Which place? Salt Lake City or Denver?

I grew up in a suburb of Salt Lake (Bountiful) and I was constantly harassed about not being a Mormon. Salt Lake county might be fine, but do not head north to Bountiful, Kaysville or Odgen. The further north you go the bigger jerks they become.

I went to school in Logan, which was way, waaaay more Mormon. Even then, it wasn't bad and nobody discriminated against us. The worst "discrimination" if you could call it that, was occasional sideways glances when buying beer or coffee at the grocery store.

The first and only movie theater where beer is served that I've ever been to was in SLC.

I don't know if you can call SLC a cultural backwater, but it is not as cosmopolitan as Denver. Since the OP said he was looking for rugged outdoorsy type stuff, I'd say SLC is the better option.

I wonder where he chose?

Mountain express lane, b!tch. Three lanes from Empire to Floyd Hill. In the month it's been open, it's decreased the average peak hour weekend afternoon drive from Eisenhower Tunnel to C470 from 100 minutes to 60 minutes.Maybe if the Californian's moving here would vote for a gas tax increase, the west bound could get built too.

Angry Willy wrote:

Live north and east of Denver, out on the plains ... you can see our place about 5 min before you land when coming in from the north.

. Going west ... there are really only a handful of ways to get into the mountains ... one of which is I-70, and it is a PITA during the winter, and on holiday weekends. Getting to the ski areas is easy, getting back from the ski areas might take 6 hours. The same goes for holiday weekends ... Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor day ... always stop and go between Idaho Springs and Georgetown, or Idaho springs and Eisenhower Tunnel.

Telemark Runner wrote:

Mountain express lane, b!tch. Three lanes from Empire to Floyd Hill. In the month it's been open, it's decreased the average peak hour weekend afternoon drive from Eisenhower Tunnel to C470 from 100 minutes to 60 minutes.

Maybe if the Californian's moving here would vote for a gas tax increase, the west bound could get built too.

You idiots bought into express lanes. Haha! Get back to us in 24 months when commute times are riiiiight back where they started.

Good luck in paradise.

I would go with SLC over Denver.

Montana.

Have lived in the north Midwest for 20 years and have the opportunity of living in SLC for the summer. Thank you for all the great information. Been through Denver and SLC for vacation and love both places. That said, don't move to the Midwest whatever you do unless you are willing to sacrifice your entire life for your kids education.

Just my experiences road tripping through the west.

Montana is great! Beautiful place but gets very cold in the winter. Would move here in a heartbeat if winters weren't so bad.

Denver is awesome. Great place to vacation, hike, and camp. Seems like there is a lot more riff raff and crime. This is expected in a bigger city, but I have been to Minneapolis many times and the vibes there aren't as bad.

SLC seems great from previous roadtrips. Lots of hiking in the Wasatch and if you get bored you can head to southern utah for even more beautiful sights. At first the Mormon laws seem weird but I don't see why cracking down on drunk driving and alcohol consumption can be such a bad thing. You can still go to the liquor store and buy whatever you need.

Hopefully I enjoy my 12 weeks in SLC. Looking for a training partner as well.

what are you training for?

I would take a bit of an issue of no demarcation between Denver and Colorado Springs. It is an hour drive from the south end of Denver and one passes through lots of open space not to mention Castle Rock and Monument. It is not like Los Angeles.

Crap, just noticed how old this thread is.

My point still stands.

I grew up and lived in Denver most of my life. That being said I don't live there now, but am up there a lot for work / family matters. The traffic has gotten terrible (front range adds close to 80,000 people a year) and housing is in a real pinch right now, so it has rapidly inflated. That being said, there are a lot of trails close to and right in town. If I had to choose a place to live, I would choose the southwest side of town. I used to own a place on the Highline Canal near Heritage High School (which is in a great school district) and was great for accessing trails (both the canal and the south Platte trail offer dirt and / or wood chip trails) and for riding bikes up to Chatfield and into Waterton Canyon. Since I left, the housing has gotten pretty crazy (you would be lucky to find something halfway decent for under $500,000). There are some great trails close to town down by Roxborough, Ken Karyl and up in Deer Creek. As far as outdoors, there's lots of great hiking and back country fishing in the Mt Evans SWA that is less than 45 minutes away. Ski resorts are 1-2 hours for the close ones and 3-5 for some of the more prestigious ones like Aspen and Vail.

I have been to SLC a number of times. It is a great place to raise a family (it is a very safe and very clean city). Mormons are very nice people who live commendable lives, don't let single young kids who are more concerned about getting stoned and laid convince you otherwise (I am not a Mormon, but I make many lifestyle choices that are similar). There is great running along the Provo River, it has great outdoor opportunities close by (if you are a fly fisherman, the fishing is much better and you are closer to Western Wyoming, which has some of the best trout fishing in the lower 48, although nothing quite like the ocean fly fishing you would be leaving behind).

Both are great places if you want to enjoy the outdoors. For me, the northern Front Range of Colorado (which I grew up in) is quickly losing it's appeal as it seems to be growing too quickly and is rapidly becoming like California (over-priced, extremely liberal and rapidly running out of water).

Why don't you consider New Mexico?

Final cross country season. Graduating in December.

Everyone saying that Denver is barely within eyesight of the mountains has obviously never been to Denver. You can be in the mountains within 30 minutes and can clearly see the mountains even from the far east. I was born and raised here and the only place I would leave Colorado for is Alaska. People here are pretty laid back and very outdoorsy.