Living out of your car in CO?

How friendly is living in your car in Colorado? What are the laws and are they strictly enforced? Do you get hassled by police a ton?

Thanks

Good question. Also, which ski areas can you sleep in the parking lot (Loveland, Winter Park, Monarch)?

CO's a big place - it'd help to be more specific. Front Range? or the rest of the state? Can't speak for the Front, but the rest of the state has National Forest access almost everywhere. Many FS Roads have dispersed camping along them. Obviously, in the winter in the mtns, this becomes less practical. If you're on the Western Slope, the same applies, but there is a fair amount of BLM land that permits dispersed camping. And the weather's a little better than in the mtns. Urban areas? Best to have a friend with a driveway. Or go to dark residential neighborhoods.

Ski Areas: A-Basin - check

I think you can still park in a Walmart Parking lot overnight. There are campgrounds like KOA that allow for camping which also have showers and toilets. I know camp grounds like this exist in Summit, Grand and Route counties close to ski areas. Really depends where you are, if your out on a Forest Service Road, you probably aren't going to get hasseled. If your in a city park, your gonna get the homeless treatment.

How do you stay warm? Watch out for carbon monoxide.

It works if you move around a bit. Go the route of Couchsurfing.org for a warm bed and company. And obviously practice LNT wherever you go - an added bonus is when the cops do hassle you, you can show them how clean you are, that you have a trash system & you recycle, and you have all your docs in order (license, car registration, etc.).

Thanks. To be more exact I was thinking the boulder area? I'm living out of my car now in 20-40 degree weather. I have a comfy setup and stay toasty minus my nose.

I recently moved into an apartment after living out of my car for two and a half weeks while I looked for work. It is certainly doable, although I did not have to deal with cold weather or snow! When I was around the major towns I couch surfed, but up in Estes, dispersed camping in the National Forest is really close and convenient. I looked into dispersed camping around Boulder, but the National Forest is pretty far away which made it inconvenient when I wanted to be in town applying for jobs. I cannot recommend couch surfing enough. I even met a few new climbing partners through it.

In Boulder, I met a few guys who lived down by the river and they said that they get a lot of crap from the police. They also said that the cops are pretty strict and the tickets are expensive. They seemed to make it work, however. I decided to not risk the ticket because I was uber broke. If you have the cash, it might be worth taking the gamble.

Let me know if you want more details about where to camp if you will be up in Estes.

Good luck!