Just a small town boy (aka moving to Denver?)

I'm thinking of moving to the Denver area for work and need a bit of input on what it's like to live there.

Right now I live in Grand Junction, CO and love it. Before that I lived in Duluth, MN and loved that. Both of these areas are lower population (150k) and had close access to the outdoors (less than an hour to hiking, climbing, and backpacking).

I have a few questions for those in the know:

1. What's the drive time to climbing and the outdoors? I know there is a lot of outdoor opportunities but I've also heard that it can take 3 hours to reach due to traffic, is this so?

2. I know that housing costs in the Denver area crazy, roughly twice what I'm used to. Currently a 1 bedroom apartment in GJ goes for $800 a month. Is it that impossible to find affordable housing in the area? Basically am I going to have to live in a van down by the river?

3. What surrounding towns / suburbs do people recommend I try to live in? On the reverse side any areas to stay the hell away from?

Feel free to give me your opinion on the Denver area any any of my asinine questions. Thank you so much for helping a no0b out about big city livin'.

Take care.

I went the opposite way - Front Range to Junction.

Your questions require some clarification. What do you want from the outdoors? How crowded will you tolerate? What kind of apartment will you tolerate? Where do you plan on working and what kind of commute can you deal with?

You can definitely get an 800 dollar a month apartment but 1000-1200 is more likely. You can get good hiking and climbing within 1-3 hours of Denver but it will be more crowded than GJ, much. Skiing became too much of a pain in the ass for me to keep doing but that's me. Where to avoid? Depends on what you mean. Denver doesn't have much in the way of crime but you might find some neighborhoods noisier/dirtier than others.

Chad. 3 hours is nonsense! You can get to Clear Creek Canyon in 30-45 min depending on where you live at in Denver. You can get some good hiking/trail running/mtn biking in about 20 (Green Mtn). Also, 45min will get you to Boulder Canyon and Eldo. Longs Peak trailhead is 90 min from downtown (w/o traffic).

You can def pull off 800 a month for a studio or 1 bed/1bath. That being said you might have to live meagerly. The avg rent in the denver area right now is 1350. There is a huge boom in real estate here. New apt buildings going up downtown and elsewhere. This is the #2 fastest growing city in the US right now behind Austin. Rentjungle.com is a good source for rental properties across the area. As far as neighborhoods are concerned, IMO Five Points isn't worth it.

You should be getting a lot of feedback from other folks soon. There are a lot of people in the Denver area that frequent MP.

Good luck in finding a place!

I'm also from smaller towns (and prefer them), but I think Denver is great. It's got loads of climbing within an hour and a better vibe, in my opinion, than Boulder. This time of year, it's easy to get out after work. That being said, the moderate crags/walls on the Front Range will be busy on the weekends, especially if you arrive between 10-noon. Not many people appear to be early risers, so I'd either get up earlier, find more obscure crags, or climb harder!

For other activities, such as backpacking and skiing, the drive can be long. I'm also in agreement that the ski traffic is not worth it, unless you can avoid weekends.

Denver isn't cheap, but it has many amenities, including an amazing beer scene! I've only lived In the Highlands area, which I love, but it can be pricy. Cheaper alternatives closer to the mountains include Lakewood, Arvada, and Wheatridge. Arvada has Yak and Yeti, an amazing Indian buffet/brewery. So there's that.

All in all, great climbing, cool town, but can be crowded at times. Just be proactive and you'll be fine.

Honestly why are you moving if you love it in GJ? Take this with a grain of salt since I do love living in CO, BUT they front range is exploding with population, rent is flipping out of control, traffic sucks, the crags and gyms are sh*tshows. Oh and getting down I-70 to ski or camp during the summer? Expect to spend most of the day in the car.

I'm finishing up a degree at CU which is one of the major reasons I still live in Boulder. Sure there are lots of good things here beer, sports, snow, climbing, chicks and all the other fun stuff that a metro area has to offer. The population explosion is a real bummer though, but since you won't have a benchmark to compare to you might not mind.

If you stay out on the WS you will be way ahead of those like me that are going to get pushed out of the FR.

Between Scott and Evan, you can see that Denver's current condition can be polarizing. I've lived Capitol Hill for 25 years, and I absolutely love it. However, Denver is only great if you want the things a city can provide: Great restaurants, breweries, fine arts and culture. In my case, I love movies. there are 3 Landmark Cinemas and the Sie Film Center. Denver has a lot of really interesting things going on. It's not New York or L.A., but it's pretty amazing for a midsize city far from the coasts. The price of all that civilization is congestion, high rent and crowds at everything fun.

Chad Miller wrote: 1. What's the drive time to climbing and the outdoors? I know there is a lot of outdoor opportunities but I've also heard that it can take 3 hours to reach due to traffic, is this so? 2. I know that housing costs in the Denver area crazy, roughly twice what I'm used to. Currently a 1 bedroom apartment in GJ goes for $800 a month. Is it that impossible to find affordable housing in the area? Basically am I going to have to live in a van down by the river? 3. What surrounding towns / suburbs do people recommend I try to live in? On the reverse side any areas to stay the hell away from?

1) ~20-40 min. It can be 3 hours, yeah... or it can be 20 if you drive to Yosemite. Depends where you are going.
2) Yep. And it depends where you want to rent at. A few miles matters.
3) That depends on where (precisely) your employment is. Don't make yourself drive all day. But by way of example, Wheatridge rent is ~1/2 of Highlands rent and they are ~ 2 miles apart...