Denver vs Portland vs Seattle for mountainous vibe and outdoor access ?
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oh I know that. ive visited the city once. its furter from the mountains than people think , its on the prairie.
I meant the rockies in general are more accessible.
hike, camp , take my beater dodge truck off roading , I might even take up fishing. some days I like to just go for a stroll after a hard day at work and meditate in a nice spot just to relax and relieve some stress.
just stuff like that. not really into the whole skiing or snowboarding thing.
From this paragraph, either Denver or Portland would be better. Seattle's got a lot of people boxed into this weird strip. So to take drive an hour, get in the woods without people all around you, and hang out, you'd be a lot better off in the cities more geographically open and smaller in size. It's very easy to drive an 45-90 minutes out of Denver and get on a trail by yourself, get to an OHV / jeeping area, or go camping. I can't imagine this is true to the same extent for Seattle.
With Oregon, the the mountains and places to visit are much more the coastal range and the cascade foothills rather than hanging out on one of the Cascade volcanoes. They are pretty similar to say Rampart Range if you went there while in COS in topography, but the trees are just huge, they're much more lush, falls are prettier, and the valleys have rivers instead of dry or small creeks.
Denver doesn't really have a "mountainous vibe" at all and access to the outdoors is only relatively easy if you're in the western suburbs (especially due to traffic). It's actually quite different than the Springs, much of which is itself in the foothills.
Denver has better weather, though.
It depends. Downtown has a lot of carless millenials and the eastern side can be more generic suburbia, but there's still a lot of hardcore outdoor people, especially in the western burbs.
COS is more outdoorsy in culture than Denver and is closer to the foothills, but Denver has a better shot right into the spine of the Rockies without having to drive through the big flat South Park. Pikes Peak is kind of a gated off mountain in many ways, Clear Creek county has easier public land access with big mountains.
From what I can gather from Oregon, east of the cascades, there's OHV trails galore and tons of public land for camping / fishing, but west of the Cascades, not so much, although there's still options.
From this paragraph, either Denver or Portland would be better. Seattle's got a lot of people boxed into this weird strip. So to take drive an hour, get in the woods without people all around you, and hang out, you'd be a lot better off in the cities more geographically open and smaller in size. It's very easy to drive an 45-90 minutes out of Denver and get on a trail by yourself, get to an OHV / jeeping area, or go camping. I can't imagine this is true to the same extent for Seattle.
With Oregon, the the mountains and places to visit are much more the coastal range and the cascade foothills rather than hanging out on one of the Cascade volcanoes. They are pretty similar to say Rampart Range if you went there while in COS in topography, but the trees are just huge, they're much more lush, falls are prettier, and the valleys have rivers instead of dry or small creeks.
Does Oregon or Washington ever get a lot of snow ? I’m out of town at a job in Alaska right now because I love a cold and snowy winter.
Does Oregon or Washington ever get a lot of snow ? I’m out of town at a job in Alaska right now because I love a cold and snowy winter.
Yes there is a lot of snow every winter in the Cascades and Olympics. Mt Baker claims to have the most snowfall in a single year 1140 inches (unverified)
But WA and OR also have highly distinct geographical areas. So if the question was does it snow a lot in the lowlands of the Puget Sound, the answer would be quite different.
Does Oregon or Washington ever get a lot of snow ? I’m out of town at a job in Alaska right now because I love a cold and snowy winter.
It's totally elevation based. Mt. Ashland down by Medford is a ski area, but the valley you can see below doesn't even freeze often. But most of west Oregon is below 3000 ft, so it'll be much more long gentle rainy days. Same with Seattle, except there's more options to get higher up, albeit harder to get to as you have to drive a ways on more congested roads.
I would think CO would be better if you really like winter because it's easy to reliably get to snow and a subarctic climate, but it doesn't snow as often, so you'll get more clear sky days with snow on the ground, without getting pummeled by constant snowfall, as is what happens in the Cascades. Fall and spring are nicer in WA and OR though.
Does Oregon or Washington ever get a lot of snow ? I’m out of town at a job in Alaska right now because I love a cold and snowy winter.
As others have mentioned, Oregon and Washington get tons of snow...in the mountains. Most years. But the lowlands of Western Washington and Western Oregon average under 15 inches generally, and under 10 inches in the bigger population centers. That said, there are some extreme abnormalities at times, like Port Angeles last week had a massive record snowfall, completely out of the norm, but apparently the second year in a row for those folks.
Last edited by pnwguy2; 01-18-2020 at 08:20 PM..
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