Snowmobiling in Colorado (Grand Junction, Montrose, Delta: environment, work, homes)

[Minx]

Everyone gave me some good advice on homes in Colorado in my last thread. Now I have another question. What location would be best to live in for snowmobiling. Is there anywhere you can live and just take off from your front door all through winter or do you need to trailer it somewhere to ride.

[Minx]

Doesn't anyone snowmobile ??????

[jazzlover]

OK, there are a lot of snowmobilers in Colorado. Personally, I think it is declining as a hobby in Colorado, primarily because of cost--the machines, fuel, all of it getting a lot more expensive. The snowmobilers I know are generally going less often and closer to home. Also, the state has had some dry winters in the last few years, and many local snowmobilers--spoiled by better conditions in years past--haven't found it as appealing.

If you want to "snowmobile out your back door," that usually means living in or near one of Colorado's hideously overpriced resort areas. I've beat that dead horse plenty, so I'll just leave it at that. Most people live down in the lower elevation areas and trailer their snowmobile to their favorite spot(s). There are too many good places to go to list. One with which I have a good deal of familiarity is Grand Mesa. It is the largest flat-topped mountain in the world (all at about 10,000 feet), has a good network of trails, and generally gets sufficient snow in most winters for good riding. It is close to a number of valley communities--Grand Junction, Delta, Montrose, etc. that themselves do have pretty mild climates. It is possible (if one is so inclined) to golf in the morning and snowmobile in the afternoon. Some friends of mine who lived around Delta and Montrose used to get together on every Wednesday night during winter when there was moonlight and night ride on Grand Mesa. They had a blast.

I will tell you that there is increasing oppposition all across the Rocky Mountain West to snowmobiling--much of it from the environmental groups, but also coming from sportsmen who are concerned about disturbances to big game habitat, migration routes, etc. As a result, there are getting to be more closures of public lands to snowmobiling as time goes on. I don't think that trend is going to change.

[snowman47]

Snowmobiling is actually off the hook on the western slope. While the resort towns are overpriced there are still some good secret spots that the locals hit up a lot. Check out empire, co , georgetown, co. Both areas have some awesome snowmobiling close by. If you want to hook up with some other colorado snowmobilers check out SledMods.com and New Colorado Sled City and dig into it some more.