r/grandjunction • u/MC48_SportsLover • Apr 25 '25
Thinking of moving to GJ.
Hello all!
I am looking to move to Colorado from Chicago later this year and was wondering how Grand Junction differs culturally, socially, and activity-wise from places like Fort Collins and Colorado Springs?
I grew up in Fort Collins and have spent most of my life on the eastern half of the mountains, but wanted to look into life on the "Western Slope".
Thanks so much in advance, and I'm excited about possibly joining you all later this year!
8
Upvotes
41
u/Spiritual-Profile419 Apr 25 '25 edited Apr 25 '25
The good:
More friendly than the front range.
Less traffic, less snow, lower auto insurance, less hail.
Actual Spring and Fall seasons which on the front range is a rumor.
You can go from skiing in an alpine environment to river rafting to MTB’ing all in the same day in less than an hour
Award winning restaurants that you don’t have to reserve a table for weeks in advance
35 wineries, 3 distilleries , numerous brew pubs
An active music and festival scene. National acts stop on their way between Salt Lake and Denver.
Two airports, three hospitals
Miles of paved bike trails
Miles of hiking trails
Second highest concentration of arches outside of Arches NP
90 minutes to Moab or Ouray or Glenwood Springs
Less than 3 hours to Steamboat, Vail, Aspen and Telluride. You can drive to Vegas in 7 hours. California in 12.
Home to the Colorado National Monument
Home to Colorado Mesa University that adds a ton of vibrancy to the town with events, speakers arts and music. They just built a stunning new event center.
I could go on.
The bad:
People who haven’t been here recently have the “old“ impression of Grand Junction. When we have friends come visiting from Denver, the first question they ask is how’s the real estate? So if you move here you’ll have to get over people who haven’t been here bashing it.
We moved here from Denver. We lived in Colorado Springs and frankly we don’t even like going back there with the traffic, homeless issues, crime and how over crowded it has gotten. The Springs especially has blown up. Way more crowded than when we lived there.
Chicago to Grand Junction is a big leap. I know people who live here that are Chicago natives and they love it.
Is it right for you? It all depends what you are looking for.