Nederland Info - aka To Neder or Not to Neder (Denver: houses, construction)

[Back To Nature]

Hello to all who live or have lived in Nederland!!
My wife and I are moving to Boulder County within the year and are considering Nederland as a serious option. We love the outdoors, hiking, fishing, actually breathing non-toxic air! We love the mountains but have never lived in a mountain setting for more than a week at a time...a few things we are curious about:
1) Any effects living at elevation has on you physically
2) Snow and Wind
3) Travel and commute to Boulder...good weather and bad.
4) Fire threats
5) The town and it's people
Of course any information at all that you are willing to share will be greatly appreciated...Thank You!!!

[yourbbynicciaprilia]

Originally Posted by Back To Nature

Hello to all who live or have lived in Nederland!!
My wife and I are moving to Boulder County within the year and are considering Nederland as a serious option. We love the outdoors, hiking, fishing, actually breathing non-toxic air! We love the mountains but have never lived in a mountain setting for more than a week at a time...a few things we are curious about:
1) Any effects living at elevation has on you physically
2) Snow and Wind
3) Travel and commute to Boulder...good weather and bad.
4) Fire threats
5) The town and it's people
Of course any information at all that you are willing to share will be greatly appreciated...Thank You!!!

My husband and me have two homes in the rockies and we're born up in the clouds at altitudes of 9500 and 11,5 in Colorado we'd recommend taking it slowly because alot of the flatlanders move up and leave because its too much for them. It can take up to a year for some to move up just a thousand feet and sometimes longer. It depends on the person. And for fires, we already went through one fire (the high meadows fire) which was hell and sixty of our neighbors lost their homes. We're about an hour from Nederland and I think, I'll have to ask my usband but Nederland is about 8300 feet up? But we're about an hour from Nederland from one home of ours, but those of us from the mountains are nicer than most you'll know but make sure you have a 4WD otherwise forget in the winter! Hope this helps?

[Jahfre]

I've lived at 9200ft in Gilpin County for 7 years. It took about 6 months to adjust. Mainly dry sinus and shortness of breath.

Nederland is a Boulder bedroom community so if you don't mind in-your-face liberalism everywhere you go in town, you'll fit right in. Most people in Ned commute to Boulder so you just get in line. :-) Lots of turn-over in mountain homes as people realize it takes a comittment maybe they didn't bargain for to live so far from convenience, and hospitality, and reason.

Maybe the enormous new brew pub can be the anchor business that revitalizes the town. Its too far to Boulder to get a good microbrew and too dangerous to drive home. I wonder who the genius was who decided what a down on it's luck town needed was another, bigger place to get bad food and expensive beer? If they serve pizza and hot dogs they will compete with two of the best establishments in town.

The local coffee shop can only serve about 8 drinks per hour so if there are more than two people in front of you you're better off driving to Boulder for a latte'.

The local ski area has a couple great runs but the rest of the mountain is crawling with kids who have been raised to believe that they should never be disciplined for fear of damaging their ego. If they were my kids I'd send them off to be reckless with their friends all day too.

Personally I think people should live as close to work as possible so I don't ever encourage people to move to the mountains and commute to the flatland. I can't imagine why anyone would choose to move to Ned these days. Long-time residents are great, they know the secret of mountain living is to LIVE THERE. Not just sleep there.

The worst is when people with kids move to the mountains but constantly run the kids up and down the canyon to participate in this activity and that gathering. Those families have a 2-3 year expetancy in the mountians.

No wait, that's not the worst. The WORST is when people commute Boulder Canyon on bicycle. They are the most self-centered creeps in the mountains. They put in jeopardy the safety of every single motorist who encounters them on that narrow windy road for the 20 minutes it takes them to coast down. Either these bike riders are the dumbest people alive or they have not seen who drives that canyon. Yikes. I don't feel safe in my SUV when I see what passes for driving on that road.

So, Ned has all the downside of living in Boulder County and none of the upside as I can see it. High housing costs and taxes, low wages, poor entertainment or dining options, a mecca for people who think they can live there by not doing anything. Two dogs for every person and leash laws that are for "other" people. Did I mention the wind? Nine months out of the year Ned is scoured by wind driven grit, gravel, sleet, snow, rain, and hail. I've never seen a windier place.

I used to do all my business in Ned but over the years I've come to hate the place so that I now head to Golden for everything. The Ace Hardware is cool and Jenn at The Whistler Cafe is a hoot in a young female kind of Don Rickles sort of way.

But hey, maybe you'll like it.
-Jahfre

[starling]

FINALLY somebody "mentions" the WIND...THE sun may be out 256 days out of the year, however so is the WIND. Realize this people when you decide to relocate to Colorado. The wind wears you out awful fast, especially when your body hasn't acclimated to the elevation yet.

[Jahfre]

Before I moved here I don't think the sentence "The wind will wear you out." would have made sense to me. Now I understand completely.
-Jahfre

[ymscott]

While I haven't lived in Ned, I used to live in one of the other foothill communities in Boulder county.

1) Any effects living at elevation has on you physically
Drink lots of water. And if you commute up and down out of the foothills, watch out for fun with sinuses.

2) Snow and Wind
There's more of both. Especially the snow in the spring (and it's wet, sloppy snow). Try to get a house with a south facing driveway... and really solid construction. Nothing worse than trying to sleep with the house rocking. I didn't really understand house with bedrooms in the basement when I was looking for a house, but did after the first windstorm.
IMHO Boulder County does an excellent job clearing the county roads in the winter in the foothills.

3) Travel and commute to Boulder...good weather and bad.
RTD does go up to Ned. Otherwise I agree with the other posts. Boulder canyon has a lot of traffic, and shaded areas in the winter that get icy, there are a lot of bad accidents. 4x4 is definately nice, but you can get by most of the winter on studded tires and/or chains if it's a decent winter car.
In addition to stupid drivers, stupid bicycles, stupid motorcycles, be prepared for deer.
But it's a pretty 20 minute drive if you get lucky and don't have much traffic.

4) Fire threats
Yes. Get a house without trees near by and keep a buffer zone. If you are the sort of person who worries about thing like this, be prepared to be on edge during the summer.

5) The town and it's people
It's more hippy, mountainy extension of Boulder. If you want more hippy, go to Ward. Less? Go to Sugarloaf.

There are a number of foothill "communities". If you're going to be working and doing stuff down in boulder, you might want to live closer in. The closer you get, though, the more expensive the houses tend to be.

[jimmyz48]

Looking to move to area just south of Nederland (80403 zip). Mainly mountain type homes off of 73. This area is in the foothills at the corners of Boulder/Jeff/Gilpin counties. Does anyone know what the weather is like in winter / summer? Also how do the Jeff county schools compare to Boulder County (Nederland City).

[dtmoss14]

Is it a nice place? How far is it to commute to Denver from there?

Thanks!

[Katarina Witt]

Nederland has a reputation as a sort of "hippie" town, though the people I know from there do not seem like hippies. It is not an upscale place like Evergreen. It is about a 1/2 hr drive to Boulder from Nederland, so add another 45 min to an hour to Denver. Obviously, it depends on where in Denver you are going.

[dtmoss14]

Which has a more mountain feel? (I have heard that west Evergreen is nice)