Colorado Springs, CO

Matt Derrick

Matt Derrick

Retired Wanderer
Staff member
I'm merging all discussions about Colorado Springs into this thread here, so people can ask questions or post info about it all in one place :)
 
I winter in Colorado Springs (60 miles south of Denver). It's a great city to be poor in.
Plenty of places to camp. Tooons of christians here which equates to lots of food banks and help-the-hungry programs. (They give away pizza in Acacia Park every Sat.!)
Downtown is small, public transpo is mediocre, and in 15 minutes you can be very far away from people in some of the most beautiful nature I've seen. I cook as well, and have always gotten work when I wanted it. (I do have an AA in culinary though...). Losts of cool communty gardens popping up and a small group of business owners dedicated to doing the right thing by its customers.

-Downfalls-lots of christians, lots of douchy military types (fort carson is close, but this has been good as I have dumpster some amazing gear from apartment complexes). Also no real culture to speak of...a few art galleries, one decent music venue with a good band rolling through every now and again, and only a handful of restaraunts that I would eat at. For me, being so close to the mountains and all the outdoorsy stuff here makes up for the lack of more urban entertaining.

Denver is the only BIG city here. I dont like to be poor in big cities. Just not my thing. You also might wanna check out Fort Collings, a smaller college town (CSU) that has a cool Colorado vibe to it.

I'd look into the Springs or FoCo before Denver....
 
That's sounds awesome! What's the crime like in Colorado Springs? I know it's better than denver or here in savannah I'd think. I like weed and not so much art or whatever. I'm just a typical looking guy which prolly helps with ppl. For some reason most assume I've been in the military for whatever reasons I dunno. I wild camp here and that would be tight to do the same there. Is there plenty of woods to find myself a private spot you think? Damn that sounds like kind of a stupid question. I'm high so it's ok.
 
I've alway thought crime is a bit subjective...if you have common sense you can alway avoid it and it's troubles, even in the worst cities; ie-dont walk the high street at 4am alone with your pack on.
With that being said it's more drunken violence and paper fraud happening here.

You'll definately be able to find a nice camp spot. Privacy depends on how far from ammenities you wanna be. You could be by yourself for miles if yo you wanna hike 25 miles for supplies, but you could also find a nice spot along the Fountain river 1 mile from downtown, but you'd be accompanied by a few other tents.

And in regards to weed, it's the best here in my opinion, and I've smoked in CA, OR, and WA within the last year and CO has the tops. Everyone grows, super cheap good schtuff. Lots of cool microbrews here too...but theyre too expensive for me.

I'll be here and there until it gets coooold again. Hit me up if you land here and if I'm in town Ill give ya the tour, show ya good camp spots, where to get food, etc.
 
Nice. Yea will def hit you up. Another question. What's the fastest way to get a colorado id? I got a current drivers id for ga and it would be str8 to get a photo id quick. I read that I can go and use a homeless shelter as an address. There is a shitload of them there. Any specific one that could be used for this? Salvation Army ?

Also what's a free way to prove residency? I can mail something from ga before I hop greyhound maybe? Anything I could do here like social security or some other loop hole here in ga and have it mailed there?
 
Shit man, I try to avoid shelters like the plague, so I can't tell you much about them other than where they are.

But I will say I'm not sure that you would need a valid CO ID so long as you have a valid GA ID; but you'd have to go to the DMV for that if you needed one. You'd for sure need proof of residensy; but again I had my PA ID forever here and it was never a problem. (I've got a library card, went to food banks, got jobs etc with my PA ID, so long as you have some mail with a CO zip on it; I believe the only thing you wont be able to do is get food stamps which is a fucking huge hassle anyway and donate plasma with an outta state ID, but thats probably a good thing. :) )

I keep a PO box, that's what I would do if I was you. It cost me $4 a month. Get anything sent to it, anybody that wants proof of residency just want mails with your name and a CO address on it.
 
Hey folks, just thought i'd put this up here for anyone that might be stuck in colorado springs in the future. while i was here over two days i found this cool spot to camp in the south side:

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.7796692,-104.7795055,14z?hl=en

you'll have to bike/walk down there on the bike trail (maybe 4 miles from downtown?) and find your way up the other side of the river (across a bridge), but it's not hard at all. it's way up on a hill, but at the top you're surrounded by other hills so you could set up a tent (like i did) and no one will see you up there. there's also no one around for quite a distance besides a junk yard that closes around 5-6pm, so you could probably build a fire at night without attracting any kind of attention.

you'll know you've found the right place when you see an old rusted sign advertising it as a paintball course.
 
So I found a really amazing place today in Colorado Springs. The Garden Of The Gods is a huge park with a lot of beautiful rock formations. It's a great place to go to get your mind of the bustle of the world and just enjoy the earth and it's wonder. I enjoy national parks and forests, what are some of your favorites that you've been to?
 

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Recently when in colorado. I got put up for two nights in castle rock. The rock there over looking the town and 25 is worth the easy hike up. Scrabblings to climb and exlpore. Really cool in the snow. My rideshare recomended garden of the gods.
 
Made the mistake of swinging by on a Friday night, and the place was packed with tourists. Gorgeous views though
 
If you dig the Garden, spend some time exploring Southern Utah. The hoodoo formations out there are breathtaking, wish a similar eerie vibe to that of Garden.
Bryce Canyon NP UTah, hands down best NP. Also Gila National forest in NM, by the cliff dwellings. There's something severely sacred/spiritual about that place. Free unlimited camping.
I'm on a NP tour right now, this is a beautiful world

Take care dude
 
Ahhh I loved the Springs, really only spent time out west by the Garden of the Gods (camped out in the trees across from the visitors center like on the base of the Gods).

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There was a cool shop that sold paper maps and atlases too (1045 W Garden of the Gods Rd). Also real easy to hitch in & out of!
 

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Currently in the springs with my lady my dog an our van. It's definitely chill here, like previously said, if your on foot, along the fountain river (which also runs along the train tracks, it does make stops here), west of I-25 and memorial park specifically are great places to crash. If your in a vehicle the walmarts say no overnighting but they really don't give a shit, we frequently just park in a lot of the public parks and don't get bothered, they're quiet and dark and a lot have porta potties even. People are very generous here don't be scared to fly a sign and if you find yourself near garden of the gods, CHECK OUT MANITOU, if you busk this is a great city for it. If anyone's got questions hmu
 
MFB said:
I winter in Colorado Springs (60 miles south of Denver). It's a great city to be poor in.
Plenty of places to camp. Tooons of christians here which equates to lots of food banks and help-the-hungry programs. (They give away pizza in Acacia Park every Sat.!)
Downtown is small, public transpo is mediocre, and in 15 minutes you can be very far away from people in some of the most beautiful nature I've seen. I cook as well, and have always gotten work when I wanted it. (I do have an AA in culinary though...). Losts of cool communty gardens popping up and a small group of business owners dedicated to doing the right thing by its customers.

-Downfalls-lots of christians, lots of douchy military types (fort carson is close, but this has been good as I have dumpster some amazing gear from apartment complexes). Also no real culture to speak of...a few art galleries, one decent music venue with a good band rolling through every now and again, and only a handful of restaraunts that I would eat at. For me, being so close to the mountains and all the outdoorsy stuff here makes up for the lack of more urban entertaining.

Denver is the only BIG city here. I dont like to be poor in big cities. Just not my thing. You also might wanna check out Fort Collings, a smaller college town (CSU) that has a cool Colorado vibe to it.

I'd look into the Springs or FoCo before Denver....
Click to expand...

Try out Salida next time! Lots of blm land and the Safeway dumpsters always have something, and the arcade in town usually is chill about you filling up water bottles for free. I also really like Trinidad CO.
 
The website was on the news today. It talked about how people are using this website to relocate to Colorado. Being from Colorado ever since legalization of weed locals have not been too kind out tourist. In fact they are gentrifying alot of Colorado Springs just like Denver to get rid of the homeless. I think the homeless get a bad rep because of the major meth problem and the increase in sexual assault. It's also sad going to some places and seeing how trashed the homeless have kept some places. Please take care of our beautiful state.
 
LastNameDoe said:
The website was on the news today. It talked about how people are using this website to relocate to Colorado. Being from Colorado ever since legalization of weed locals have not been too kind out tourist. In fact they are gentrifying alot of Colorado Springs just like Denver to get rid of the homeless. I think the homeless get a bad rep because of the major meth problem and the increase in sexual assault. It's also sad going to some places and seeing how trashed the homeless have kept some places. Please take care of our beautiful state.
Click to expand...

can you post a link to the article you're speaking of?
 
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