Walsenburg area? (Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo: home, purchase, living in)

[Lemur]

Hi all! My hubby and I, our roommate and my mother-in-law are planning on moving to CO, hopefully in about a year or so.

Right now we're in Orlando FL, and the hurricanes, city life, and lack of a garden are getting to us. Originally I'm from NY (both the city and upstate) he's from CA, but grew up in FL with a couple years in NJ. I vacationed in the Denver area when I was 7 (sometime around the age of dinosaurs), and fell in love with the state.

We originally thought about the Pubelo area because being near a small city isn't too bad - so long as it's not a huge mess like Orlando, but we're now thinking of Walsenburg, because from the pics we've seen we like the land better - somewhat forested and not so flat.

Because his mom has a heart condition, we're looking for lower elevations. Mom's in her 80s, so near a hospital is good. We understand there's one in town, and that the Pueblo one is only about 45 minutes away.

We both work on the internet from home, so jobs aren't a problem. Land prices for acreage in some of the state are crazy though, but Walsenburg/Pueblo seem affordable. So long as we can get cable or sattelite internet, we're good.

Our plan is a small family farm - big enough to support most of our food needs, not planning on selling produce. We're thinking a few goats, 2 yaks (for milk/cheese) a couple horses when we can afford, and a handful of chickens, plus a good-sized garden. We also intend to take in large-breed rescue dogs, so we want a good amount of land for them to enjoy.

Being from NY I (believe it or not) miss winter and deciduous trees. But the climate also looks not-quite-as challenging for people transitioning from the grueling summer heat and mild winters of FL.

So what do you think? Is Walsenburg the right place for us?

[Pathwalker]

Hmmmm.....being as I'm not from Colorado, I can't really advise you on what areas would be best for you. I HAVE been in Walsenburg before - although it was very briefly when I pulled off the interstate to have dinner. It seemed like a nice place, but I honestly can't judge based on a brief dinner break while traveling. But I've been researching the state a lot lately for a potential move, and it seems to me that there are some nice places throughout the state.

I guess it depends on what kind of weather you want. Obviously the Denver metroplex is going to get snow in the winter, and I presume cold too. Not sure about Colorado Springs, but I know CS is a beautiful area, and I really have my heart set on it. (Just wish it was a bit cheaper, but I may have to swallow that pill.) Have you looked at Trinidad? It's only about 35-40 miles south of Walsenburg, and seems to be a bit bigger. Looks very pretty to me. I also think Grand Junction, in the northwest part of the state, is pretty cool looking. It's not such a big city, either.

Hope you have great luck with your research and ultimate move.

[Pathwalker]

Oh hey....another place you might want to consider is Canon City. I've heard it is conducive to farming.

[jazzlover]

There have been several posts on Walsenburg. I won't repeat. If you want ot "farm", I urge you to read my posts on Colorado water sprinkled throughout this forum. If you don't understand Colorado water law, you need to be up to speed before you purchase acreage.

[Katiana]

I agree with jazzlover. I am not overly familiar with Walsenburg, but I have been there a few times. My original thought was, "what about the water required to do this?" Also, I don't know if you can get satellite internet there. I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't. In regards to the mother's heart condition, I would imagine the altitude in Walsenburg is still around 4000-4500 ft, which could impact her situation. Pueblo's altitude is about 4700 feet according to wunderground.com. My suggestion would be to come out and take a look before doing this.

[Lemur]

According to her Dr. Pueblo or Walsenburg's elevation should be okay. We really don't want to go too much higher than that.

I tried looking into Rye and Colorado City LOL they don't even seem to have websites, and I can't find out what the elevation is there. Grand Junction is way out of our price range. Canon City and Trinidad are probably pushing it as far as their altitude goes, and Trinidad looks like it's a gazillion miles from anywhere.

I'll definitely look into the water situation carefully before I buy. Been reading some of the posts on it, and sounds like things are insane regarding that. We do plan on a very water conservative home - recycled greywater, etc, as well as solar and wind power.

Are you really not allowed to catch the rain in CO? That's crazy!

We'll definitely be taking a good look around the state before we make any final decisions.

[Pathwalker]

Lemur, a really good way of finding out the elevation of a city is to download Google Earth. After it's installed, you can zoom in on various areas and once you have the cursor above the area you're interested in, you can look at the bottom of the window and see the elevation. Google Earth is totally free, so I'm sure it would be a really useful tool for you. You can also "tilt" the view window in order to see what the surrounding terrain actually looks like. I've found it quite handy in helping me to narrow down where I would like to live.

Looking at Canon City, you're right - it does seem to be a bit higher in elevation than what you are looking for. I wish you luck in your search!

[LRUA]

Walsenburg and Trinidad are similiar... both on I-25 in southern part of the state just east of the Sangre de Cristo Mts...I prefer Trinidad's setting just north of Raton Pass and the Johnson Mesa looming over the town....both enjoy a mild (for Colorado) climate... here's a comparison ....

WALSENBURG elevation 6150'

Mo. JA FE MR AP MA JU JL AU SE OC NO DE

Hi's 48 51 57 64 72 82 86 84 78 69 55 48
Lo's 21 23 28 34 42 51 57 56 48 37 28 22


TRINIDAD elevation 6030'

Mo. JA FE MR AP MA JU JL AU SE OC NO DE

Hi's 50 53 61 67 75 85 88 85 80 71 57 50
Lo's 19 22 29 35 44 53 57 56 49 38 27 20

[BillRadio]

Lemur,
When I first moved here, I thought Walsenburg was a good focal point, too. It was a big shock! But do a search on Walsenburg in this group and get an idea of pluses & minuses. I won't go into specifics, but it is too poor of a town to be fun.

Among the choices you mentioned, look closer to Pueblo. It will never be another Orlando, but because of it lower altitude, location on the Arkansas River, lower housing costs and warm weather, I predict it will be a growing, not booming, town. They have all the stores, restaurants and services you'd want.

Living in Walsenburg is not 'close' to a Pueblo hospital, especially in the winter. Your ambulance services are run by volunteers, and your trip goes through one of the snowiest regions in the state, Rye. Murphy's law says that you will have a problem on the day with the worst weather of the year.

There's isn't enough mention of the peril that many of us don't realize until we have an accident in a rural area, only to find a total lack of the kind of emergency services we've come to expect in urban areas. I was once rescued from a mountaintop by an all-volunteer fire department, who brought me down in the bed of a pickup truck for one of the most grueling rides of my life. You can bet i later contributed to their fund for a 4-wheel drive ambulance.

[randalmartin]

First of all the post about "Also, I don't know if you can get satellite internet there." is ridiculous. Please, as long as you have a view of the southern sky your fine. I am quite familiar with Walsenberg and would definitely NOT recommend it. It is a dead town with nothing going on. We had a home in South Fork, CO and used to go through Walsenberg all the time. If you really want to do some farming and are looking for a lower elevation area you may want to look on the western slope in the Montrose/Delta/Hotchkiss triangle. My brother has lived in the area for years. No danger of urban sprawl in this area. Many fruit orchards in the Hotchkiss/Paonia area.