I am not sure if this is the right forum for this thread, but oh well. I am a college student currently living at home. I am planning to move out in January at the end of this semester. I am looking to see where I would like to move. I was wondering what you all think is the best place to live out west. I have decided that the move must be to somewhere in either Montana, Colorado, Idaho, Washington, or Northern California. I need mountains galore and my favorite hiking season is winter(I am a major snow junkie)! I like trails in challenging terrain and weather that are as remote as possible. Essentially I am looking for a hiker/climber/biker/etc... paradise. I would appreciate any suggestions and I am sure you all have your own favorite places to live!

Pragmatically speaking, shouldn't job possibilities be a factor in your decision making? or are you planning on transferring to another college? In which case, I'd compromise a little on the wilderness front for a good school.

Purely on the Outdoor activity merits and your Winter interests----Alaska. Washington would be my second choice.Love skiing those PNW volcanoes. N. Cascades!. Proximity to B.C.(and bigger wilderness).

Alaska: Valdez, Palmer, Talkeetna, Glenallen.

Oregon: Unity, John Day, Enterprise.

Washington: Stehekin, Trinity, Ione, Glacier.

British Columbia: Terrace, Smithers, Bella Coola.

Northern California: somewhere around Shasta City. North Lake Tahoe.

Oh, these are all places I've visited, many of them more than once, and where it would seem rather nice to live plus they in some form or another fit your criteria. No comments about job prospects (nearly all towns I mentioned would be very ugly from a jobs standpoint) or costs. With a few notable exceptions (California) cheap housing is at least possible most of those places -- sometimes very very cheap depending on how primitive a lifestyle you can put up with.

I also specifically excluded where I live.

Good luck.

Edited by david_bonn on 10/10/2006 23:12:38 MDT.

Man, Ione made the list.
Are you still continuing with school...this would probably make a huge difference...there are expense problems with bc, but Bellingham,Wa. has a decent school that's close to the North Cascades and Mt.Baker. Bend is growing a ton but there are a lot of low wage jobs there and I'm pretty sure there are 4 year programs available. Both Colorado and Montana have great schools in mountain towns. If school isn't an issue places like Driggs, Idaho in the Tetons could be appealing.
Real nice David skipping out your homey...I think we all should find where David lives and nominate for Outside magazines best places to live issue...and Men's Journal...and Adventure National Geographic....oh ya, don't move here either,peace.

Edited by pyeyo on 10/11/2006 17:57:42 MDT.

I specifically excluded a lot of towns in Washington and Oregon that I think are badly overmarketed already. Bend (and Sisters and LaPine and Ashland and Oakville) are already well into the process of being discovered, and Hood River and Zig Zag are way past it. Although Zig Zag is a cool name for a town.

From other posts it shouldn't be too hard to figure out where I live. And it seems a whole army of people already nominate towns in my area to those very magazines. One local town sponsors NPR in a nearby metropolitan area (well, not *that* nearby). You need no further clues...

I'm not going to hunt you down, promise. I work the entire northwest but mostly the corridor of highway 97 the north/south length of Washington, and I see the changes a coming to Chelan & Leavenworth just like bend/Redmond where my brother lives. I cringe everytime a magazine does an Alpine Lakes piece. I'm not so naive that I think it all belongs to me but I still remember arriving at a trailhead on hwy 2 just before the bus from Puget Sound got there.
This week is the fall volunteer in Holden Village and it got me thinking what an awesome experience a year in Holden would be for somebody, I have friends who are going on their second year with their kids there. It can be a little bit of religion mixed in but it is off the scale as neat place. I nominate we send Jonathon to Holden then go visit him several times.

Edited by pyeyo on 10/12/2006 21:20:54 MDT.

Yaak, Montana