House We Lived In Conifer, Colorado Is Gone

[viking]

In the late 70's we lived in a small home in a community in the mountains west of Denver, it was during the last portion of Jimmy Carter's presidency when he had reduced the speed limit on the freeways to 55 mph and his statement to the press was, "that you could drive a great deal slower than 55". Anyway it was already taking over an hour to get home where before the 55 law it only took a half hour. At that time we were starting to learn about prepping and the loss of personal freedom, we were seeing disturbing changes in the area we lived in and decided it was time to get out of Colorado, then out of Pampa, Texas and that's how we ended up near a small logging town in S.W. Oregon. So for whatever reason yesterday I decided to do a Goggle Earth to see if the house we lived in was still there in Conifer, it wasn't nor were any of the homes that were nearby, the pond that was below us near Hwy. 285 was gone as well. My thought is that the fire that was in that area may have taken out the homes in our development, so I went for information on burnt homes, only one home burned and it wasn't ours. I had a haunting thought that land laws may have changed and so I checked that out and ran across a Jefferson County paper on "Conifer/285 Corridor Area Plan, that plan sounded like a HOA nightmare, no new homes on anything less than 5 acres, piped in water and no septic tanks. All kinds of laws on what materials could be used in building. My wife and I are sure God gave us warning to get out of there, if anyone was living in our old home, I suspect they were paid to move and the homes in that area were torn down. In 2000 we took a trip to Kansas to visit my wife's relatives and my mom and stepdad, then we went up to Conifer to see if there had been any changes, we asked the owner of the home we lived in if we could see the changes he had made and he showed us around, he had built a new kitchen and family room over the two car garage and mentioned that he had paid just over $200,000 for the home, when we bought it it was around $93,000, the owner told us the home was then worth around $300,000. So my thinking is that the Conifer/285 Corridor Plan is just like a HOA by the county, all I know is that even though it's been many years since we lived there, it leaves a hole in my heart to see it gone, I hope the last owner was well paid for the removal and move to a new home. Welcome to the "Brave New World".

 

[Weedygarden]

I haven't been out that way in a while but I have been in Conifer a few times. Did they remove the homes to expand 285? If you have a link to what the Corridor plan is, I would like to look at it.

I worked with someone who lived about an hour and a half west of Denver and drove that every day, minimally a 3 hour commute each day. That road, 285, can have accidents that can have such an impact on traffic. He lived up by Fairplay, and he and his wife sold their place and moved to a more remote place in Arizona because of how crowded it was getting out there. He wanted more space, and a less crowded area. He has horses and lives off grid.

 

[viking]

Look up Jefferson County Comprehensive Master Plan at www.jeffco.us . The title of the PDF is Conifer/285 Corridor Area Plan, let me know if this gets you there. I kind of think this is all part of the Re-wilding Of The West Program that the PTB has been working on for some time, leading to the end of private property and making us all live in 15 minute cities. I just went to the jeffco site and found the plans, anyway let me know what you think.

 

[Weedygarden]

https://www.jeffco.us/DocumentCenter/View/12320/Conifer-285-Corridor-Area-Plan-PDF?bidId=

 

[viking]

We try not to live in the past and we overall don't miss living in Colorado, mainly because we really couldn't afford to live there as the cost of living was outstripping our income. About the only thing I miss about lining there is once getting used to the altitude I loved living and hiking above 10,000 feet, often elk hunting in the 12,000 to 13,000 foot areas. Wife and drove to the top of the highest road in the USA, when there used to be a look out that had a cafe, this was just over 14,000 feet, I've since heard that the road up there is now a toll road. On the way up to Mt. Evans there's Lincoln Lake, I used to park at 12,900 feet and hike down 960 feet to the lake with a rubber boat in my backpack, first time I did that after fishing, I walked about 50 feet, huffing and puffing wondered what kind of bad situation I'd gotten myself into, the trail was around a 45 degree angle, even a couple of elk came out to see what all the huffing and puffing was all about, but I made it and came back a number of times more, I even found a 16 oz. can of Coors floating in the lake that was still good and fizzy, anyway I got used to hiking at those altitudes, only once getting a nasty headache probably from altitude sickness. I took my wife down to that lake one time, poor woman was in tears walking up to the car. Even though we lived at 10,000 feet, being at higher elevations we felt better, loved the smell of pine trees that seemed so rich at the higher elevations. In looking back at all of the years hiking in the Cascades east of property, I believe it's the reason I survived my bout with congestive heart failure in 2018. Basically we found that we couldn't afford to live in Colorado, I don't think anyone on lower income could, even with my DW and I working full time it was a loosing game, that's why we appreciate living here is S.W. Oregon, the food costs, building supplies and even vehicles is still affordable to a greater extent.

 

[havasu]

The road in Estes Park is now a toll road?

 

[Weedygarden]

The road in Estes Park is now a toll road?

It could be. I don't know. It has been a while since I've been there.

IMHO, there are too many toll roads in Colorado (and Illinois!). I believe that private companies run the roads and take the money. The road from Denver to Boulder, Highway 36, has a toll lane where people can drive faster for a fee, or if there is more than one person in the car, for free, think. From I-25 on the south side of the metro area and east are toll roads.

The toll roads around the metro area are thanks to the refusal of former Governor Dick Lamb (I think it was him) refusing federal funds and the building of the outer circle of interstate around the metro area. Most major cities have these outer circles of interstate, so that you can completely circle the metro areas. Not the Denver metro area. There are parts of it, but part of the northwest area is not complete. Now the people who live in that area will never approve the rest of the road to complete that circle.

 

[viking]

The road in Estes Park is now a toll road?

It wouldn't surprise me but the road to Mt. Evans is from what I've heard, I think what the PTB is doing is to try and reduce the environmental load on the ecosystems.

 

[viking]

Just to add to the story of looking for Lincoln Lake and that I missed it the first time going up the mountain, I had a friend with me and unknowingly we had driven past the trail to the lake and where we stoped we could see what look like it could be the lake we hiked down to it only to find that it was a large snow melt pond just a few feet deep, being as the path we took down was steep we decided to hike back up to the road taking an easier way, to this day I'm surprised that we were not attacked by any of the cow elk protecting their youngsters, considering that we walked right through the middle of a relatively spread out herd of about 300 or so head of elk, no we weren't trying to be like the idiots in Yellowstone, we just wanted to get back to the vehicle. There is only one thing that upsets me about our hikes and that is that for the most part I never brought a camera along, I sometimes wish I had a connection like in the Matrix where I could download movies and pictures of what I've seen.

 

[montanabill]

when I lived in denver in the early 90's there was nothing left on top of mt evans...Got snowed on in june on my motorcycle up there...Gunfire every friday night in denver.

 

[Ozarks hillbilly]

Pretty cool to read your past. My fear is that younger generations will not know what home ownership can do for progressing the next generation in their family. Housing prices are crazy. its like they’re set up to be renters for life, always giving money to something they won’t own—sad

 

[viking]

when I lived in denver in the early 90's there was nothing left on top of mt evans...Got snowed on in june on my motorcycle up there...Gunfire every friday night in denver.

I remember when we were still living in the Denver area that the police got into a bad gunfight at the Greyhound bus depot, after that happened they got into a shot first and firgure what happened later attitude, there was even gunfire exchanged on the freeways, I seem to remember that one shooting incident was initiated by a policeman, we're glad to live where we are now, we hate big cities, I lived in Seattle in the 60's, I remember the Black Panthers and the police gathering in the streets. We avoid Portland like the plague, freeway traffic up there is horrible, let alone all the destruction that recently went on, we love living out in the woods.

 

[Weedygarden]

Pretty cool to read your past. My fear is that younger generations will not know what home ownership can do for progressing the next generation in their family. Housing prices are crazy. its like they’re set up to be renters for life, always giving money to something they won’t own—sad

There was a time, centuries ago, where a family home stayed in the family. Depending on the family and the dynamics of the family, it was usually the oldest son who inherited the home and land. The parents would even be alive when the transfer happened. Now days, it is a rare thing for a family home to stay in the family after the parents die. It is usually sold off and the income from that is often, but not always, divided.

I knew a woman who had a big house. Her daughter was 13 when she started having babies. Yes, 13. Daughter had 4 children total before she was 20. BTW, this is not the only situation I know like this, inner city people. When the mother died, the house was sold. Daughter who had 4 children was now virtually homeless. She never went to h.s. and never really was educated. She didn't really work, just a little here and there. She spent her whole life struggling to feed and house her children. When she was around 40, she took her own life. She had struggled so much and for so long.

This is not the only situation I know like this. But somehow, this woman made many not good choices. If the family had kept the home, daughter would have had a place to raise her children. But, there are bills, taxes, insurance to maintaining a home. I kind of wonder if the mother was always behind on those?