Anyone from Coalmont area? (Center, Walden: low crime, coop, house)

[Dea13]

Hello,

we're looking at moving from SE WI and are interested in Saratoga, WY and Coalmont, CO areas. My health can't handle the humidity and air quality in SE WI anymore. It would be me (37), my husband (46) and daughter (7) making the move. I'm a software engineer and realize tech jobs aren't in abundance in that area but I shouldn't need to find a job (will hopefully be able to work from home doing my current job). Husband is blue collar worker (has done welding, forklift driving, pattern repair in wood shop) and I assume it wouldn't be too hard for him to find some employment. Would Coalmont area fit with following wish list?

- friendly, welcoming community
- low crime and not a lot of drug problems (generally increases crime)
- Good schools and access to healthcare (breast cancer survivor - cancer free now but taught me the importance of healthcare availability)
- Love snow but don’t like below 0 temps for too many days in a row (from WI so I have to like snow)
- Like some trees and not too fond of flat, plains areas
- like to grow a small vegetable garden
- Within 2 hrs of mountains
- Like sunshine, wouldn’t want too many cloudy days but don't want to worry about losing my house to wildfires all the time
- Husband’s an avid hunter and fisherman
- Activities for my daughter (4H, dance, girl scouts, etc)
- High-speed internet connection (needed for work)

We're willing to compromise on some things. We live in a rural area now and are not used to many neighbors. Don't want to live in the middle of a city. We have two dogs (brittanys) and my daughter would like a horse. I will need to learn ALOT about horses before buying a horse and being responsible for its health and well-being though.

We're going out July 28 for a week to look at the area. Any info before then would be appreciated.

Thanks much! Dea

[Dea13]

Anyone think of any areas near Coalmont that suit our needs? We're leaving Friday for a week to check out areas and I'm hoping to have a few places mapped out to focus our search.

Thanks much! Deanna

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

You probably haven't received any replies because no-one has heard of Coalmont. I've been in Colorado over 30 years, and had to Google it to find out where it is. Even after looking at the satillite map, I can't find anything there. How did you hear of it?

It looks like it is in North Park, just south of Walden. I think that area is cold and snowy, and is in the middle of no-where. I hope maybe some other people on this forum are more familiar with the area.

[Dea13]

We found it while doing property searches and selecting nearby areas. A few properties came up that had the right lot size and house sizes but I couldn't really find any information. All kinds of little places came up that sound good but without information it's hard to narrow it down to check them all out during the timeframe we'll be there.

Thanks. I guess I didn't realize it was THAT small. We're still waiting for topo map book we ordered to get a better idea of elevations. Hopefully it will be more detailed on sizes than the highway map we're using.

Deanna

[sndmn8119]

Coalmont is just more than a spot in the County Road. It used to be a small mining town but the mine moved away many years ago. Elevation is around 8100 feet and winters are long. February can be bitter cold, last winter was -42 for about 4 days straight. The past few winters were mostly mild with only about 3-5 feet of snow on the ground depending on the area of the valley you were in. The west side, west of Coalmont, it was more like 9 feet.
I have lived in the area for about 5 years coming from northern Michigan. Summers are great with temps into the 90's but nights are still down in the 40's. Growing season is about 95 days. It's all in the trade off for the clean air, small communities, and the people.
Mountains, ha were already here but then the wilderness is about half hour away or less. Many lakes, streams and rivers in the area are inviting for fishing as well as the hunting opportunities here. Snowmobiling is huge here as the snow is generally deep powder. Skiing is an hour in several directions with at least 4 major slopes within 1 to 1.5 hours away.
This is the Moose Capital of Colorado and wildlife is very abundant.
Hope this all helps.
Loving it in Colorado...........

[Terri722]

Originally Posted by Dreaming of Hawaii

You probably haven't received any replies because no-one has heard of Coalmont. I've been in Colorado over 30 years, and had to Google it to find out where it is. Even after looking at the satillite map, I can't find anything there. How did you hear of it?

It looks like it is in North Park, just south of Walden. I think that area is cold and snowy, and is in the middle of no-where. I hope maybe some other people on this forum are more familiar with the area.

Weatherbase.com lists Coalmont...for data...but not Coaldale...and
more people seem to recognize Coaldale...

[jazzlover]

Blink and you will miss Coalmont (there really is nothing there), as you will also miss Hebron right down the road. What Coaldale has to do with this (other than name similarity), I don't know. The two places are a couple of hundred miles apart. (By the way, the highway department calls the spot Coaldale, the railroad called it Pleasanton--just some more of the "native" trivia. I've been through both Coalmont and Coaldale at least a couple of hundred times apiece, too--so I do know where both are, and what's there--well, more accurately, what's not there.)

Saratoga, Wyoming would be the best choice, if one has his heart set on living somewhere in that are of North Park/North Platte River valley. Walden in Colorado is an OK spot, but very small--and shrinking pretty quickly. The winters there are pretty brutal--and other than some tourism and ranching, the economic base of the town (formerly logging and coal mining) is all but gone. Saratoga is having some of the same economic problems, but is a little bigger town. It may start to see some impact from coalbed methane gas drilling in Carbon County. Jobs are pretty scarce all over that area--especially in North Park, and--outside of the gas drilling industry that is mostly in Wyoming, the pay tends to be terrible. Understand, too, that for anything beyond basic needs and services, you will be looking at a drive of at least a hundred miles one way--not a good arrangement in the coming transportation cost crisis we are going to face in this country, in my opinion.

[Terri722]

[quote=jazzlover;5745810]Blink and you will miss Coalmont (there really is nothing there), as you will also miss Hebron right down the road. What Coaldale has to do with this (other than name similarity), I don't know. The two places are a couple of hundred miles apart.

DreaminofHawaii said that no one had heard of Coalmont...I thought it
odd that Weatherbase would point out it's local climate and such with
it being so small...but people seem to know Coaldale when I mention
it...but Weatherbase does not recognize it...

[jazzlover]

[quote=Terri722;5746614]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Blink and you will miss Coalmont (there really is nothing there), as you will also miss Hebron right down the road. What Coaldale has to do with this (other than name similarity), I don't know. The two places are a couple of hundred miles apart.

DreaminofHawaii said that no one had heard of Coalmont...I thought it
odd that Weatherbase would point out it's local climate and such with
it being so small...but people seem to know Coaldale when I mention
it...but Weatherbase does not recognize it...

Weatherbase gets most of its Colorado data from US Weather Service Cooperative Weather Stations. There were/are hundreds of these stations maintained across Colorado (and the whole US) by volunteer weather observers. Some didn't last long because the volunteer ceased keeping records, moved, etc. Weatherbase generally picks the stations with the longest and most reliable records to publish in its data. Many of those--for obvious reasons--were/are located in established towns, but some were/are located at farms, ranches, ranger stations, railroad stations, mines, etc. Oftentimes, too, the data will reflect the name of a nearby town, but the data recording station may be miles away (and sometimes in a different climate regime) from the town itself. The Western Regional Data Center maps give a good example of how many co-op stations there have been:

Western US COOP Station Map

Even the above map (when you query Colorado) only shows a fraction of the sites that have been used over the years.

More and more weather data recording today is done with automated weather stations. Many of these, like the "Sno-tel" stations used to measure snow depth and water content, are often located in remote areas away from population. "Remote sensing," from satellite, for example, is also now frequently used to extrapolate weather and climate data.

[Terri722]

[quote=jazzlover;5746898]

Originally Posted by Terri722

Weatherbase gets most of its Colorado data from US Weather Service Cooperative Weather Stations. There were/are hundreds of these stations maintained across Colorado (and the whole US) by volunteer weather observers. Some didn't last long because the volunteer ceased keeping records, moved, etc. Weatherbase generally picks the stations with the longest and most reliable records to publish in its data. Many of those--for obvious reasons--were/are located in established towns, but some were/are located at farms, ranches, ranger stations, railroad stations, mines, etc. Oftentimes, too, the data will reflect the name of a nearby town, but the data recording station may be miles away (and sometimes in a different climate regime) from the town itself. The Western Regional Data Center maps give a good example of how many co-op stations there have been:

Western US COOP Station Map

Even the above map (when you query Colorado) only shows a fraction of the sites that have been used over the years.

More and more weather data recording today is done with automated weather stations. Many of these, like the "Sno-tel" stations used to measure snow depth and water content, are often located in remote areas away from population. "Remote sensing," from satellite, for example, is also now frequently used to extrapolate weather and climate data.

Thanks...that map is an easier way for me to check the elevations
also...without have to flip back and forth... so thank you for the
information...