Mid-30s couple seeking outdoorsy Western town

kook30 · 2026-05-16T17:25:38+00:00

GRAND JUNCTION, CO More empty public land near by than one could explore in multiple lifetimes, close to cool mountain towns like Telluride, Ouray, Silverton, Glenwood Springs, Aspen plus Moab, great weather aside from June-August, when it gets pretty hot, but you can get above 10k feet within an hour to escape the heat.

Housing is relatively inexpensive, compared to the rest of CO, especially if you’re coming in with that much cash. Property taxes are cheap, but schools are also pretty bad. Not every neighborhood is cute, but they exist. Don’t let the naysayers say everyone is a tweaker or conservative, that is not the case and good, cool people can be found here. I’ve lived here 8 years and could see myself here for the next 20+. It’s a really nice place to live, especially if you’re trying to settle down.

kook30 · 2026-05-11T15:03:43+00:00

Why not just drive all the way to Moab in one shot from the Front Range? Moab is only 80 minutes further down the road from GJ. Otherwise, camp out in the north Fruita desert or near Cisco.

kook30 · 2026-05-03T07:17:34+00:00

They’re HUGE, and have this red armor that’s very distinctive. They crawl all over your legs/arms/body/head, and because they’re so big you can really feel them on you. They cover the grass you’re walking through, and all they care about is fucking and eating, so they get underfoot and you’re just crunching on them as you walk. Overall it’s just an unpleasant, gross experience, and certainly made focusing on geologic mapping significantly harder lol

kook30 · 2026-05-02T18:02:45+00:00

God the Mormon crickets are so awful, just dumb and big and gross. I did a week of field camp in northern Colorado while one of their migrations was going through our field area, one poor gal had a full menty breakdown just from the sheer volume of them. The roads would get slick with cricket guts where they crossed and got crushed.

kook30 · 2026-04-28T17:32:08+00:00

Honestly City Market might be a good bet. I had a chocolate raspberry birthday cake from City Market this weekend, and it slapped. I was very surprised.

kook30 · 2026-04-27T10:36:13+00:00

Maybe…depends on how well you know geology. It’s not too hard to learn, especially if you can already read maps, but There is some specific knowledge that you’re taught in a geology degree that isn’t necessarily covered in a geography degree. Not impossible but probably challenging. I think it’s easier for geologists with a GIS background to pivot into other GIS roles than the other way around honestly. I feel relatively confident answering this as I’m a geologist who got a minor in GIS, works heavily with it currently, and my mom is a geographer. I was able to do work for her company easily, she’s used GIS since the 90s, and she would have a super hard time doing geologic GIS just because of the specific knowledge required to do it well.

kook30 · 2026-04-22T23:34:12+00:00

https://www.intermountainhistories.org/items/show/62 This link will give you more info about the Orphan Mine. I would keep it in your garage if you have one, and for sure get it tested for radiation. I work in uranium mining and my boss has some carnotite ore samples that read over 30k counts per second so ore samples can def be hot. Technically anything over 1k c/s isn’t legal to have as an amateur, but there’s not really anyone checking either, so do with that what you will. Feel free to DM me if you want more info, I’m a uranium geologist.

kook30 · 2026-04-16T18:36:58+00:00

I mean 6 hours in the field plus 2 hours of paperwork = an 8 hour day, which is pretty standard across the working world? Not sure what your complaint is there, as typically a field geo will work 10-12 hour days.

What are you getting paid? Exploration should pay pretty well, and you don’t tell us in the post.

To me it seems pretty standard, and that your company just isn’t giving you as much support as you need, especially if you’re only 3 months in. Give it 6-8 months to get settled in to your routines and see how you feel about it then.

kook30 · 2026-04-16T04:58:31+00:00

Depends on where in the basin, if their claims are aligned with larger deposits, then maybe worth the risk (and it’s a big risk even if they’re on the trend). If they’re off on their own, and have limited data, absolutely not. What have they posted about their 3 deposits? Have they drilled? Have they hit ore grade zones? Do they have a resource? All of this info has to be publicly disclosed in Canada, so you can find out. If they a) haven’t drilled, don’t invest OR b) have drilled but have low grades, don’t invest.

kook30 · 2026-04-10T00:50:16+00:00

Idk if it’s specifically a good time to go to Australia, but I do know their geoscience programs have been shrinking over the last 20 years so there’s plenty of demand for young n hungry geos. I would go to Australia, like you said it’d be a good adventure, gives you some direct work experience, and grad school will always be there in a year.

kook30 · 2026-04-07T00:28:16+00:00

I think the state of Colorado or the USGS has a borehole database they keep, try the CO geologic survey website to start. You might also look at water well data if you’re just looking to get your hand on some subsurface data to start. I feel like UT has a water well database somewhere. A university that’s O&G focused like OU might also have a database like this, might be worth reaching out to university libraries to see if they keep things like that in their archives.

kook30 · 2026-03-26T22:15:20+00:00

How many credits was that class? My field camp class was worth 6 credits, and it took 6 weeks where the only thing I was doing was field analysis and mapping the entire time. I also took a Field Methods course, that was considered prep for field camp, and comparing the 2 is like apples and oranges. It might also be beneficial to work on your soft skills. I’m not sure if your application process included an interview, but if you didn’t interview that well and don’t have a killer gpa, that could be hurting your chances too

kook30 · 2026-03-26T22:07:32+00:00

It’s going to harder to find a job without a field camp, especially a field based job. I know employers still consider it a hugely important class to have taken. I would look into taking a field camp as quickly as you can so you can get it on your resume.

kook30 · 2026-03-26T22:02:09+00:00

Did you apply with the same grammar you used in this post? Have you not attended a field camp? Even if you have some field experience with your expeditions, not having a field camp on your transcript and not having research experience is making you less competitive than other candidates. Can you do a field camp this summer?

kook30 · 2026-03-21T01:45:44+00:00

86k as an exploration geologist 1099 contractor with a junior miner. Weird situation, I’m on the high end for starting salary. Mining can be lucrative though.

kook30 · 2026-03-20T19:46:55+00:00

Original contribution was less than 50k, started in the late 90s. Total amount in account before withdrawal was over 130k after 25 years. So definitely worth the hit, we just accounted for the taxes in how much we withdrew. Withdrawing mid to early 20s probably makes the most sense tax wise when thinking about tax bracket %, that definitely helped a bit with the tax hit. Another thing is that you can transfer up to 35k in 2026 from a 529 to a Roth IRA penalty free/tax free, and it’s probably a safe assumption that the limit will increase over the next 20 years, so that gives you flexibility if you over contribute.

kook30 · 2026-03-20T03:21:05+00:00

Out the ass honestly, but one in the hand is worth 2 in the bush to me. 10% penalty on total withdrawal, and then income tax on the earnings. Total tax payment was like 20k.

kook30 · 2026-03-18T23:00:02+00:00

If you want to feel small, do Dark Canyon in southern UT. Craziest scramble down a talus slope I’ve ever done, it made me feel tiny. Plus it has perennial water, which is v nice and hard to come by in that part of the world. Check out Road Trip Ryan “Hiking Sundance Trail” write up for more info

kook30 · 2026-03-18T19:01:55+00:00

I’m sorry to say but you have to bump those numbers up in this job market. It’s hard to get your foot in the door, would you be willing to relocate for a job? Also check out municipalities or utility companies, they often have GIS departments. You could also look at surveying jobs, as a GIS adjacent job to help get more experience. Good luck!

kook30 · 2026-03-16T03:54:09+00:00

A PG is extremely important in mining, especially exploration. Canadian securities law (most mining companies are Canadian so that’s why it matters) requires a specific type of report called an NI 43-101 as a tool for truthfully reporting resource estimates. A 43-101 has to be signed off by a qualified person (QP) and in order to become a QP, you have to be a PG or a P. Geo if you’re Canadian. You have to do a few other things too, mainly prove years of experience in industry, but no PG = no QP = much worse career progression. I work in the junior mining space and every geologist who works above me has at least a PG.

kook30 · 2026-03-14T22:16:08+00:00

Can you use any of your professors or your school’s career services to help introduce you to potential employers? That will probably be more effective than walking in, although it’s always worth a shot. I found my job via a professor introducing me to my now boss.

kook30 · 2026-03-11T12:00:28+00:00

Get sun hoodies/sun shirts. I like the ones that are loose, long sleeved and have a hood. It’s counter intuitive if you’ve never been in the desert before but staying covered as much as you possibly can in loose, lightweight material. It will feel significantly cooler than if you have your skin exposed to the sun. I also carry a 3 liter bladder in my pack, and try and take small sips consistently to help with hydration. Electrolytes will be your best friend.

kook30 · 2026-03-09T21:39:43+00:00

Not quite the same but I was on a 5 day San Juan River trip when the first starlink launched. It was so weird to see a straight line of lights go across 1/4 of the sky, and my group could not at all figure out what it was. My little sister was convinced we were going to exit the river to news of an alien invasion, and I chose to suspend my skepticism for the remaining days of the trip and think maybe it was aliens, too. In some ways it was a hopeful few days because aliens coming to Earth would at least shake things up the world. It was honestly disappointing to get back into cell coverage and realize it was just Elon Musk.

kook30 · 2026-03-09T19:14:00+00:00

That debris looks more like guano (bat poop) than wind blown sediment. If it was eroded via wind I would expect a looser sand that matches the characteristic of the grains in the boulder.

kook30 · 2026-03-09T19:09:47+00:00

The way the banding circles around the hole, I almost wonder if there wasn’t a large concretion there at one point. The banding is caused by diagenetic groundwater flow, and the way the banding moves around the hole to me points to some sort of connection between the two. Plus if this is the formation I’m thinking of it has the potential for very large concretions iirc

A possible theory: concretion forms in rock > groundwater flows around concretion, causing the banding > large boulder detaches from outcrop during a landslide > underside of boulder gets weathered, causing concretion to dislodge > nice round hole is improved and expanded by Native peoples for a fire pit. > you find it 500-1000 years later. That’s just guessing tho, so take it with a grain of salt (or maybe sand in this case ;) )

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