Buying a place west......Maybe

[A#1]

Reckon a guy wanted to buy a small, cheaper place close to, or up in the mountains. Somewhere kinda peaceful, pretty, where the sky looks like a pearl in the morn.

A place to remain vacant, just a campsite. No utilities needed, just a driveway, pop a tent or park am RV.

Somewhere decent gold might be found, critters be plentiful for huntin and fishin. Things to do, sights to see.

Not too remote really, and ain't gotta have it all on the spot, but maybe within a 50 mile drive or so to a mid-size town, campin and whatnot.

Kinda a retirement or vacation destination.

Thinkin on Montana and Colorado.

Anyone got any fun ideas?

 

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[Kray Gelder]

I was looking at land prices in Wyoming and Colorado, near the mountains, for a while the other day. Prices are up there. Of course, for some, money is not an issue. Use Zillow, pick a town. They show a lot of listings.

 

[A#1]

After thinkin some more, maybe a warmer winter climate could be friendly as the bones grow older.....Maybe arizona too?

 

[A#1]

I was looking at land prices in Wyoming and Colorado, near the mountains, for a while the other day. Prices are up there. Of course, for some, money is not an issue. Use Zillow, pick a town. They show a lot of listings.

Well, money's always an issue, but I ain't lookin for extravagance. Just an Oh-Zee out near the mountain country so I ain't gotta pay per night, and I can stay as long as I want


Maybe 5-10 acres minimum, $30,000 tops. I know that's plenty possible here in Michigan, but I already got a few pieces of that pie.

Comin into some coin beginning of next year that would make a nice fat down payment on a place like that.

 

[gunsil]

I think in AZ you could get a dilapidated old trailer home on a postage stamp lot and not much more for the thirty grand. Lots of folks want to live there or at least winter there.

 

[Mad Machinist]

After thinkin some more, maybe a warmer winter climate could be friendly as the bones grow older.....Maybe arizona too?

Depends on where your looking here in Arizona.

 

[Mad Machinist]

I think in AZ you could get a dilapidated old trailer home on a postage stamp lot and not much more for the thirty grand. Lots of folks want to live there or at least winter there.

Not even close anymore. Used to be that way but not anymore. Too many chuckleheads from Commiefornia moving here.

 

[alaskaseeker]

Land is not getting any cheaper for sure, I used to think about Yarnell, but never got further then looking a little....

 

[A#1]

Well, right now it's only looking around a bit, but seriously toying the idea.

Truth is it's a pension buyout, about $15000. While I SHOULD reinvest it in my 401k, I've kinda chosen rewirement over retirement. I'm kinda already retired, I just work during the week.

I'm 44, kinda live a meager life, not a lot of expenses, I own a place on a lake, I own a house on 20 acres of hunting land. I live in northern Michigan already, I find plenty of fun right around home.

BUT.....we went to Yellowstone a few years back, loved the mountain areas, would enjoy prospecting a more fruitful area, and there's a whole new world out thatta way to enjoy vacation style for quite some years ahead.

I kinda thought using the $15k to get a nice chunk of a place out west, and a motorhome sounded like a fine addition to my rewirement.

And yes, I do think that's enough to get me a good start. I don't want a giant new motorhome.....looking at a small $3500 94 toyota I can rebuild. And cheaper parcels of land DO seem somewhat available to use as simple a parki ng spot.

Just need to narrow down some areas that would be nicely central to some fun......with gold prospecting being at the top of the list.

 

[BVI Hunter]

https://www.landwatch.com/

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

There is lots of public land out west. Basically unlimited camping opportunities in the mountains as long as your willing to move camp to a new location from time to time. There are some areas, a person could probably camp all summer without being bothered.

 

[Michael Brandes]

Ya them Commiefornia coming to Texas trying to change it like the ****hole they left. Makes me sick.

 

[mikep691]

Lots of land can be had in Northern Nevada. Winters can be chilly, but tolerable. Tough to buy land that has mineral rights anywhere these days, but you buy a piece, then claim your playground, nearby.

 

[JeffA]

If you can do it, go for it. I wish I could.

 

[Mad Machinist]

BLM and USFS regs state 14 continuous days max in one place. Gets a little different in you have an active claim and your camping on it.

 

[et1955]

There is lots of public land out west. Basically unlimited camping opportunities in the mountains as long as your willing to move camp to a new location from time to time. There are some areas, a person could probably camp all summer without being bothered.

Where can one do as you say. I live out west, please don't mislead people.

 

[barrelroll]

Where can one do as you say. I live out west, please don't mislead people.

Legally you have to move every 2 weeks and there's a clause about camping X amount of days per X amount of days but if one was to go from state to BLM to USFS land that might be a loop hole. There's lots of Utah and Nevada you could probably get away with miscounting how many days you were camping. There are tons of camping opportunities that don't cost a dime out west but we are full haha.

Is this a full time deal or just spending some of the year at your western property?

Northern Nevada has a lot of remoteness, winters are cold but not horrible and it warms up during the day. Eureka County has 0 zoning laws and lots of mining history. Not sure how much visible gold but Rye Patch isn't that far from the north end of the county. I spent 2 years there and you could really get out and not see people if you wanted to, I can't say the same for most of Colorado.

If you are planning on an RV I'd look into zoning for the area you want to buy. A lot of counties will let you build a shed under 100 or 200 square feet without a permit. You see some properties for sale with a 96 square foot tough shed on them and it looks like $3,5000 would build you a really nice shed. I'd be worried about leaving an RV unattended in the mountains for a while, windows are really tempting to shoot out and old RV's don't always do great covered in 3'+ of snow all winter long. Also some counties are starting to crack down on "long term camping" and "RV Storage" on remote properties. You don't really see many RV's left on empty lots

Colorado has some land the size you want in your price range but most of it doesn't have a tree for 5 miles and you can find smaller parcels in your price range in a lot of spots. Check with the county you are looking in beforehand, a lot of the cheaper lots have septic requirements which might even be required to leave an RV on it. Colorado is really crowded anything within 2 hours of Denver or near a tourist area is busy. I can't stand the I70 corridor any more, traffic is dumb more times than not on I70 and the 4x4 trails are packed. The Hartsel, Como, Fairplay, Terryall, Jefferson area has very few trees and some rolling hills for cover, the wind blows like crazy, winters can be brutal but you still have a lot of nice days, it was known gold producing area and land is cheap.

Here's the rules for Park County http://parkco.us/DocumentCenter/View/3673/2016_CampingRegs?bidId= I think you are going to run into similar rules for most counties.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Where can one do as you say. I live out west, please don't mislead people.

Maybe you need to get out more?

Having driven by your river claim many times this year....I could point out four summer mining camps within 10 miles of your claim.

At one of them the same truck has been parked along the road for the last 3 months. They are camped below the road in plain sight.

My point wasn't that you can camp along the main road for weeks at a time, but that there are hundreds of thousands of miles of remote logging roads where a person could camp for a week or two at a time and not be bothered. Just in my county alone there are 2.6 million acres of public land. I know I could spend the summer camping at various areas.

Heck I think I could check into public camp grounds, giving them my license plate numbers and still camp all summer without anyone batting an eye.

Sure there are policies intended to solve problem campers. They seem to use discretion as long as people are being respectful and not wearing their welcome out.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

There are places in the forest where if you broke down...you better not wait around to flag down a passing motorist...because you might be waiting till hunting season before you see someone.

Lots of very sparsely populated public lands out west.

 

[Goldwasher]

Doesn't the fourteen days start the first time you see a ranger