Shawn,

Red Mountain Pass – US-550 is a “year ‘round” US highway. Sorta.

May shouldn’t be a problem. Winter snow plow operators get “hazardous duty pay” and there are regular deaths. The issue is an avalanche will knock them off the road … and you know how BIG those plows are.

As today’s blizzard shows, there isn’t a road in Colorado that doesn’t get closed at some point for weather. That is actually fun. When that happens, we sit around the fireplace, bake cookies and enjoy. In a few days it may be 70F and golf.

Tom is correct. Mountain valleys have long and dark winters.

I can’t speak first hand to the other issues Tom brings up. They are serious issues to be researched.

The reasons I live in Denver are services. I can be on the slopes in Vail in less than two hours. In less than that, I can be at a Wilderness Area trailhead or a campground friendly to my lame body.

The public schools that my kids attended (Cherry Creek) are still the best in the nation. The cultural opportunities match anywhere in the world. Business tends to follow the national economy. The medical facilities are among the best. Housing cost is relatively low and the general cost-of-living is below the average.

I can be in LA in two hours and NY in three with 40 minutes to DIA.

AND

We have a very strong Porsche community.



A summer cabin near Ouray is great. You really need to consider all the other. You only have a small window raising and educating your guys. I can’t imagine anything more important.


Best,
Grady

Land around Silverton seems reasonable. How is Silverton?

Probably coming out in May. Not sure on the dates yet. We will fly in to Colorado Springs and drive over. Plan to stay a week in Ouray and look around the surrounding area.

Grady,
I hope we can meet up with you again. Maybe some Pelicans can head over to Ouray and hang out at that Pizza place in town?

Shawn, Let me know if you are coming to Ouray. One of the hotels in the family is the Weisbadden in Ouray. It is old,(over 110 years for the main lodge), but has a natural hot springs cave in the basement--lots of fun. I can also help with other ideas on biking, jeep stuff and so on. Usually May will be ok although the off road stuff could be inaccesable until melt off. Day trips are fun using Ouray as a base. You will want for your Porsche as I think you would have to travel to Europe to match the driving.

Like Grady, today is one of those days that really makes Colorado such a great place for us---probably blue sky to follow the storm.

Tom

Shawn,
Let me know when you come out in May. If the roads are clear
I can be in Silverton in about 45 minutes, Ouray an hour....in the
911 :D

Silverton is a great town. "Reasonable" compared to other
Colorado mtn towns, although prices up there have more than doubled in the last few years. Great summers....tremendous access to the backcountry. You can take Jeep roads from Silverton east over to Creede & Lake City, west over to Telluride
on Ophir pass. Only an hour to Durango.
Xtreme skiing, epic class 5 boating on the upper Animas River,
Hardrock 100 run thru the mtns...from epic to the touristy
Durango/Silverton Narrow Guage Railroad which feeds the town in the summer...Silverton has a lot to offer. Best Porsche roads in the country.
Geez I sound like a chamber of commerce guy...

Here is a link to some RE in Silverton, CO
http://www.realestate-silverton.com/resident.htm

Hey, how are you guys fairing with respect to the nasty storm that blew through? Looks really bad from the news reports.:eek:

We are heading out to Telluride on the 28th and hope to see a winter wonderland. Type911, did Durango get hammered like the front range?

With respect to living in CO, I would have to emphatically second Grady's comments. Living in a resort community would be really difficult and really expensive. Winters are long as was mentioned. In the dead of winter in T-Ride, the town gets only about 2 to 3 hours of direct sunlight. We are on the sunny side of town and get maybe 4. It gets really cold as a result. Being a guy that really hates cold weather, that would bum me out completely. Also, spring and summer come late and are not very long, although they are absolutely glorious. :cool:

Your best bet would be to look for something in a larger community down valley where the climate is more temperate. You can always drive a short distance to be "in" the mountains. Look at Grand Junction, Montrose, Cortez, Durango, and anywhere along the front range. Good luck. SmileWavy

Silverton is VERY remote! Land is expensive as there is very little level property with utility available. Durango area---particularly east into Bayfield might be interesting--Durango is a pretty stable town with great services. Also look into the Cortez area. Southwest of Ouray---pretty inexpensive and beautiful--not as arid as the central west slope. Close to the Canyonlands of Utah which is a big plus for incredible off road adventures. Google Moab to see the terrain.

Tom

VERY remote is what I am looking for. The land looked pretty reasonable to me compared to the surrounding areas? I will look at Cortez. I want middle of nowhere maountain man land.

We are coming out in May and staying in Ouray so I will look into the hotel you mentioned.

Scott,
We did not get the storm Denver is getting.
Blizzards, hail, extreme weather, traffic, endless development,
why is it again I do not live there ???
Nice place to visit when I need a "city fix".


About 18 inches at my house, DMR got over 2 feet, Telluride 30 inches...you are timing your New Years visit just right.

Pretty sure T-hammer is looking for a summer place...when all this mess has melted.

If that is what you are looking for, I would check out Silverton,
Creede, Lake City, Lake Vallecito NE of Durango has some remote
land. Areas north of Pagosa Springs in Hinsdale county are also remote. Mancos, Dolores, Rico has some remote beautiful area.
Really depends on your price range & sense of adventure.

Cortez is semi-arid desert...not what you would consider mountain man land.

Precisely. I am not looking for a house in town. I am looking for wilderness in the mountains. Perhaps adding a small "hunting" cabin sometime in the future. Wood burning stove, no phone, no electricity. I would like to be in the area around Ouray. If we just can't stay away later in life I would look in a more civilized locale, like perhaps Durango, but keep the Grizzly Adams estate for some solitude.

What about this? Prices seem almost too good to be true and we all know what that probably means...

http://www.realestate-silverton.com/asarco.htm

Anyone know?

i have a friend who is the wastewater manager in grand juct. email me if you want to talk to him.

Heads up!! Ouray is about to be invaded by the Fj's in July.

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/

Asarco property may be tailings from mine. You would want to see environmental report. The water up on the passes is very contaminated from the tailing run off. No fishing in the Uncompahdre River!

It is pretty hard to tell exactly where these lots are. It looks like they are on the road towards Howardsville. But that is just a guess. I am not sure how well this road is managed in the winter / spring months.

Not to beat a dead horse but you really have to pay attention to water quality in and around old mining facilities. Mines are notorious for seaping heavy metals into the water supply. Actually at one time the river flowing into Ouray was one of the most polluted rivers in the United States. (That is old information out of National Geographic some years ago though). There has been a lot of federal attention to cleaning the water supply up in the area.

La Plata Canyon
 

Here's a cheap one for you....

http://www.crenidx.com/listing.php?mls=513866&site_id=4005

Way out in BFE, but only 20 miles to civilization. Good road for your Baja ;)

Re: La Plata Canyon
 

Shawn,

I gave this broker a call. Her name is Sandy Bean, 970-796-2614.

She says it can’t be built on and the listing says “access is challenging.” She is going to email me all the information.

My brother is assessor in La Plata County (Durango). He can help point us in the right direction. Whatever you buy, you are going to need a good real estate attorney familiar with all the issues.

The property listed is a mining claim. It is unclear if the “surface rights” are included (probably not). My guess (judging by the BLM marker) is it is BLM land. Someone might also have long-term lease grazing rights.

Another issue is someone’s access to adjoining property (even BLM or National Forest). Is there an easement? Even if not, can someone herd cattle through the property? Put in a road? Just walk through?

Over the past several decades there has been an industry in reviving old mining claims. An entrepreneur researches old (19th century) claims, finds the descendents or re-files, has it surveyed and adjudicated. They then offer it for sale at VERY substantial profit. The problem is it isn’t any good unless you actually own the property, “Surface Rights.”

The difficulty is that this is public land and what is for sale are the “mineral rights.” As I noted above, this is probably BLM land (the Bureau of Land Management administers it). Typically the land is leased to ranchers for grazing. There are long-term efforts by environmental groups to out-bid ranchers for the leases.

Even the leases don’t preclude other uses. For example, our “Mountain Man Rendezvous” sites are on BLM (or USDA Forrest Service) land, leaded for grazing and then permitted for our big (2000 people) events. Almost all are available for the various hunting seasons.

The BLM motto is “Land of Many Uses.” It is commonly referred to as “Land of Many Abuses.” … Or is this our National Forests … or both? :rolleyes:

I don’t know all the details, but it is very complicated to turn this into private property. Many conservation groups have on-going programs to buy the mining claims, grazing leases and eventually lobby Congress to turn the land into Wilderness area.

There exist many “mountain cabins” that are on Forrest Service, BLM (and even National Park and Wilderness Area) land by precedence and/or permit. Many of the permits expire at the death of the permit holder.

An example of this is the couple who had a cabin within what is now Dinosaur National Monument. The permit was to the husband. When he died about 15 years ago the Government went to evict her. It took an Act of Congress to allow to live out her life there.

The most valuable land is that which has been declared “private property” by a Federal Court or the Congress.



Of course if you know the right people in the Bush Administration, you can bypass most requirements. Let’s see, who do we know? Halbruton-to-blind trust, trust buys thousands of mineral rights and grazing leases. A bill was slipped though House-Senate “Conference Committee” (not subject to public scrutany) to allow BLM to “sell” for $1 to an aggrieve contiguous landowner. Somehow, 50 sections of public land belong to a son in-law of our distinguished Vice President or other. Of course this is fictional speculation on my part. :rolleyes:

Best,
Grady

Sorry, forgot to post this.
Here is an areal view. The star DOES NOT repersent the location. I just used the Zipcode.

Durango is in lower left. That is the Animas River. The roads to the right are San Juan National Forrest access for logging, fishing, etc. I have camped and fished up there. The Weminuche Wilderness Area is to the right off the image.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1166905337.jpg
(C) Mapquest

Here is the BLM benchmark from the listing.
Can anyone decode this?
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1166905383.jpg

Best,
Grady

That's what i wondered. You own the land...but you don't "own" the land. Good thing I am taking my time huh? We are still planning on coming out in late May or early June. Thanks for checking into this for me Grady. The last thing I want to do is pay for land that anyone can use anyway...