Disgusted in Colorado...tell me about Montana, WY,

and South Dakota.

Anybody live in these regions??

Tell me about overall costs of living, recreation, housing, jobs, etc.

Lived in Colorado all my life, except for 5yrs of living in the desert; after traveling over 900 miles this last weekend, I've discovered (though I've known for a while), Colorado just isn't what it used to be.

Cost of living is getting higher all the time; campgrounds are a joke - overcrowded with weeds and people, not maintained at all; lakes are few and far between, have known that for years, but Colorado refuses to store water, and build more damns/lakes, so waterskiing has become almost non-existent. Lakes you can get your boat on, are so overcrowded, or they've limited your camping to more then 1/8-1/4 mile away from the water line, which absolutely requires you to take your boat out nightly....A real chore for a 4,000 boat if you only want to take one vehicle, which requires you to put down the camper (pop-up), and relevel it when you return an hour later.

Aside from this, our I-70 corridor and other major highways are just so overly crowded with traffic jambs, that you spend more time in dead-locks trying to go somewhere for a weekend, that it's just insane; not too mention a nightmare for daily commutes as well.

Colorado was never meant/designed to be more then a one-horse town; it's a beautiful state/region that our own people of the state have just ruined the true beauty of. Rest areas are even disgraceful.

I visited several camping sights/explorations along the Yampa River/Steamboat/Rifle/Bond and McCoy where all areas we toured this last weekend; I'm absolutely in love with the Steamboat lake region; but the numerous stops along routes 131 & 40 in particular just had me being disgusted with our own state. Weeds of all kinds are way out of control; the amount of trees infested with the beetle bug are sickening; some rest areas, and even lakes, don't allow your dogs on-site - and for what reason?? We as people have done FAR more damage then any dog could ever hope too, AND what harm does it cause...g_d forbid if the dog carts it's leg on a weed

Excuse the rant - I'm just horrified and deeply saddened from once having been a child spending just about every weekend spring-fall in our Colorado's mountains, fishing, 4-wheeling in the back of my parents Chevy, camping, you name it, we did it. But we ALWAYS cleaned up after ourselves; I'm appalled at all the trash, tire treads, etc spread throughout our region.

It's just disgraceful! And I hope DEARLY that our state starts doing something about these beetle bugs, or we're not going to have ANY trees left in 5-10yrs....IT'S BAD!!

I will upload some pictures tonight of horrible, horrible infested areas.

Came back from South Dakota and Alaska this summer; I'm disgusted in our state in comparisons to these two states who beautifully maintain recreational facilities/sites, rest areas are CLEAN, weed free. The lakes are actually pleasant and not over-taken by weeds/debris; and, they actually allow DOGS, go figure....:lol:

Sorry to hear about the state of things in Colorado. I don't do very much camping, but we had two great experiences in the National Forest in New Hampshire and Georgia this summer, including our trip to the Chattahoochie National Forest this Labor Day weekend. We loaded up the Jeep Friday and drove to Dawsonville, GA. The worst part of the experience was the 12 hours it took us to get there (arrived at 4 am!) due to rubbernecking at accidents, rain, and 2 lane I-75 north of Tampa (why is I-75 3 lanes in less populated GA???). The drive was worse than the yellow jacket stings we took 2 miles into our 20 mile hike on Sunday!

We did not camp in the National Forest in GA, though. We found a private campground on the Etowah River which was cheap and clean and close to Amicalola State Park and the Appalachian Trail. The state park tent sites were reserved for the weekend. The campsites on the trail have no potable water. I wasn't certain I could get a spot in the National Forest as it is first come/first served. All areas were clean and well maintained. Here are a couple of pictures...

View from the hike to the top of Amicalola Falls on a hazy day:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v380/surferfletch/Springer%20Mountain/hazyview.jpg
Our campsite:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v380/surferfletch/Springer%20Mountain/Springer031.jpg
Gentle tubing down the Etowah River (the water was much warmer than in NH!):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v380/surferfletch/Springer%20Mountain/tubing1.jpg

Ooops Surf; your pics didn't post.

I got a phone call before I could get them up. Then I ran outside to air out camping equipment before the sun set. We had such a great time just about an hour to an hour and a half north of Atlanta. It's a bummer that we have to drive that far from SW FL to get to any mountains, but it was worth it!

WOW - now that's nice!

I've always loved the south - Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama are some of my favorites. I've only been through the tiny corner of Georgia - but, I'm tellin' ya, I don't know exactly when, but we're seriously thinking about closin shop on Colorado. Never thought I'd say that, but it's getting to where there's not much fun here anymore - for one, we're real big on water, lakes or rivers, of which there are a ton of rivers, but it's like you can't camp along side them anymore, it's all privately owned land now, and the ones that are of public use, the camp sites are so very tiny and close and full before one can even get there.

Beautiful scenery! Do you have more pics??

Georgia definitely does not have the pine beetle bug disease.

I thought you might mention the trees again! There are some problems with tree disease here. None of the peaks in the foothills of the Appalachians get above treeline, so it was a little anticlimatic to reach the peak of Springer Mountain. My camera battery died after I took the last photo at the summitt. There are lots of trails to run in the Amicalola State Park region. Let me see if I have a couple more pics, though...

Here we go:
Another shot on the way to the upper falls:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v380/surferfletch/Springer%20Mountain/Springer049.jpg
No disease, but an odd trunk. Many fallen logs due to Hurricane Opal in 1995.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v380/surferfletch/Springer%20Mountain/Springer044.jpg
Many ORV trails around.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v380/surferfletch/Springer%20Mountain/Springer046.jpg
At the start of our 20 mile hike. Beware the yellow jackets that nest in the clay at the base of trees. We were swarmed a little after this picture was taken and I was stung 6 times. The kids each got a sting, too. My son also stepped right over a copperhead at the edge of the trail. The kids let me lead after that!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v380/surferfletch/Springer%20Mountain/Springer043.jpg
Other sites at the campground. The river was off to the right and RVs were parked up the hill to the left.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v380/surferfletch/Springer%20Mountain/Springer009.jpg

I'm watching Wyatt Earp on TV and Doc Holiday just said, "Have you ever been to Georgia Wyatt Earp? Georgia is a beautiful state." It is true.

Now see Copperheads are DEFINITELY something I can do without!!!

Beautiful pics!

How old's your son and daughter??

Here's some pics of badly infested trees in front of Dillon Reservoir, an otherwise VERY beautiful lake.

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa264/Feverramblin/RifleGapFalls_Steamboat_McCoy_Bo-1.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa264/Feverramblin/RifleGapFalls_Steamboat_McCoy_Bond8.jpg

Everything in the far off distance that's brown are dead/dying trees; this is the White River National Forest, a glorified site to see at one time forest range.

and South Dakota.

Anybody live in these regions??

Tell me about overall costs of living, recreation, housing, jobs, etc.




I like this thread, sorry I don't have time to contribute more.

http://www.spokaneedc.org/community-overview--the-spokane-area-at-a-glance.php

This is a great area to live and is sure to grow in the future.

Boating is never a problem here:

"Spokane is surrounded by 76 lakes, four major rivers,
five major ski areas and 32 golf courses - all within a
50-mile radius".

The commute isn't bad:

"Average commute time is 21 minutes".

Montana is nice as long as you don't mind extreme cold and limited employment.

The cost of living is still reasonable right now, but is sure to rise in the future as the dollar continues to take a crap....

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc150/watchdog7/DaleandBarkley2005.jpg

Dale

Spectacular landscape photos despite the trees! The kids are 12, 13, and 14, and they are great camping companions!