Telluride/Ouray

Could find a way to live in Durango and explore Telluride/Ouray on weekends. Pagosa is nice little town too.

Was going to say Lake City, CO. Been there quite a few times. We go every few summers. Haven't been in about 3 years so I guess it's time to go back.

Polebridge, Mt
Bizbee, Az
Ute Park, NM
Granby, Vt
Meeker, CO
Gould, CO

SkiMo said:

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Buena Vista, CO is a favorite of mine.

- Endless amounts of huge hiking in the Sawatch Range...tons of 14ers.
- Natural hot springs at the base of Princeton just down the road.
- World Class rafting/rapids.
- Good breweries/restaurants.
- Hour and a half to Royal Gorge (more good rafting).
- A little over an hour from Breckenridge.
- Take beautiful Independence Pass (open only in summers) over to Aspen...only an hour and a half.
- Take beautiful Cottonwood Pass (open only in summers) over to Crested Butte, which is another amazing town, in under 2 hours.

Most people don't know much about this place...even people that live in Denver. It's a gem in my opinion.

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interesting choice....i have never been there but seems to have some good locational advantages....how would you compare it to Leadville? i thought it was a cool little town and quickly realized that it sits at over 10,000 ft.

ursusguy said:

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Polebridge, Mt
Bizbee, Az
Ute Park, NM
Granby, Vt
Meeker, CO
Gould, CO

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This is the first time I've seen Meeker on the Travel Board!

Lausanne, Switzerland
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

Bachelor99 said:

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SkiMo said:

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Buena Vista, CO is a favorite of mine.

- Endless amounts of huge hiking in the Sawatch Range...tons of 14ers.
- Natural hot springs at the base of Princeton just down the road.
- World Class rafting/rapids.
- Good breweries/restaurants.
- Hour and a half to Royal Gorge (more good rafting).
- A little over an hour from Breckenridge.
- Take beautiful Independence Pass (open only in summers) over to Aspen...only an hour and a half.
- Take beautiful Cottonwood Pass (open only in summers) over to Crested Butte, which is another amazing town, in under 2 hours.

Most people don't know much about this place...even people that live in Denver. It's a gem in my opinion.

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interesting choice....i have never been there but seems to have some good locational advantages....how would you compare it to Leadville? i thought it was a cool little town and quickly realized that it sits at over 10,000 ft.

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I would venture to say that most people from out of state don't seek this place out. It always seems more like local CO people to me or people really into rafting. Browns Canyon on the Arkansas river is super famous...the most popular rafting in the US I believe. My friend owns a raft and we both used to live in Frisco so I spent a lot of time on that river.

I used to work at the Climax Mine which I'm sure you passed if you went to Leadville. 11,318 feet. Talk about some crazy butt puckering winter commutes. Leadville is very historic and there are some killer views from up there. But it's chock full of strange folks. Lots of drugs, etc. People looking to escape. So it's more of a pass thru town for me, but definitely has some great history with the mine and all that.

Hincemm said:

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Lausanne, Switzerland
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

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Great choice!

BV is such a gem! I usually head down there in the winter for a break from the snow. There is some excellent mountain biking near the whitewater park and I really like the midland railroad trail.

SkiMo said:

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Bachelor99 said:

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SkiMo said:

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Buena Vista, CO is a favorite of mine.

- Endless amounts of huge hiking in the Sawatch Range...tons of 14ers.
- Natural hot springs at the base of Princeton just down the road.
- World Class rafting/rapids.
- Good breweries/restaurants.
- Hour and a half to Royal Gorge (more good rafting).
- A little over an hour from Breckenridge.
- Take beautiful Independence Pass (open only in summers) over to Aspen...only an hour and a half.
- Take beautiful Cottonwood Pass (open only in summers) over to Crested Butte, which is another amazing town, in under 2 hours.

Most people don't know much about this place...even people that live in Denver. It's a gem in my opinion.

---

interesting choice....i have never been there but seems to have some good locational advantages....how would you compare it to Leadville? i thought it was a cool little town and quickly realized that it sits at over 10,000 ft.

---

I would venture to say that most people from out of state don't seek this place out. It always seems more like local CO people to me or people really into rafting. Browns Canyon on the Arkansas river is super famous...the most popular rafting in the US I believe. My friend owns a raft and we both used to live in Frisco so I spent a lot of time on that river.

I used to work at the Climax Mine which I'm sure you passed if you went to Leadville. 11,318 feet. Talk about some crazy butt puckering winter commutes. Leadville is very historic and there are some killer views from up there. But it's chock full of strange folks. Lots of drugs, etc. People looking to escape. So it's more of a pass thru town for me, but definitely has some great history with the mine and all that.

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I am not sure if they still do, but A&M's Geology Summer Field Camp used to camp outside of Buena Vista up towards Cottonwood Pass for a few days to study the glacial geomorphology around there. We had a good time fishing the creek that ran past the campground and that is the only place I have ever seen a porcupine in the wild.

SkiMo said:

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Buena Vista, CO is a favorite of mine.

- Endless amounts of huge hiking in the Sawatch Range...tons of 14ers.
- Natural hot springs at the base of Princeton just down the road.
- World Class rafting/rapids.
- Good breweries/restaurants.
- Hour and a half to Royal Gorge (more good rafting).
- A little over an hour from Breckenridge.
- Take beautiful Independence Pass (open only in summers) over to Aspen...only an hour and a half.
- Take beautiful Cottonwood Pass (open only in summers) over to Crested Butte, which is another amazing town, in under 2 hours.

Most people don't know much about this place...even people that live in Denver. It's a gem in my opinion.

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This.

BV is a wonderful little town, although it is growing (the secret is out). Go there 2-3x a year and it never gets old.

Hincemm said:

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Lausanne, Switzerland
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

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Garmisch is the coolest place I've ever been. I was in the military and got to spend a few months there and was convinced I was going to get a job working on that little base when I got out.

The drive from there to Venice really isn't as far as it seems it would be....going through Austria and the Dolomites in Northern Italy was so beautiful it looked fake.

another Mexico option - Taxco. Old city, UNESCO-nomination, streets so narrow most cars are old VW bugs. Lots of silver jewelry, fantastic town square, bands playing outside, lotsa charm
Taxco

Taxco is a great town.

Park City
Coeur D'Alene, ID

Went to Buena Vista a couple times in high school, I would be really interested to see what its like now

Snow Mass, Colorado
Townsend, Tn
Ennis, Montana
Highlands, North Carolina
Martin City, Montana
Ponca, Arkansas
Jasper, Arkansas
Clayton , Georgia
Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Mentone, Alabama
Mentone, Alabama
Rock City, Tennessee
Polebridge, Montana


Jasper, AB

Zermatt near the Matterhorn

Tell me more about Gould. It's not too far from us but never been there.

Pirate04 said:

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Park City
Coeur D'Alene, ID

Went to Buena Vista a couple times in high school, I would be really interested to see what its like now

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Coeur d'Alene Is beautiful. Went last October for work and definitely need to go back.

We love Crested Butte, followed by the Buena Vista/ Salina area.

Salina......maybe Salida ?

Agree - Buena Vista is a gem .......and pretty much under the radar. We live just 20 or so miles and 2000 feet above it and it is our closest town.

Check out the South Main area and stay at The Surf Hotel. Very cool. Eddyline Brewery is legit.

BTW....unless you want to stand out as a tourist ( or just don't give a flip ), think about ditching pronouncing the city's name as you would for a Spanish word. Locals say it like "Bewnah Vistah"....or "Byoonah Vistah". It supposedly started waaay back ( 1879 ) when a woman resident suggested saying it like that would make people think of the word Beautiful. Locals often shorten it to Bewnie/Byoonie or just BV.

Anyway....now ya know.

Buena Vista

malenurse said:

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Talkeetna, Alaska

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Talkeetna isn't a mountain town.
I'm from Valdez and Valdez is a town surrounded by 5,000 foot mountains but it's still not a mountain town.

For a mountain town, I like:

• Breckenridge, CO
• Stateline, NV
• Park City, UT

I've stayed at the Mt Princeton hot springs resort a couple a of years ago for a week in the summer. Loved it. It's in between Salida and BV. Both great towns but I liked BB a little better.

We just spent a week up at Vallecito Lake. Only 45 minutes to Durango or Pagosa Springs. Good hiking, lots of fishing on the reservoir. Tons of Aggies were there.

strong second for mcall, cool little town. summer window is tight, lots of snow otherwise-

Tell me more about mcall. Planning on heading to sawtooths in a couple weeks and this wouldn't be too much out of way

HollywoodBQ said:

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malenurse said:

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Talkeetna, Alaska

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Talkeetna isn't a mountain town.
I'm from Valdez and Valdez is a town surrounded by 5,000 foot mountains but it's still not a mountain town.

For a mountain town, I like:

• Breckenridge, CO
• Stateline, NV
• Park City, UT

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Just a pet peeve when folks from the Lower 48 get their Alaska confused

HollywoodBQ said:

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malenurse said:

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Talkeetna, Alaska

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Talkeetna isn't a mountain town.
I'm from Valdez and Valdez is a town surrounded by 5,000 foot mountains but it's still not a mountain town.

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I rode in a tiny plane, short trip, from Talkeetna and landed on a glacier on Denali (a BIG mountain). It seemed like a mountain town to me....

You can take a tiny plane on a short flight plenty of places with very high peaks without departing a "mountain" town.

High elevation doesn't mean mountain town.