there look to be crazy expensive?
And the high speed internet sucks?

Just reading reviews on line is all I can gather at this point
hoping to get more info from a local :)

[shooter]

A snooty local attitude?

you should visit telluride(sp?) CO
As I pulled into town, local police came from nowhere, followed me long enough to run tags.  I parked, ask a Hippie looking guy If there was a coffee/sandwich shop, he said yup, and kept walking   I did find a place, pricey but good.
I've been to CO 3 times, the "local" life I encountered were great, but then I only met folks doing what I was, climbing, hiking etc.

[EL34]

Most of my "snooty" info came from the internet.

The gist of most of it was if you were not in the active groups, like mountain bikers, you may get some attitude

I am a mountain biker, so I would be hanging with that type.
Just curious why people say these things on the web?

Must be something to it, maybe just a little bit?

[EL34]

I suppose I should say why I am interested in Durango.

I am entertaining the thought of living some place else for the rest of my life.
Just a thought for now, not really anything more than that at this point.


I have lived in the great white north, Michigan
I have lived in the tropics of southern Florida
Currently I live in pretty much a natural paradise here in the mountains of western North Carolina
It would be hard to leave this place, but it could happen

But... I have never lived out west
So my criteria for any place I would go goes something like this


Excellent internet service :)
I have to put this right at the top
For my business and streaming entertainment since I cut the cable/cord and dumped all TV services a while back. (Direc TV)

Edit: But I see now companies like this offering high speed service over 4G cell networks
So a cable company or DSL may no longer be the only option
Just a cell tower nearby with a decent signal
https://unlimitedville.com/plans


A small chunk of space around me so neighbors are not right on top of me.
Nothing huge, but I don't want to live in a the city with close neighbors
5 acres would be great, but less would be ok

An existing small house would be ok, but............
Better yet, some land where I can plop down a small house without too many zoning hassles
The older I get the smaller the house I want
But I have to have a big ass shop 


Mountains and a large trail system for hiking and Biking
This really should be at the top of the list
I would not go anywhere that did not have a nice trail system close by


A place where clean drinking water is not an issue or outrageously expensive
Currently I have a 725 foot deep well with awesome water


Must have the stores I use most without having to drive 50 miles
Walmart or Super Walmart, Lowes or Home depot, Tractor supply
I see durango has all 3 of these and a super walmart has groceries :)
Big plus for Durango there


Not extreme amounts of snow, but some snow is ok
I am not a skier or snow boarder, so I don't care about those sports
So southern CO seems to be ok for that criteria?


A place with lots of sunshine and Colorado has that


A place not too hot and has trees
I like to visit deserts but don't want to live in the desert


I don't care about schools or any of the stuff that concerns family with children type people
No children here, just two dogs


I'll think of more and tack it onto this post

[shooter]

we traveled similar journeys
You have landed in one of the better parts of USA I've explored!
I've been scoping out NW GA, E KY, N NM.  The thing I've found about "locals", once you have an "in", you're just one of the "guys", maybe with the exception of eastern mountain KY, there, after 20yrs, I'm still a Yankee, possibly a revenuer , but have been excepted well in the local climbing community, have been to a couple mash making sites and visited a nice garden in the park

You will have NO problem fitting in anywhere rural, urban might be trickier 

[EL34]

we traveled similar journeys
You have landed in one of the better parts of USA I've explored!
I've been scoping out NW GA, E KY, N NM.  The thing I've found about "locals", once you have an "in", you're just one of the "guys", maybe with the exception of eastern mountain KY, there, after 20yrs, I'm still a Yankee, possibly a revenuer , but have been excepted well in the local climbing community, have been to a couple mash making sites and visited a nice garden in the park

You will have NO problem fitting in anywhere rural, urban might be trickier 

I am not a city type guy.
I keep to myself most of the time except when riding mountain bikes with bike buddies
I prefer to stay away from humans most of the time :)
Nothing but trouble comes from them :)

[shooter]

I prefer to stay away from humans most of the time :)

I'd say we're kindred souls then
my last trip to NM was just for that reason, I was burning out at work, out-sourcing was inevitable so I spent a month with population maps, google earth, etc, and found a place 70ish miles south of Albuquerque  NM, National forest, 1 gas station, 1 restaurant, walmart 60 miles away.  I got breakfast, 1 person there, struck up a conversation, after 15 minutes he said; "for an outsider, I think we can get along fine, in 2 days we could probably solve most of the worlds problems", he handed me his card, He was the district Judge for a 50mi radius, told me to call anytime for any reason, I smiled and said, um, cell phones don't work here, he just smiled and said, knock on any bodies door and tell them you wanna call me, that is a place I could call home

[pompeiisneaks]

The internet thing is a must for me too, You may want to think about somewhere in the PNW too, I've lived in Utah, right next to colorado, and it's pretty amazing area, outdoors especially, but summers can be brutally hot and winters brutally cold.  The thing I like about the PNW is near the coast it's a bit more moderate, yes there is occasional snow in the winter but rare, and occasional heat waves in the 90's in summer but for a week or less most years.  Internet speeds are decent with comcast, which I hate, but the overall climate rocks and there are tons of great outdoors areas very near to here.  About an hour outside Seattle (and probably similar to the Portland area) there are very small towns with semi reasonably priced homes that should still have decent internet. 

I'd shy away from the 4G networks.  They're not as good as you think and can be VERY location specific.  In my case it was absolutely abyssmal in my house, but great one block away lol.

~Phil

[EL34]

I prefer to stay away from humans most of the time :)

I'd say we're kindred souls then
my last trip to NM was just for that reason, I was burning out at work, out-sourcing was inevitable so I spent a month with population maps, google earth, etc, and found a place 70ish miles south of Albuquerque  NM, National forest, 1 gas station, 1 restaurant, walmart 60 miles away.  I got breakfast, 1 person there, struck up a conversation, after 15 minutes he said; "for an outsider, I think we can get along fine, in 2 days we could probably solve most of the worlds problems", he handed me his card, He was the district Judge for a 50mi radius, told me to call anytime for any reason, I smiled and said, um, cell phones don't work here, he just smiled and said, knock on any bodies door and tell them you wanna call me, that is a place I could call home

Too far off the grid for me :)

[EL34]

The internet thing is a must for me too, You may want to think about somewhere in the PNW too, I've lived in Utah, right next to colorado, and it's pretty amazing area, outdoors especially, but summers can be brutally hot and winters brutally cold.  The thing I like about the PNW is near the coast it's a bit more moderate, yes there is occasional snow in the winter but rare, and occasional heat waves in the 90's in summer but for a week or less most years.  Internet speeds are decent with comcast, which I hate, but the overall climate rocks and there are tons of great outdoors areas very near to here.  About an hour outside Seattle (and probably similar to the Portland area) there are very small towns with semi reasonably priced homes that should still have decent internet. 
I'd shy away from the 4G networks.  They're not as good as you think and can be VERY location specific.  In my case it was absolutely abyssmal in my house, but great one block away lol.
~Phil

PNW is too far west for me
Looking at Colorado because it is also a Mountain Bike mecca
i live in the Eastern Mountain bike mecca currently, Pisgah Forest, NC

[pompeiisneaks]

The internet thing is a must for me too, You may want to think about somewhere in the PNW too, I've lived in Utah, right next to colorado, and it's pretty amazing area, outdoors especially, but summers can be brutally hot and winters brutally cold.  The thing I like about the PNW is near the coast it's a bit more moderate, yes there is occasional snow in the winter but rare, and occasional heat waves in the 90's in summer but for a week or less most years.  Internet speeds are decent with comcast, which I hate, but the overall climate rocks and there are tons of great outdoors areas very near to here.  About an hour outside Seattle (and probably similar to the Portland area) there are very small towns with semi reasonably priced homes that should still have decent internet. 
I'd shy away from the 4G networks.  They're not as good as you think and can be VERY location specific.  In my case it was absolutely abyssmal in my house, but great one block away lol.
~Phil

PNW is too far west for me
Looking at Colorado because it is also a Mountain Bike mecca
i live in the Eastern Mountain bike mecca currently, Pisgah Forest, NC

Gotcha, makes sense, it's also really close to southern Utah which has amazing slick sandstone type mountain biking you'd probably love.

~Phil

[EL34]

Doug,
I work in Durango and live in the next town over if youre ever looking for a connection in the area. Been here 20 years now.
Mike

Thanks Mike
Any info you can share here is appreciated
The server was goofy because we ran out of disk space but we should be good to go for now

[Apexelectric]

I’m originally from Northern New Jersey in a fairly densely populated area. The move to Durango was a culture shock for sure but a welcome one. I used to be in the bicycle business so the cycling scene out here was a great thing to take advantage of. Couldn’t make a living at it here though.  If you’re an outdoors person, this part of the country can’t be beat for what it has to offer coupled with the 300+ days of sun. The dry climate is much nicer too since the winters don’t feel as cold and the summers don’t feel as hot compared to the east coast.

The biggest issue is the cost of living which can be a tough one. There are some areas within 25-50 miles of Durango that get a lot more affordable but if you need to be right in town, it’s pretty pricey.

You can easily get to Utah and all the great slickrock there as well as New Mexico desert country. The mountain biking out here is pretty stellar and there are tons of trail systems. Climbing, backpacking, camping, hunting, fishing, etc... all are tough to beat. It would take a lifetime to see the beauty that is within 2-3 hours of Durango.

There are about 12000 people in the town of Durango and about 45,000 in the entire county.
I live in Bayfield which is the next town over heading east and have a 30 minute commute to durango. I live on 6.5 acres and can’t see or hear my nearest neighbor which is nice. I do however have to drive 15 minutes to the nearest store and 30 minutes to any real shopping but I’m good with that.

[EL34]

I’m originally from Northern New Jersey in a fairly densely populated area. The move to Durango was a culture shock for sure but a welcome one. I used to be in the bicycle business so the cycling scene out here was a great thing to take advantage of. Couldn’t make a living at it here though.  If you’re an outdoors person, this part of the country can’t be beat for what it has to offer coupled with the 300+ days of sun. The dry climate is much nicer too since the winters don’t feel as cold and the summers don’t feel as hot compared to the east coast.

The biggest issue is the cost of living which can be a tough one. There are some areas within 25-50 miles of Durango that get a lot more affordable but if you need to be right in town, it’s pretty pricey.

You can easily get to Utah and all the great slickrock there as well as New Mexico desert country. The mountain biking out here is pretty stellar and there are tons of trail systems. Climbing, backpacking, camping, hunting, fishing, etc... all are tough to beat. It would take a lifetime to see the beauty that is within 2-3 hours of Durango.

There are about 12000 people in the town of Durango and about 45,000 in the entire county.
I live in Bayfield which is the next town over heading east and have a 30 minute commute to durango. I live on 6.5 acres and can’t see or hear my nearest neighbor which is nice. I do however have to drive 15 minutes to the nearest store and 30 minutes to any real shopping but I’m good with that.

Excellent info and thanks
What's your internet service like in Bayfield?
Cable, DSL, upload and download speeds?

Just curious about the local internet
This site is what I use
http://www.speedtest.net/

Unfortunately I have outrageously fast speeds here in the sticks of western, NC
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7053472958

But I don't need anywhere near 200+ mbs download speeds shown in my last speedtest above

[Apexelectric]

I’m in the boonies so my internet service is pretty bad but you can get much better service closer to town. In town Durango at my office the speeds are tons faster than at my house.  DSL and Broadband are available in town but out in the more rural areas it’s Satellite or smaller providers providing line of sight dish service, which is what I have.

[Ritchie200]

Yeah, I live out in the boonies as well and have HughesNet.  That is the ONLY thing available for me.  Disappointing for years, the new Gen5 has been seamless - knock on wood.  They don't guarantee any speeds but say it's designed for 25 download.  It's routinely around 100 and I can stream anything on TV while 3 people are trying to find the end of the internet elsewhere in the house.  This would have been an impossible dream just a few years ago.  Not sure if it would be hot enough for gaming, but I don't do that?

Everyone I talk to in the phone biz says we will have to wait for 5G for decent phone internet but it is coming!

Jim

[shooter]

I live out in the boonies as well

yup, my home was the 1st to get a phone in '39, indoor toilet in '54, 2018 using a wifi hotspot with a cell booster, and I get 2 bars , on the plus side.........

[EL34]

I just got a weboost 4G-X amplifier today

It took -100 db a cell signal at my house and boosted it +50 db
Kind of pricey at $479.00 but it went from spotty signal to perfectly good cell signal

https://www.weboost.com/products/drive-4gx

I got the automotive one so I can use it in the vehicles or take it into my office
At one point today I got a good roaming signal at around -93 db
I clicked on the amp and it went to -45 db in a couple minutes

So then I clicked my phone into data mode and set it up as a wifi hot spot for my tablet
I did a speed test and the tablet was getting 30mps download speeds from the phone hot spot wifi

Not bad at all

[Apexelectric]

Thought about switching to Hughesnet recently. Seems like it should be a bit faster then my current service but they charge quite a bit more. I don’t stream much of anything these days, probably because it’s too frustrating but the thought of paying almost 100.00 a month for internet service is keeping me at bay. Besides I’d never get my 14 year old off his computer if the internet service was too good.

[Ritchie200]

Thought about switching to Hughesnet recently. Seems like it should be a bit faster then my current service but they charge quite a bit more. I don’t stream much of anything these days, probably because it’s too frustrating but the thought of paying almost 100.00 a month for internet service is keeping me at bay. Besides I’d never get my 14 year old off his computer if the internet service was too good.

Haha!  Yeah, I get that!  I need it for my biz so I gotta pay = write off!  Something else the new Gen5 features is the receiver has built in wifi.  Super fast with no lags and is compatible with everything.  Strong enough to reach my horse barn about 100yrds from my house.  Lots of great shows to stream on Amazon Prime, etc.  We have stripped out our DirectTV account to bare minimum just to get local channels and the free stuff.

Jim

[smackoj]

Hi Doug; I live in Den metro CO and have been scouting southern CO land for almost 2 yrs. This is the land listing site I like to use. You can search by town, city or county. I usually use the county listings then add in the filters to make it just the stuff I can afford.   Good luck.

https://landandfarm.com/

[EL34]

Hi Doug; I live in Den metro CO and have been scouting southern CO land for almost 2 yrs. This is the land listing site I like to use. You can search by town, city or county. I usually use the county listings then add in the filters to make it just the stuff I can afford.   Good luck.

https://landandfarm.com/

Thanks, I'll check it out

[EL34]

Thought about switching to Hughesnet recently. Seems like it should be a bit faster then my current service but they charge quite a bit more. I don’t stream much of anything these days, probably because it’s too frustrating but the thought of paying almost 100.00 a month for internet service is keeping me at bay. Besides I’d never get my 14 year old off his computer if the internet service was too good.

What is your up and down speeds?
Test them here and they give you a link so we can see it
http://www.speedtest.net/


Also, what is your water supply?
Well?
Are their any water restrictions?
Water issues, etc?

[mresistor]

Why not check out Fruita CO - pretty much a biking mecca now..  We have tons of riding here and they are even tring to get the Palisade plunge off the Grand Mesa done. The Grand Valley has all the amenities and Charter cable internet.   Although this is not land in forest  forests are not far away.  I was also looking at that tethering to a phone scheme.. sounds doable.

Off topic a little .. Doug have you checked out RIP3D on youtube?   His biking videos from all over the world are outstanding.. 

[EL34]

Yep, Fuita is known as a great bike spot
I have watched some of the videos on youtube of the trails there
It looks to be more desert like over that way?

Not sure about that area
Have to visit it and check it out


Friends of mine that have done quite a bit of travel to CO say they did not really like the Grand Junction area as well as other parts of CO
They are not mountain bikers

But, the real estate prices seem to be much better of that way according to Zillow

[shooter]

in the mid-west it's not much of an issue, but other places, a big deal, if you're buying, even just land, make sure you ask about water an mineral rights, and make that a contingency of sale.  I insisted at my place, got them, now a frickin fracking company is pissed I won't let them test.  I told them they could IF they guaranteed me clean daily tested well water for life, AND 50% royalty's.  They quit calling

[EL34]

in the mid-west it's not much of an issue, but other places, a big deal, if you're buying, even just land, make sure you ask about water an mineral rights, and make that a contingency of sale.  I insisted at my place, got them, now a frickin fracking company is pissed I won't let them test.  I told them they could IF they guaranteed me clean daily tested well water for life, AND 50% royalty's.  They quit calling

I am surrounded by water here and just take it for granted
200+ waterfalls in this county and a zillion streams
But I understand that out west, water is a big deal

[shooter]

a zillion streams

, yup, I've panned a few, even found some color, still looking for the allusive nugget

[EL34]

There is actually a small gold mine close to my property
About a stone throw away into a hillside, but on personal property

[pompeiisneaks]

in the mid-west it's not much of an issue, but other places, a big deal, if you're buying, even just land, make sure you ask about water an mineral rights, and make that a contingency of sale.  I insisted at my place, got them, now a frickin fracking company is pissed I won't let them test.  I told them they could IF they guaranteed me clean daily tested well water for life, AND 50% royalty's.  They quit calling

I am surrounded by water here and just take it for granted
200+ waterfalls in this county and a zillion streams
But I understand that out west, water is a big deal

In the southwest it absolutely is,  In Utah, Colo, NM, AZ, Cali,Nevada etc, they're all desert, and people forget that, water is life.  Up here in PNW it's very rainy/wet and we don't much have that problem. :D

~Phil

[EL34]

In the southwest it absolutely is,  In Utah, Colo, NM, AZ, Cali,Nevada etc, they're all desert, and people forget that, water is life.  Up here in PNW it's very rainy/wet and we don't much have that problem. :D

~Phil

I live in a temperate rain forest here in Pisgah
we get lots of rain, but it comes in big spurts, not every day like in some rain forest

[PRR]

You can have ample rain and still have bad water.

Maine has much more rain than people. But if you are not on a city water system (a LOT of people), you drink from a well. Mine has lots of iron and manganese (brown), and possibly arsenic and radon. It also is not terribly deep, though I don't worry about ground contamination.

If you buy a well, get the water tested, and get all the minor tests too. OR commit to buying your drinking water (as we do, just to be sure). An old well usually fails an e.coli test, and regular chlorine shock may keep it fresh; but make the seller shock the well and YOU supervise the sampling and testing. (I have wondered if our seller just filled the sample with Perrier.)

[shooter]

(I have wondered if our seller just filled the sample with Perrier.)

when my boss, the owner, bought the beer,bait,&gas, he put in a new well, county wanted 12 consecutive tests, 0 fail, shock, shock, new well, shock, shock, finally he got pissed, used triple filterd distilled water, county failed, said Ecoli, His lawyer called the county, haven't been tested in a year

[Apexelectric]

Speeds vary drastically depending on your provider. You probably want to make sure you put that at the top of your priority list when looking for a location. Not too tough to find high speed service in half the county. Mine is so slow this time of the evening that I didn’t even want to wait for the speed test app to download.

The water situation is the same thing. Some areas are well. Some are metro districts with central systems and city water. I have a well and have good water with no issues over the last 20 years. Areas with wells can vary from water that is gushing from artesian wells to not hitting a drop after drilling 700 ft. It is a dry climate so water is always an issue and water rights are a huge deal but not to the point of serious lifestyle restrictions. Most wells are limited to household use but lots of people have gardens and lawns that they water without issue. Farming is a whole different deal though. That requires ditch rights to larger quantities of irrigation water.

Plenty of rivers, reservoirs and smaller mountain lakes but not a huge boating scene due to the smaller size of the bodies of water. If you’re an ocean lover, then this is not the place for you. There is limited greenery in the summer, most of what grows and blooms is a result of melting mountain snows and runoff. Lush it is not but it is still breathtakingly beautiful. More so than I had a chance to experience in the Adirondacks while back east.

[Ritchie200]

I am licensed to do well testing in our state.  That part of the training session with the soil scientist (don't call it dirt, he will throw you out of the room - and I'm not kidding) took an entire day.  A lot of these county clowns doing the testing don't have a clue as to how to pull a good sample.

Jim

[PRR]

> ....new well, county wanted 12 consecutive tests....

You should have the option to be tested by a private (recognized) water lab.

Especially if you think the county lab is pooping in your samples.

It IS possible the well is clean but the pipes have germs. My house was a maze of re-re-re-done plumbing. When I disconnected dead ends, mud ran out. Even running shock-water at every faucet would not get all of that out. If you tap at the wellhead, even a little bee-poop will show e.coli(*). And "minor mistakes" like wiping the rim of the jar before putting the lid on. Especially after toilet. (But 12 times?)

(*)e.coli is a large class of poop-germs; most e.coli does not make people sick but any e.coli shows something is pooping in your water. Bears, bees, cows, the neighbor's septic. While some e.coli is serious, the Real Fear is that if poop-germ e.coli gets in the well there may be much more serious germs. Typhus, Cholera, and dysentery, mostly poop-born diseases, have killed millions of people. John Snow demonstrated that human sewage contamination was the most probable disease vector in two major epidemics in London in 1854, leading to our culture's massive fear of open sewage.

I actually "know" our "pass" test came from around here, not Perrier. The profile of Iron and Manganese is very similar to the previous "fail" test. Distilled would show zero for all minerals. Mineral Spring water would show different minerals (and certainly not brown iron).

It is possible to de-germ water samples. My (private) lab won't test if it smells like Clorox. Shocked water would need days in a germ-free space for that smell to dissipate. Very heavy Oxygen might kill e.coli without smell. Of course mucking with the sample risks adding more germs than you kill.

[shooter]

My house was a maze

Yup, water was #1 rebuild here, the 1.5" blackpipe drains had a hole in the center about a pencil diameter   the only pipe standing was the well inlet, I double screen filtered b4 the pump, surprisingly the only thing my tester gigged me on was silt.  my 4 acres is "unique", the 250' shale layer buckles up here, brings my water table between 22' to 50', then the 250' begins, I believe the glacier was pretty big here