Where to look around/outside Denver? (Lakewood, Arvada: loans, living in, to move)

[dandman629]

I will be in Denver for a day next month, looking for an area to live in. I am hoping to move west of the city and I am prepared to make a 30-45 min commute to work in the city. I am an outdoors person so I am looking for a town easily accesible to the moutntains. Any suggestions on where to start?

[oberon]

Golden, Morrison, or Evergreen might be the best bet for you. I am not sure what the commute is like from these places, however.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by oberon

Golden, Morrison, or Evergreen might be the best bet for you. I am not sure what the commute is like from these places, however.

Maybe 45 min to downtown from Evergreen in good weather. Maybe more. Def. more in bad weather.

[2bindenver]

What about living in Lakewood/Sloans Lake/Edgewater/Arvada - easy access to downtown & the mountains?

[oberon]

Yeah, there are a lot of places. Just pull out a map centered roughly on Golden or a few miles east.

Be warned that just because you're closer to the mountains, does not mean it will always be easy getting up there. I-70 sucks big time during rush hours, and especially during snowstorms. You will easily spend the majority of your time on that road, where you live in the metro area makes little difference in this respect.

[livecontent]

You can get to the mountains by avoiding I-70. For example, if you look at a map around Golden, you can get on 58 and go to 6. This is somewhat good road and you can get to Genesee Park, Blackhawk and Central City.
You can go up Golden Canyon Road, just off 93, to Golden Canyon State Park. There is also White Ranch Open Space off of 93 (not full mountains, but foothills) for hiking. Going North you can go up 72, Coal Creek Canyon and get to Peak to Peak Highway.

Further North, Eldorado Canyon is very easy, has a interesting community, Eldorado Springs, and a great park, Eldorado Canyon State Park. This is a good canyon for the newcomers because it is a short ride from Denver and Boulder. No, climbing up steep grades, and you can watch mountain climbers practicing their skills.

Out of Boulder there is Boulder Canyon to Nederland--nice scenic easy drive.

What I am saying, there are other ways besides I-70. These ways were the accesses to the mountains before the highway was built. Yes, the roads are not a easy to go up in winter and certainly are slower. But if you are not in a hurry--then you can see better some of the small towns and communities, that are real Colorado.

There are many other canyon roads, from Denver. You can become familiar with them slowly but learn about them before you go---maps are deceiving. Do not make the mistake I made when I came here:

I wanted to go to Lookout Mountain, Buffalo Bill's Grave. I looked at the map and I saw Lookout Mountain Road from Golden that went to Lariat Loop Road. It sounded interesting and it must be the way to go. Well, Lariat Loop Road has that name for a reason--it scared me so much that I ...in my pants.. ....When I got to the top of Lookout Mountain, I saw all these cars in the parking lot of the museum and then I learned there was another way to go,very easy, by I-70.