To Rock Springs from NH (Cheyenne, Casper: house, buy, college)

[KristinNH]

Someone please tell me about Rock Springs. We may be moving there due to a job for my DH and I am having a major panic attack because it seems to be a high desert with little snow and little green and I don't know if I can bear that coming from 4-seasons, lush, green, all-forest, cold New Hampshire. We have to decide soon. It's a good job, but not sure my heart can do it. Thanks for any input. I would love words of comfort, but am more interested in the cold, ugly truth.

[jody_wy]

it is a cold ugly place tp most, others see beauty every where

[Happy in Wyoming]

There are five decent gun shows every year, and Sands, a Chinese restaurant, has great clam chowder and Egg Fu Young. The Blue Forest is only about eighty miles. The palms there are world-renowned for their blue color, often considered the most beautiful petrified wood anywhere. The Red Desert is fantastic.

[KristinNH]

Originally Posted by Happy in Wyoming

There are five decent gun shows every year, and Sands, a Chinese restaurant, has great clam chowder and Egg Fu Young. The Blue Forest is only about eighty miles. The palms there are world-renowned for their blue color, often considered the most beautiful petrified wood anywhere. The Red Desert is fantastic.

The gun shows could have an odd appeal ("Live free or die.") But not much else.

[sunsprit]

If a lush, green, forested, riparian climate is what you want ... instead of barren, windswept, brown most of the year area ... then RS isn't for you.

New Hampshire cold doesn't hold a candle to what presents in RS for many winters. Due to 6,388' elevation, RS winters are much longer than NH winters with persistently lower temperatures. The winds/gusts in the RS area frequently present velocities that you'd consider a major storm in ... if not a hurricane ... in New England. It's not uncommon for the main highway (I-80) to be closed to traffic in the winter months due to inclement conditions, which can range from black ice to zero visibility and a roadway that is hidden due to the drifting snow obscuring it. Note that the road can disappear in drifts for days after a snowstorm passage, it's due to the winds blowing the accumulated snow on the ground around.

Consider, too ... all of the aspects of your daily lives that are meaningful to you. Access to shopping, recreation, entertainment, medical services/specialists, restaurants, goods and services ... will take on an entirely different meaning here. It is not uncommon for WY folk to drive many hours/miles to reach a metropolitan area to access this stuff; ie, major shopping trips a few times per year to stock up the larder, get supplies, buy clothing and such ... is not unusual. Typically, RS area folk will travel to Salt Lake City for such trips.

Do keep in mind that RS has very limited public transportation access. The airport provides very limited service, for example.

There is a unique charm to the desert/cold and isolation combination that a town like Rock Springs presents. For some, it's acceptable and livable. For others, it may not be so. If you haven't visited this area of the USA previously, I would urge you to do so before making any decision about relocating in Rock Springs.

You may also find a lot of pictures of the area on-line. They do a reasonable job of showing the brown barrenness of the area. It's a lot of stark wide open spaces.

PS: if "fine dining" is something that you find enjoyable, know in advance that this is a hugely defective aspect of living in Wyoming ... especially hardscrabble towns like RS with a foundation in the extractive industries which leaves a lot to be desired. Few independent restaurants survive here with chef-quality food prep. You'll find the restaurant scene here dominated by fast food chains, chains such as Red Lobster/Olive Garden/Crapplebee's/Texas Roadhouse, or restaurants that specialize in plating up the stuff from food purveyors such as Sysco or similar outfits (to include the moo goo gai glop selection in the ubiquitous "chinese" restaurants and buffets around the state). If you enjoy micro-waved "heat and serve" entrees from a central commissary, then you'll be OK here ... but if you want "real food", you'll be traveling out of the area. The only way I can describe most of the dining experience here in Wyoming is that it will make you think fondly of the steam table back in your college days ... and oft times, that was better fare than what you'll get here (even in towns that rely upon tourism, the food hospitality biz is abysmal most of the time).

There are, of course, a few "gems" around the state ... few and far between. Check out the foodie websites for the reviews ... you'll see what I mean. In some towns, a franchise donut shop or fast food burger or franchise pizza restaurant may be one of the top rated locations, above some of the indie single point operations.

To put it in perspective, one of the top rated Wyoming restaurants ... The Morris House Bistro in Cheyenne (which had relatively limited serving hours to capitalize on the prime dining hours for it's clientele) ... recently closed after only a few year run. A few years ago, a spectacular NYC top level Northern Italian restaurant didn't survive in Jackson, and the owner relocated to Dubois. He didn't make it a year there, there just wasn't enough support for his menu in the area ... and he was reasonably priced for the quality/presentation and varied menu selection (along with a particularly nice wine selection to match).

You may also find the food selection and availability of many items somewhat limited for your own grocery shopping. The top tier of such shopping in RS is the WalMart superstore. For some, this would be a very limiting experience. If it meets your grocery shopping needs, then you're in good shape. If not, you'll be doing some traveling to find the items that you want.

[KristinNH]

Sunspirit -- thanks for the detailed response. I have to say, you confirm some of my biggest fears about the desolation of the place. We live in rural NH. The closest real mall is over an hour from here. The state is 95% forest and the population is just over 1 million in the whole state. Our winters are brutal -- frigid with heavy snow. (around 60 inches a year; "winter" is often effective Nov. - Apr. It is pitch black at 4:20pm in mid-Dec.) The highest wind gusts in the US was recorded in NH and we feel the effects across the state. Not many fancy restaurants or traffic around here.

I can live with harsh winters and wind. I don't think I can live with a bleak, treeless, brown landscape. I'm pretty sure that we are going to withdraw from the offer and see if other cities/towns are available in WY (Riverton, Sheridan, and Casper were also mentioned and SEEM better, but maybe they are the same.) Thanks again for your input. WY might be too much culture shock for this New England gal.

[sunsprit]

Kristin ...

IMO, you'll be a bit more "at home" in Sheridan of your Wyoming options, although many of the Wyoming attributes present here, too.

Lower elevation, a "nicer" town (compared to RS), greener with a lot more moisture than RS.

Closer to a major economic area than the distance RS to SLC.

just for reference ... the RS area winter can set in October and last through May. Altitude.

[NW Crow]

I don't know either well but I hear better reviews for Green River. 20 miles from RS isn't that far to commute.

[matt fe2o3]

Well not far from Rock Springs is Flaming Gorge and the Ashley NF. Lot of forest and green. To the North you have Gros Venture, Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. All within a hours of driving. So lots to do, however Rock Springs itself is as others have described.

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by matt fe2o3

Well not far from Rock Springs is Flaming Gorge and the Ashley NF. Lot of forest and green. To the North you have Gros Venture, Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. All within a hours of driving. So lots to do, however Rock Springs itself is as others have described.

Herein is the fundamental difference between Wyoming's high altitude desert at Rock Springs compared to living in a riparian climate such as the OP's location in NH.

Living in RS itself and the surrounding area is that barren wide open spaces of rocks and brown with little vegetation. Apart from the trees planted in town, there are very few naturally established stands of trees. There's no lushness to the yards, to the public spaces, or to the eye. Water is fairly scare and the ecosystem that it supports is minimal.

So RS residents have "access" to wooded areas ... some only an hour or so away, some several hours away, predominantly during the fair weather months of the year. For the most part, places such as Flaming Gorge shut down for the winter months to all but the hardiest adventurers; roads are closed, not maintained, and access is difficult to a barren locale.

Some folk will find a happy place escape in these circumstances ... indeed, I've landed at Manila or Dutch John in several winter trips Cheyenne-SLC to be the only person there to a tourist area/marina that was shut down for the winter. (literally ... landed at Manila due to deteriorating weather and was able to push my plane into an open empty hangar there to get it out of the storm and pitched my tent under that shelter, too ... to get out of the 60-70+ mph wind gusts. Didn't see anybody else until I hiked into the town, essentially shut down for the winter. Primary activity seemed to be survival and centered around a bar). The surrounding area up to most of the Flaming Gorge shoreline is brown and barren most of the year, and tree stands are infrequently present. From a boat or from the air, the area is remarkably barren, with rock formations right to the shoreline.

But that's the key to the daily living difference here in much of Wyoming ... you can live in a relatively barren high desert and have seasonal access within hours away to some forested areas and a body of water ... compared to a low elevation riparian climate zone where you are surrounded by immense dense forests with huge stands of deciduous trees and a second layer growth beneath them, and a general lushness of vegetation and green meets the eye almost all the time. It's a huge paradigm shift ...

If you live in a locale such as Rock Springs, sooner or later, you have to go home from that destination.