Durango/Silverton (Denver, Colorado Springs, Grand Junction: real estate, hotel, travel)

[cvanripe10]

Hey I am 24 years old and work as a carpenter/painter/general home imrpovement. I live in the tri-state NYC area.

i want to move somewhere with a lot of outdoor recreation and scenery and Durango seems to be on the top of the list.

But i see Durango is over 3 hours from Denver and only has a population of 15,000.

So my question - Is Durango a place where someone can move or is it a resort town?? Are all the residents there long term locals that wouldnt accept anyone new?

It looks like a great place to live, work, and play.

[budman]

I, too am looking into moving to durango or maybe aroura, from what I gather from the people here, it's a nice liberal college town. Hopefully someone can assist you more than I am able to. Good luck with the move, man.

[jazzlover]

Durango, though it has a somewhat diversified economy, is heavily dependent on tourism and second home construction. Durango is a lot more than 3 hours from Denver--more like 7-8 hours driving time, that in good road conditions. The two most common routes from Denver to Durango can both be treachorous in winter. For that reason, Durango is more in the economic sphere of Albuquerque, New Mexico, which is only about 3 1/2 hours away on a highway much less prone to winter problems.

To avoid repetition, you may read other posts that I have made about Durango. Many disagree with my views on the place, but I have been going there on business and pleasure for 40 years.

[HappyMontrose]

Look into Montrose.. it has been growing and a little closer to Denver..

Both are very beautiful towns and your job may be found here.

HM

[Idunn]

Well, for one thing Durango and Silverton are quite different. Durango more or less on the edge of the San Juan mountains and Silverton very much in the center of them. Durango also a much larger town. Different cultures as well.

You'd have to see, possibly liking Silverton the best. But in work and much else you'll probably find Durango the better option. Both it and Silverton have grown of late, particularly Durango, so you should enjoy a fair amount of work. More problematic may be the increasingly high costs in real estate. Fitting in probably not much of an issue as lots of other folks more or less in the same boat, not to mention the continual influx of the college.

To live, work and play, you may love it. Absolutely great in recreation and scenery.

As mentioned, in some respects you might as well be in a different state there. While the culture is similar to many other areas of Colorado, you are a long way from Denver. Durango IS the major town in the area, with a nod to Farmington, NM. So for anything more you probably will end up traveling to Albuquerque, NM.

If the inclination, certainly worth a first hand look.

[cvanripe10]

Is Durango over run with illegals?? California, Arizonia, and New Mexico are slowly being taken over by illegal immigrants. Is the same thing happening in Colorado?

[s002cjs]

Reviving this since I just joined, and did a search for Durango

Silverton is more of the 'resort town' that you describe, in my opinion. We spent the night for New Years up there last year, and found that most of the town was closed for the winter: one restaurant open, we never actually saw anyone running the hotel...just found the key in the room and checked out by calling them on the phone, and snowmobiles were the primary mode of transportation we saw.

One thing about Durango is to check real estate prices before making the plunge. Moving from New York, it might not be as big a shock as it is to some. And for a town of 15,000, it feels much larger, with just about everything you really could want or need, except perhaps a major mall.

There seems to be a pretty good influx of people moving and wanting to move here, so despite Old Tymer's cafe here having a logo of 'We cheat tourists and drunks', I haven't found the place intolerant in my first couple of years here.

[StuckInTexas]

You don't want to move to Silverton. Silverton isn't a real town at all, but Durango is. Durango is "barely" big enough but it is growing fast. A lot of people live right outside the Durango city limits, so the town, even though only 15,000 people, really looks more like a town of about 40,000. There is probably about 50,000 people living in the general area, and then you also have the tourists increasing the population.

The hospital was recently upgraded, which IMHO the biggest problem of towns under 100,000 people is inadequate hospitals. Although, they'd still fly you to ALBQ or some other larger town nearby for anything major.

Hey, I love Colorado, but I would never want to live in Silverton. The ski resort just outside of Silverton is ranked #1 for best powder in Colorado (subjective of course). Why, because it snows more than 33 feet per year and it doesn't have crowds, so the powder stays fresh. The reason it is a small ski resort without crowds is partly the isolation, but even more so the treachery of trying to get there in the winter. That is one of the scariest (although most scenic) drives in the entire US. I have been there twice, and have driven there. You are surrounded by mountain passes on both sides of the road that go over 10,000 feet, there is no way out when it snows, you are stuck a lot of the time. They have emergency transporation services in winter to get you out of town, but sometimes this involves helicopter Yes, they plow the roads, but it gets to the point where they can't always plow them right away. Sometimes the snow is just too deep or the wind is blowing, the plowing becomes pointless and you can be stuck more than a week.

I never understood why people moved up to those mountain places that are 9,000+ in elevation.

In my opinion, living anywhere in Colorado above 8,000 feet is asking for it. The weather at these elevations is more like parts of Alaska or Southern Canada. It snows constantly and wind chills can reach -40 or even -60. It is unbareable. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what elevation becomes bad, because it depends on what area you are in, but on average everything over 7,000 feet starts getting more and more miserable and way too much snow.

The nicest parts of Durango are on the north side just outside of town, where it is more forested and greener. The south side starts becoming a desert fast, although still not ugly by any stretch.

I think in 5 years Durango will probably be classified as about 20,000 or even 25,000 people. It is growing really fast and plus they are trying to expand the city limits to include some of the outlying areas.

Durango climate is still kind of harsh for some people, but it's not as bad as some parts of Colorado.

The other towns to look at are Grand Junction, Co which is about 50,000 people. Grand Junction is more in the desert but it also has much better weather than most of Colorado, yet still close enough to much of the great scenery.

You might also want to look at the outskirts of Colorado Springs, as this is more of a real town.

[jazzlover]

Durango is "barely" big enough but it is growing fast.

Durango is plenty big enough, and has sprawled enough that it has ruining some of the prettiest areas near it (like the Animas Valley north of town).

I never understood why people moved up to those mountain places that are 9,000+ in elevation.

In my opinion, living anywhere in Colorado above 8,000 feet is asking for it. The weather at these elevations is more like parts of Alaska or Southern Canada. It snows constantly and wind chills can reach -40 or even -60. It is unbareable. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what elevation becomes bad, because it depends on what area you are in, but on average everything over 7,000 feet starts getting more and more miserable and way too much snow.

In times past, people usually lived there because they had to--that is where their job was. Now, people do it because it's the "cool" thing to have a trophy house in such places. I liked it a helluva lot better when it was the old way. I also don't have a great deal of respect for part-time Colorado residents. If you're gonna live here--live here. Winter is part of the deal.

I think in 5 years Durango will probably be classified as about 20,000 or even 25,000 people. It is growing really fast and plus they are trying to expand the city limits to include some of the outlying areas.

You're probably right, and that's a tragedy. Paradise lost.