White water rafting and down hill skiing

[Scrapr]

[quote=jIMOh;644351]My ER will be spent on the slopes 5 days per week in winter, then I will raft on the melted snow in spring.


Why not do both? IN THE SAME DAY

Bend, Oregon

Ski Bachelor in the morning. Ski season is going to go long this year. They got a couple inches last weekend. This weekend more coming.

Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort - Mt. Bachelor

Raft in the afternoon.


Sun Country Tours: Compare all River Trips

water is going to be cold though

[mb]

Utah has great skiing and great rafting but they are in different parts of the state.

All the good ski resorts are in the north except for Brian Head which is in the southwest. All the good rafting rivers (Colorado, Green) are in the southeast.

They are separated by 2-4 hour drives.

I do know of a number of adventure athletes that maintain homes in both one of the Colorado ski areas and in the Moab area in eastern Utah. The climate in Moab is fairly mild it can use it as a place to get away from the winter snow.

Some possibilities that I haven't heard mentioned yet are western Idaho and New Mexico.

MB

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jIMOh West Virginia is the next best place, not sure I could convince wife to move to sticks of WV, though.

It's not that bad. Most places do have electricity and indoor plumbing.

We're in the Panhandle at the northern end of the state.

There are three shopping malls within 30 minutes, one within 10 (although I'll admit it's small), three hospitals within 30 minutes, one within 10. We do not have rush hours - traffic at 5:00 PM Friday afternoon looks like DC at 10:00 AM Sunday morning. DC and Baltimore are both about an hour and a half away, but almost double that during rush hours. Many take the train to DC but that's a 2-hour trip each way.

A decent single-family house can be found for less than six figures, although it may not be luxurious.

There are a lot of "urban refugees" in WV who elected to drop out of the rat race, DW and I included. The north branch of the Potomac River is 20 minutes away, the Shenandoah is 30. I can't say about the skiing, when I see snow I go inside.

[brewer12345]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mb New Mexico. MB

Forgot about that. Great food and fishing, too.

[jIMOh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 It's not that bad. Most places do have electricity and indoor plumbing. We're in the Panhandle at the northern end of the state. There are three shopping malls within 30 minutes, one within 10 (although I'll admit it's small), three hospitals within 30 minutes, one within 10. We do not have rush hours - traffic at 5:00 PM Friday afternoon looks like DC at 10:00 AM Sunday morning. DC and Baltimore are both about an hour and a half away, but almost double that during rush hours. Many take the train to DC but that's a 2-hour trip each way. A decent single-family house can be found for less than six figures, although it may not be luxurious. There are a lot of "urban refugees" in WV who elected to drop out of the rat race, DW and I included. The north branch of the Potomac River is 20 minutes away, the Shenandoah is 30. I can't say about the skiing, when I see snow I go inside.

I think living in a quieter less busy location is appealing. I have 15-25 years to convince my wife of the same thing.

What are state taxes like?

[TromboneAl]

Quote:

But it's crowded and you're going to get bored with those activities very quickly.

Read this over, and want to apologize for sounding so negative.

[jIMOh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl Read this over, and want to apologize for sounding so negative.

First, maybe I will get bored... which is why Colorado to some degree appeals to me. I could also post here more, but that gets boring after a while too.

Places to hike, locations to explore. Maybe a remote place like WV has that too, but other stuff to do with other people will be important.

Denver also has better sports teams than West Virginia or Salt Lake city, and that would also occupy my time.

I thought one fall I would attempt to attend an NFL game at each stadium. Think it's possible to do 32 stadiums in 17 weeks?

One on Sunday, close one on Monday might do it. Week of Thanksgiving could do 3 stadiums, a few other weeks have Thursday games too, so can 3 stadiums in late fall.

[lswswein]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jIMOh I thought one fall I would attempt to attend an NFL game at each stadium. Think it's possible to do 32 stadiums in 17 weeks? One on Sunday, close one on Monday might do it. Week of Thanksgiving could do 3 stadiums, a few other weeks have Thursday games too, so can 3 stadiums in late fall.

Expensive but doable. Tickets for the football games are quite expensive and NFL is a good TV sport not a great live sport. On the other hand baseball is a great live sport and cheap and easy to do the whole summer trip to all stadiums

just an opinion
-h

[jIMOh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lswswein Expensive but doable. Tickets for the football games are quite expensive and NFL is a good TV sport not a great live sport. On the other hand baseball is a great live sport and cheap and easy to do the whole summer trip to all stadiums just an opinion -h

yeah, but the last time I watched a baseball game, I think Don mattingly was playing and Harry Carey was still alive.

I'm a soccer/football guy.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jIMOh I think living in a quieter less busy location is appealing. I have 15-25 years to convince my wife of the same thing. What are state taxes like?

In all the "rankings" of state taxes WV is consistently about middle-of-the-road. There are the usual property taxes, personal property taxes (car tax), sales taxes, and income taxes. Some people take issue with the car tax, I just look at the total tax burden and appreciate that it's less than MD's, from whence we moved.

The main attraction for us was not having to plan our daily lives around traffic and being an easier drive to DW's immediate family across the river in MD. In about a 35 minute drive there are four stop signs and one traffic light. Anyone who lives in or has been to the DC area can appreciate how significant that is.

[yakers]

Yep, Tahoe is the best I know. You could also do that in British columbia. I have rafted there, in Tahoe and on the Ocoee in TN. Lots of places are OK, like the UP in Michigan but its hard to beat Tahoe. It has real mountains, a big lake, rafting, skiing, kayaking, sailing on the lake, and gambling/shows on the NV side.

[Urchina]

I ran the Salmon in Idaho a few years ago (with a guide) -- wow, great run. They've got pretty good skiing there, too.

I also second Bend, Oregon. You've got Bachelor and the Cascades out your back door, and the Deschutes out your front door, and you're a 1/2 day drive from the Snake and Hell's Canyon. Plus, you can run the headwaters of the McKenzie within a couple hours' drive. It's also high desert and sunny in Bend (most of the year).

[trharris]

McCall, Idaho. Great skiing at Mt. Brundage and Tamarack. Great water rafting on the Salmon river, Snake river, etc. Beautiful country.

Rick

[jerryo]

I'm an avid skiier (former instructor with 2 racer sons), but don't know much about rafting.

From the perspective of skiing, I'd defiitely consider the Lake Tahoe area (no taxes on the Nevada side). Wonderful skiing, Reno is a reasonable small city, and the Bay area is less than 4 hours away.

Utah has also been one of our top skiing destinations... Park City is a little pricey and overbuilt to my taste; but Salt Lake is a good alternative (and less that an hour from a dozen or more slopes).

I love Colorado, but Summit county is a bit too busy (and altitude could be a problem too). Beaver Creek/Vail are a bit to articial and far (and like Aspen too expensive). I'd consider settling in Boulder though....wonderful city, close to everything (including Denver).

Other good possiblities include the Seatlle area, the Vancouver area, Taos (New Mexico), and Bozeman (Montana).

Good luck!!

[SLC Tortfeasor]

Utah has some of the world's best skiing, and typically better (and more) snow than any place mentioned so far.

The best rafting is in the southern part of Utah, but also in Idaho, which is a few hours drive from Salt Lake City.

A couple weekends ago I enjoyed world-class mountain biking in Southern Utah on Saturday, followed by world-class skiing on Sunday. That was pretty fun.

The cost of living in most of Utah is also pretty good.

I guess another option that hasn't been mentioned would be the Durango area of Colorado. You'd be in close proximity to some great rafting in Utah and a little in Colorado, plus you'd have skiing at Telluride and what used to be called Purgatory. It's gorgeous country, and not nearly as crowded and crazy as the Front Range.