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There are a few pretty easy ways to tell the difference between a big dog's tracks and a mountain lion's - one, if you see claw marks, it is a canine, not a feline - because felines keep their claws retracted when walking around. Second, if you see a letter u or v but not a letter m (or w) at the end of the track away from the toes, then it is canine, not feline. Also, cat tracks have a leading toe, while most dog tracks don't.
See: Canine vs. Feline Tracks - How to tell the difference between them.
Here's the most dangerous wild animal I've encountered in Colorado Springs. Yes, that is a bull moose, and yes, it is on my patio. (I took the photo through the patio door.... wasn't about to go out there to meet him up close and personal....)
There are a few pretty easy ways to tell the difference between a big dog's tracks and a mountain lion's - one, if you see claw marks, it is a canine, not a feline - because felines keep their claws retracted when walking around. Second, if you see a letter u or v but not a letter m (or w) at the end of the track away from the toes, then it is canine, not feline. Also, cat tracks have a leading toe, while most dog tracks don't.
See: Canine vs. Feline Tracks - How to tell the difference between them.
Ah, well in that case, I think it was a mountain lion track.
We just moved here last year from Maryland (Charles County) and we couldn't be happier. I don't miss the heat, humidity, bugs, Lyme disease, poison ivy. We have kids, so schools were a big factor for us, so we're a little different in our outlook than you.
With respect to snow... In Maryland, we'd get a foot or two of snow, but not very often. Here, you will get a small amount of snow on a much more regular basis. I admit, I watched in jealousy as all of my friends back east got dumped on, and we got just an inch here or there.
If you want snow and land, Black Forest area is a good bet.
My husband and I are researching a move to Colorado Springs from Maryland within the next year. Of course, the main deciding factor will be work. We wouldn't move until he had a position lined up. He works in computers, has experience in multiple facets, so his search will be generalized, from software development to engineering to utilities (such as natural gas). I'm a paralegal and would be looking to work for the legal department of a large corporation (Boeing, etc.) so I imagine my job search would be a bit more difficult and limited, but I could work for a smaller firm until something better became available.
We have no children, and that won't change. We will be renting an apartment until we are ready to buy. We have two cats. We've looked at a few apartment complexes online, can anyone recommend a complex or an area of the city we should limit our search to? A two bedroom with a balcony, maybe in the quieter outskirts of town would be great, if possible. I'd rather be nearer the mountains and outdoor recreation. We'd like to keep it under $1,200.00/month. Our current rent for a small house in Maryland, a 1 hour commute from Baltimore, where we work, is $1,650.00.
When we are ready to buy, where would we have to look if we wanted a small house on 1+ acres, but within 30 minutes of downtown COS? Should we be looking at other towns in the surrounding area or are there such sized lots in COS itself? Our budget would be $350,000. Doable?
Stupid newbie questions:
#1 Mountain Lions: I love to trail run, hike, mountain bike and XC ski. I almost always do these things solo, or will be accompanied by my eventual new dog (once we buy a home), on leash. Human threat exists everywhere, that is why I have a Utah carry permit which is honored by CO (but not MD!). But, what about mountain lions? Is it absolutely fool-hardy to be alone in the mountains? Or is it more or less like swimming in the ocean where there MIGHT be sharks?
#2 Weather: I was a bit sad to read on one of the forums that Colorado Springs gets less snow than Denver. Is that true? I love snow. I don't mind shoveling it, driving in it, or playing in it, as I love snow sports. How much do you guys get? Does it really evaporate/ melt in a day? Do you have four seasons or is it winter and summer? Do the leaves change colors? I think that's what I'd miss the most. Do you get crisp, fall days? Or hell, is every day crisp, since the humidity is so low? Those kind of days are my favorite.
#3 Tourists: I was watching a YouTube video on COS and it of course showed Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods, but geez were they crowded!! Is it always like that? I guess if there's a trolley car (PP) and paved walkways (GOG) then it's going to draw tourists. Is there a plethora of other areas that are less popular where one can enjoy outdoor activities and not have to fight the crowds? How far are these areas? I'd like to be able to go on a trail run, definitely on the weekends, but it's also be great if they're close enough where I could go early before work or after, in the afternoon. For that to happen, access would have to be pretty quick and convenient.
Considering the above, do you think Colorado Springs is our best choice? Is Boulder beyond our budget, I don't think we'd be able to touch any 1+ acre properties there. And living on the outskirts of Denver would just be repeating our 1 hour commute into Baltimore every day, which we're trying to escape! Fort Collins?
Thank you.
Apartment: Check into camelback pointe. If you search craigslist for them, they usually have specials.
House with 1+ acre w/in 30 minutes of downtown. Check into the outer areas around security/widefield, as prices are a little lower there and the major roads are very fast. Also check into Falcon, CO. Technically its own city, but housing is cheap and you can ride highway 24 into the heart of the city in 23 to 24 minutes.
Big lots like that exist near woodmen in Colorado Springs, but I think they go for over half a million because there are so few of them and they are so close. In most parts of the city 350k can buy you a very very nice house.
1. IMO it depends how deep you venture into the mountains. A gun doesn't protect against mountain lions. If a mountain lion wants to kill you, you won't know, you'll just stop living. If your dog is an excellent guard dog, it might give you enough warning to turn back or get your gun out.
2. Snow levels are lower than in Denver, but we aren't what I would consider starved for snow. I'm quite fond of the amount we get. I think if we got as much as Denver, I would still say that. Living along the front range is the life for me. Yes, it really does often melt in a day, or at least it melts off the roads. Shaded areas will stick around. If there is a cold snap, it might last a week. We get a great deal of our snow in March and April though, and that rarely lasts more than a day. Sometimes it snows over night and then is 55 to 60 during the day. In the midwest, snow sometimes won't have a single melt between late October and late May in a bad year. As in, you could go out after the first big snowfall and put an ice cube with red food coloring in the snow. You could wait 4 months and then dig up the ice cube. No change, because it never melted. You wouldn't have a chance at doing that here. Not even in our coldest winter.
It is definitely four seasons, though Fall and Spring are a little shorter than in many areas. On the plus side, winter and summer are both much nicer. Most fall days will crisp, precisely, and I absolutely love it. There will also be the occasional heat wave where it s 80 in fall, or a cold snap where it is 30. Most of the days, in our relatively short fall, will be perfectly crisp though.
You can live close enough to GotG to get in there regularly and quickly. We have roads, enough for the people here, which is rare in cities these days. If use them, you'll find you can get into the areas you want to go. Coming from baltimore, this will blow your mind. I have not found GotG to be crowded when we went. The parking lot, sure, but as you get away from the parking lot it becomes far less crowded. You can usually see 3 to 5 other people.
Boulder is out of your price range for what you desire. You might be able to find it in Fort Collins, but there will be fewer jobs. The access to nature is still spectacular though. If he finds a job in Fort Collins, you'd probably want to take it. While I'm a huge advocate of the Springs, Fort Collins is its own beautiful city and worthy of great recognition. Yes, being on the outside of Denver and commuting in could be bad. That's a real challenge with looking for an acre+ if you're near a major city. However, Denver traffic is vastly lighter than Baltimore. The east coast was developed when the rich had wagons, but if you weren't rich, you were lucky to need enough space for a horse. The roads are just vastly insufficient. Given your desire for land, and the trends in gasoline prices and damages to the atmosphere, I would recommend only Colorado Springs and Fort Collins as ideal cities for your criteria.
PS. Fort Collins gets as much snow as Denver and has more lakes and reservoirs around the city.
1. IMO it depends how deep you venture into the mountains. A gun doesn't protect against mountain lions. If a mountain lion wants to kill you, you won't know, you'll just stop living. If your dog is an excellent guard dog, it might give you enough warning to turn back or get your gun out.
Dog being a useful first line of defense against wild animals? Yes. Gun not being useful? I disagree.
It is true, apparently, that mountain lions stalk and pounce suddenly, usually from behind or above (or both), as most cats do. So, yes, it seems that your reaction time is highly compressed. But, when you read the survivors' stories, almost all of them fought back with what they had, mostly rocks, sticks and logs (and in one case in CA, a pen!). I am pretty certain a .357 mag or a .44 mag would have been at least as useful as, and probably much more effective than, rocks in fending off mountain lions.
Now, bears... I do have experience with bears in the Pacific Northwest. But I always carried a long gun in serious bear country.
I do have experience with bears in the Pacific Northwest. But I always carried a long gun in serious bear country.
Why, when people speak of bear encounters, is a gun usually the first thing they mention? There are about 300 other things you can and should do before it ever gets to the point where you'd maybe have to shoot a bear dead to save your life. ...Assuming you even had the skills and composure to do it at that point.
Why, when people speak of bear encounters, is a gun usually the first thing they mention? There are about 300 other things you can and should do before it ever gets to the point where you'd maybe have to shoot a bear dead to save your life. ...Assuming you even had the skills and composure to do it at that point.
The first thing to mention and first thing to use are two completely different things. *I* am talking about guns as last resort, you know, as "last ditch insurance" as I put it before.
To clarify, I am saying is 1) I disagree with the notion that a handgun is not useful for defending against mountain lions, judging from the survivors' stories of using rocks and sticks and 2) with bears, handguns can be much less effective (they have thick skulls, heavy muscles and thick bodies) and may require long guns in the unlikely event that you are in a life-or-death situation where mauling is about to begin.
Also worth mentioning that our bears aren't grizzlies, although there has been some debate that there might be a griz or 2 lurking in the untrammelled depths of some serious private acreage in the mountains someplace (probably somewhere you'll never go) there have been no recognized and confirmed sightings, spoor, or kills documented by the state's Wildlife officials in a long time.
Your typical Colorado bear is a black bear, although it might be brown/cinnamon in color. Smaller and usually less belligerent. And both these bears and mountain lions would usually rather retreat than put up a fight if they feel threatened, and if retreat is possible for them. Things to avoid being seen as prey are obvious, do anything to avoid an appearance of vulnerability. Hiking or whatever with a friend or a small group is safer than going alone. Going out with a big dog is safer than promenading up the trail with a chihuahua. Children can be vulnerable, especially if they wander ahead or dawdle behind. Those kinds of signals attract the attention of a predator, particularly something like a mountain lion. If it's onto prey, you can bet that you'll never see it coming.
As for guns...any wild animal that has learned anything about fearing humankind, will flee the sound of a gunshot, I bet. And as a last ditch effort to save yourself, I'd definitely rather have a firearm than a pen.
My issue with the whole "throw things at it" advice you get...don't you think that some folks would interpret that to mean, crouch down and pick up rocks and such to throw? And would you not also think that doing such a move would invite a pounce like right then and there, if you were having a standoff of some kind with such a creature? It is however generally agreed that the very worst thing you can do, is try to run away...
It is true, apparently, that mountain lions stalk and pounce suddenly, usually from behind or above (or both), as most cats do. So, yes, it seems that your reaction time is highly compressed. But, when you read the survivors' stories, almost all of them fought back with what they had, mostly rocks, sticks and logs (and in one case in CA, a pen!). I am pretty certain a .357 mag or a .44 mag would have been at least as useful as, and probably much more effective than, rocks in fending off mountain lions.
Now, bears... I do have experience with bears in the Pacific Northwest. But I always carried a long gun in serious bear country.
I love it. This is an intelligent, reasoned, and sourced response. Okay good Sir or Madam, I concede that occasionally a gun would be a valid form of defense, because sometimes the victim has a moment to react. With a dog to alert you (by smelling the cat), and your alertness peaked, you would have an increased chance of survival by having a gun ready, assuming of course that you know how to aim and fire in a split second.
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