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Where to go?

  • Oregon

    Votes: 3 5.3%
  • Washington State

    Votes: 3 5.3%
  • California

    Votes: 6 10.5%
  • Colorado

    Votes: 21 36.8%
  • Midwest (please specify in post)

    Votes: 3 5.3%
  • Boston

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Austin

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Arizona

    Votes: 11 19.3%
  • New York

    Votes: 1 1.8%
  • Other, please post where

    Votes: 9 15.8%

Best Jeeper place to live?

4K views 68 replies 30 participants last post by  jeepwrangler97 
#1 ·
*Edit 7/15/2013* how is Maryland?

I'm getting close to graduating college & trying to figure out where I want to go. Granted, where I can get work will dictate where I go...somewhat, but still looking for opinions.

I'm in FL, but grew up in IL & I miss winter. I have been thinking somewhere out west would be pretty ideal, but not too sure yet.

I really like forest trails & some of that type of wheeling. I guess I'm looking for good places to live for someone young, with close wheeling, a close city, & lots of places for things like mountain biking/hiking/etc...:laugh:...oh & nice summer but still has winter.:thumbsup:

Lets hear some opinions on best Jeeper states to live in

EDIT: I meant to have Utah in the poll...

Another EDIT: I'm doing Marketing & International business in school...so I'm hoping I can find a good job, as this is a fairly broad concentration
 
#5 ·
Oh & I should mention.. I don't think I'll have to worry about too many vehicle laws...I do have a stroker, but think I could pass emissions, or I should be able to. I don't have a lift, but am doing a 2.5" soon, but plan on staying on my 31s...eventually going to 33"x10.5s
 
#6 ·
I'll say CO.
I live in FL now, born and raised, and I hate it.
When I save up enough money I'm moving out there.
Around the Denver area. Close to the city so I can still go see concerts and such and do shopping if needed and more job opportunities, and all that stuff.
Its close to the mountains as well so theres wheeling, hiking, camping, and such.
 
#11 ·
Be prepared to have to pass emissions then and some area's are very strict about vehicle mods like tires extending past the flares and such and you will get ticketed.If your not prepared for that stay at least 30+ miles away from the Denver area.
 
#9 ·
California and Arizona.

Death Valley, Rubicon, Johnson Valley, and Big Bear being popular places. Lake Tahoe is in NorCal as well, which brings me to my next point, California is next door to Nevada which has some pretty cool places to go as well.

Arizona has a lot of great terrain and old things to explore, it's more adventure type stuff than wheelin, and Moab ain't incredibly far away from Arizona. It's far but not any east coast far. Plus you're pretty close to Colorado.

As far as mods? It seems that rural areas of California and almost everywhere in Arizona is pretty mod friendly, meaning the cops. They don't really care about those things in those areas, except Big Bear.
 
#13 ·
This may sound strange to some, but the Black Hills of South Dakota has pretty much everything you are looking for. Hiking, bike trails, off road trails. Rapid City is the second largest city in the state and is located at the foot of the Black Hills. They have many trails throughout the Black Hills including the Mickelson Trail which runs the length of the Hills for hiking and biking. We have snowmobiling up in the hills as well as skiing during the winter months. Colorado, Wyoming, Montana are all less than a day away. It is a great place to live. Just food for thought.

I meant to add, they have the Jeep Jamboree here every September up in Deadwood. And no state income tax!!!
 
#16 ·
I'm thinking Oregon or Washington myself. Cali would be ideal but I just don't want to deal with all the vehicle regulations, especially emissions. Utah would be awesome but I want to be in a decent vicinity to the coast.
 
#20 ·
WA/OR and Idaho are all pretty great. Forests, mountains, deserts, dunes, canyons, oceans...we have it all out here. If only northern Cali could somehow secede from the rest of the state, it would be pretty awesome as well.

We don't really get 'winter' here, unless you live on the east side of the Cascades. But they have 100º+ summers over there while we're somewhere between the high 70's to low 90's.
 
#24 ·
More people = less open trails. So don't move to Arizona, we have little enough still open as it is. :(

Maybe Arizona used to be awesome to 'wheel a decade ago, but then everyone and their uncle decided they had to move here. Now the after work trail run is ancient history, just simply not possible because all the trails near town are closed, there's 5x as many stoplights and urban speed limits, and the places that used to be open are now housing developments or shopping centers.

The handful of surviving areas are so badly overused that they're hardly worth visiting. So, to actually get some outdoors enjoyment it's necessary to drive 4+ hours each way -

The best wheeling in America only exists in a place called history. Today everything is either closed or a traffic jam - there's not really even a point in owning a 4x4 anymore.
 
#25 ·
More people = less open trails. So don't move to Arizona, we have little enough still open as it is. :(

Maybe Arizona used to be awesome to 'wheel a decade ago, but then everyone and their uncle decided they had to move here. Now the after work trail run is ancient history, just simply not possible because all the trails near town are closed, there's 5x as many stoplights and urban speed limits, and the places that used to be open are now housing developments or shopping centers.

The handful of surviving areas are so badly overused that they're hardly worth visiting. So, to actually get some outdoors enjoyment it's necessary to drive 4+ hours each way -

The best wheeling in America only exists in a place called history. Today everything is either closed or a traffic jam - there's not really even a point in owning a 4x4 anymore.
That's kind of negative. If it's that hard then take more overnight trips, or move out closer to the wilderness.

Personally I would not move to CA because the place is going broke and there are not a lot of jobs, taxes are sky high and the smog rules are impossible. But, there is a lot of good wheeling.

This is a half house from downtown San Diego.





 
#33 ·
Idaho is a great place. Especially the Boise area (Treasure Valley). Big enough town to find a decent job in your field, 15 minutes from the desert, 15 minutes to some mountains, 30 minutes to forests, just minutes to plenty of lakes, rivers, and reservoirs, 30 minutes to skiing/boarding, TONS of bike/hiking trails in and around the city, great bar scene if you're into that, college town if you're looking for ladies, fairly cheap to live here, and for even better camping, a 2-3 hour drive will get you to some of the most beautiful mountains, trails, and woods (imo) out west; the Sawtooths. And we have all four seasons here! Also, there is a ton of fishing, hunting, and white water rafting. Boise as a city is very into outdoors-y type activities, so whatever you're into, you'll find a group of supportive enthusiasts here.

IMO unless you already have a great job lined up, California is absolutely out of the question. If you're not already there its insanely expensive to move in and get settled. Oregon and Washington are similar in that front (not as bad as Cali, but I've literally had dozens of friends that tried to move to those places only to return a year or two later because work just didn't pan out, and the cost of living in those places are much higher than here.)

I can honestly recommend Boise. Everyone whom ever visits here hates to leave! If you want to test drive it, I'm always willing to open my home to people traveling through. You could fly in and stay a few weeks and check things out :thumbsup:
Well as long as you're, you know, not like an axe murderer or rapist or something like that...

Some pics (ripped from google, don't have any on my comp at the moment,) of some cool stuff in Idaho.
Some of the Sawtooths


Some Forests


Desert


And Boise




Hope that all helps
Cheers
 
#35 ·
I'm only respecting you enough to tell you the truth, if you want rainbows puffed up your tailpipe I could say YEAH COME TO ARIZONA! You can wheel with drunk fratbrodudes all over Butcher Jones while dodging dunes of trash! You can run Broken Arrow in Sedona! And all 600 yards of Soldier Pass! And get on the waiting list to camp in Oak Creek so you can wait in line to get into Slide Rock!

Wait, no.. that's not rainbows either. Arizona truly was a great place to enjoy the outdoors but it's like watching your loved ones grow old and die - when you head out to places you loved to play last year and they're arbitrarily off limits this year that's not me being depressing, that's reality being depressing. Every state has good and bad things about it, on the good side Arizona does still have more open wilderness than New Jersey, and it's as warm as Florida in winter. You can wrench outside, on the bare dirt under an open sky and it's not even unpleasant 330 days out of the year. You'll just have to brush the dust off your butt - try that in a wet or cold state. Well, I guess it's unpleasant in summer due to the heat.. but it's not mud or ice or snow or water, or even finger-benumbing cold. Just a lot of Schweddy Balls.

As for my personal status, I'm doing fine thanks. :)
 
#42 ·
Here's another one for you...Flagstaff, AZ.
Endless forest roads, 30 minutes to a variety of other environments. Want to hike in January? Drive 30 minutes to Sedona. You can downhill ski in the morning and hike in shorts in the afternoon if you want. Desert, plains, mountains, valleys, rivers, canyons, all of this only 30 minutes in any direction. Grand Canyon, only 70 miles.
Four seasons, but none of them extreme at all. We get piles of snow but without the dreary winter of the midwest. No ticks or mosquitos either, too high. Camp anywhere you like in the national forest which completely surrounds Flagstaff.
And Flagstaff is mountain biking and hiking heaven. I've been in Flag two years and still haven't hit them all. And I'm out a lot! I'm mostly just a forest road wheeler as well and the options are unbelievable. I use the Jeep to get me to more remote areas. But if you want a little more, it's out there.
If you can get a decent job, you can be all set in Flagstaff as an outdoor enthusiast. I've lived all over the US, and Flag definitely has the most going for it in outdoor activity options. I haven't been bored yet.
Best of luck!
 
#49 ·
I don't want to stay in the south

Utah hands down !

Plenty of Public BLM land to wheel on, Wether it be in Moab, Little Sahara Sand Dunes, Pre-running in the Desert .

Moab, Utah :



St. George, Utah :



American Fork Utah (30 minutes south east of Salt Lake City)





5 Mile Pass (30 minutes south west of Salt Lake City)





Little Moab ( 1 hr south of Salt Lake City)





Little Sahara Sand Dunes



Moab, UT. 50+ trails within miles, how can that not be on the list?
Utah is definitely on the list

If you want a bunch of nice, outdoor loving people then move to Colorado. You have tons of mountains and trails, and you can live all up and down I-25 and still any where you are, be like 45 mins away from mountains. I live in Broomfield, which is about 20 mins northwest of Denver, and 20 minutes southeast of boulder. It takes about 40 minutes to get to some really nice trails. Also the people here are very accepting of who ever you are. The jobs are aplenty, the metro area is a headquarters hub. There is about 20 different name brands that have their head quarters in the metro area. The head quarters of Noodles&Company and Staples are about 7 minutes away from my house.
Since you are in marketing and stuff, this would be a really good place.

We also have 4 DISTINCT Seasons. Buuuut the weather can change from 60 degrees in the morning to snowing and 10 degrees by 3. I think Colorado really has what you are looking for...
Yeah. ..it looks like a lot of votes for Colorado.

This thread has a lot of helpful info but so much of the west looks great...I guess I'm just going to start looking for jobs & look at cost of living, etc...
 
#45 ·
Utah hands down !

Plenty of Public BLM land to wheel on, Wether it be in Moab, Little Sahara Sand Dunes, Pre-running in the Desert .

Moab, Utah :



St. George, Utah :



American Fork Utah (30 minutes south east of Salt Lake City)





5 Mile Pass (30 minutes south west of Salt Lake City)





Little Moab ( 1 hr south of Salt Lake City)





Little Sahara Sand Dunes



 
#46 ·
Utah hands down
But it's Utah. Home of weak beer, archaic and (imo) asinine laws based on a very strict and overly prevalent religion (no offense to the Mormon Jeepers on here, but for those of us that are not Mormon, the rules/laws set by the Mormon church are harsh.)

That said, I have friends in Ogden/SLC and visit them fairly regularly. I will admit the landscape there is stunning. Buuuut, SLC is maybe 4 hours from where I live in Boise, and if I remember correctly St. George is only about 7 (been a few years since I've been down that far). IMO Utah is a great place to visit but hard to live there if you're not into the religion.

My .02
Cheers
 
#47 ·
Moab, UT. 50+ trails within miles, how can that not be on the list?
 
#48 ·
If you want a bunch of nice, outdoor loving people then move to Colorado. You have tons of mountains and trails, and you can live all up and down I-25 and still any where you are, be like 45 mins away from mountains. I live in Broomfield, which is about 20 mins northwest of Denver, and 20 minutes southeast of boulder. It takes about 40 minutes to get to some really nice trails. Also the people here are very accepting of who ever you are. The jobs are aplenty, the metro area is a headquarters hub. There is about 20 different name brands that have their head quarters in the metro area. The head quarters of Noodles&Company and Staples are about 7 minutes away from my house.
Since you are in marketing and stuff, this would be a really good place.

We also have 4 DISTINCT Seasons. Buuuut the weather can change from 60 degrees in the morning to snowing and 10 degrees by 3. I think Colorado really has what you are looking for...
 
#50 ·
Ok....hey jf!

...I have graduated & am still looking for a full time job...I have a place here that thinks I will fit with their company, but I don't want to be here. ..a lot to think about

I have a phone interview on Wednesday with a company in Columbia, MD

How is MD in terms of hiking/biking & wheeling? :)

Sent by a messenger bird
 
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