You've Been Warned

[D W]

Originally Posted by n1acguy

Not meaning to rag on the homeless, but they leave just as large of a mess when they're in an RV, as they do when tent camping alongside a freeway.
In our city/county, when petty crimes go up, the powers that be raid and clean up the homeless camps. The amount of trash they have to remove at a camp that's only a month or so old, is staggering.

Oh, don't get me started on that. The homeless here in Anchorage have taken over what once was a nice city park. It's now a garbage dump. Last month the inhabitants lost control of a campfire that actually turned into a wildfire and scorched 14 acres. Took three days to put the fire out. Meanwhile, the rest of us are under a strict open burn ban which carries a penalty of a year in jail and/or a $10K fine.

[colomap]

Interesting conversation. My wife and I just did 11,000 miles in 3 months and covered just about the entire country in our camper and I had some strange observations:

1. I did NOT see another CO license plate until over 2 months in (and was near KY). That was odd.
2. I met 2 people from CO - one at a gear store in Burlington, VT and one at a campground in KY. Both people said they had recently LEFT Colorado due to the overcrowding, lack of accountability etc. The guy in KY cashed out his house in Castle Rock and outright bought a farm in TN on 30 acres. I wish I could do something like that but the truth is - I've not found anywhere better than Colorado. And I can't believe I'm saying that...
3. I think we covered 28 states and there was only ONE that had cars lined up at the state's "welcome to _______" sign and that was Colorado. Five cars were lined up on the KS, CO border with people taking pics. I did not see this in ANY other state.

[whirledpeaz]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

I don't know about just the last 15 years. I lived in CO (Lookout Mountain area above Golden) in the 80s when most of my camping was backpacking. Even back then it was hard to find a boondocking place for the RV basecamp or just a normal parking spot at trail heads. And I never did find a backpacking area that was devoid of people.
I was so glad to move back to NM where I am spoiled by areas where you can go for weeks w/o seeing another human.
Hopefully NM remains so backwards that folks don't want to move here

Southern NM is where I would like to move when I retire... in a few months. But don't worry I keep to myself and pick up after myself.

[HangDiver]

Originally Posted by MR.M

It's been going down hill for the last 15 years . used to be able to enjoy the back country and only run into people on occasion . Now everywhere is packed with people that live like pigs . the new norm for Co I'm afraid . they passed a law in downtown Denver that it's ok to defecate on the streets......

https://www.shouselaw.com/co/blog/cr...c-in-colorado/

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by whirledpeaz

Southern NM is where I would like to move when I retire... in a few months. But don't worry I keep to myself and pick up after myself.

We're good then

[NMWildcat]

[QUOTE=colomap;2768173



1. I did NOT see another CO license plate until over 2 months
.....

3. I think we covered 28 states and there was only ONE that had cars lined up at the state's "welcome to _______" sign and that was Colorado. Five cars were lined up on the KS, CO border with people taking pics. I did not see this in ANY other state.[/QUOTE]

1) We see a lot of CO plates, but we are a neighboring state. What always surprises me is that in our travels we have seen TX plates in EVERY state, and we have been through most of them. I thought the first time we were in Maine might be an exception, but we saw 10 (yes 10!) in short order. We will be in Hawaii soon and I will be looking at plates

3) We travel I10 between Las Cruces NM and Tucson AZ frequently due to grandkids. We constantly see folks taking pictures at the 'Welcome to NM' sign but never anybody on the AZ side which completely baffles me

[Comanchecreek]

Originally Posted by colomap

Interesting conversation. My wife and I just did 11,000 miles in 3 months and covered just about the entire country in our camper and I had some strange observations:

1. I did NOT see another CO license plate until over 2 months in (and was near KY). That was odd.
2. I met 2 people from CO - one at a gear store in Burlington, VT and one at a campground in KY. Both people said they had recently LEFT Colorado due to the overcrowding, lack of accountability etc. The guy in KY cashed out his house in Castle Rock and outright bought a farm in TN on 30 acres. I wish I could do something like that but the truth is - I've not found anywhere better than Colorado. And I can't believe I'm saying that...
3. I think we covered 28 states and there was only ONE that had cars lined up at the state's "welcome to _______" sign and that was Colorado. Five cars were lined up on the KS, CO border with people taking pics. I did not see this in ANY other state.

This post is about Colorado dispersed camping, but we have traveled to Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, etc. People are the same. We see huge amounts of trash, roadside poop, squatters everywhere. We couldn't even make reservations for the Moab area last year. Every park was full. Traveling through the area there were tons of trailers with OHV's and it goes without saying that all of the National Parks were full. We traveled through a number of dispersed areas in Utah and there were trash bags thrown in ditches, and TP in many areas. As far as blaming millennials, I think you'd find plenty of pigs throughout the generations. We seem to find them everywhere we go, along with people that have no common sense, and think they own the world. Sad commentary on mankind.

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by colomap

I don't mean to start a political debate here so don't mistake my comment: There are "other" considerations as well. The west is flat out messed for many other reasons too...

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/30/us/la...ate/index.html

Oh and the fires of course...

There are also hundreds of hidden gems that have not changed or have not changed all that much . most places you list have always been high draw areas . I am lucky enough to know where to go and fish and atv and enjoy the outdoors of Co without the crowds .. what pisses me off most is the nazi forest service shutting down access to areas that have been historically accessible via atv /trucks etc . Things in Co started changing back in the early 90's but mostly the just the common tourist areas .

[ppine]

Our education system is failing.
We need to bring back the anti-littering campaigns.
We need more campgrounds for RVs.

I don't go to any organized campgrounds in July or August.
Now I focus more on the shoulder seasons. Last week we had a nice campground to ourselves.
I go to the desert in winter.
There is a lot technique in knowing how to avoid other people. Being retired helps a lot. I don't go anywhere on holiday weekends.

Sorry to hear about Colorado. I enjoyed living there in the 1980s.

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

1) We see a lot of CO plates, but we are a neighboring state. What always surprises me is that in our travels we have seen TX plates in EVERY state, and we have been through most of them. I thought the first time we were in Maine might be an exception, but we saw 10 (yes 10!) in short order. We will be in Hawaii soon and I will be looking at plates

I have to follow up
We just got back from a 3 week cruise/stay around the Hawaiian islands. We saw a few out of state plates, but the predominant one (3 out of the 5 we saw)? Yep... Texas. Amazing.....

[5er_tom]

We RV all summer. By far the most common out of state plates we see are from Florida.

[RedRoverComeOver]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

I have to follow up
We just got back from a 3 week cruise/stay around the Hawaiian islands. We saw a few out of state plates, but the predominant one (3 out of the 5 we saw)? Yep... Texas. Amazing.....

Attachment 280499

Military or fed. employees.