Current residents of the San Luis Valley...Can I ask you a few things? (Denver: car rental, rental)

[Mike from back east]

I'm sure the thieves laugh at chains and locks.

Might be a worthwhile gambit to rent a storage locker and put your tools and household items in there for the 10 months you won't be there, else they may be gone/destroyed during your absence.

[Hyperviktor]

I’m looking at more from the practical side of this - I wouldn’t mind really if someone takes a showel or a spade, it’s more like i’m curious what i can leave there that’s safe, weatherproof , wouldn’t harm animals etc.

Maybe a type of toolbox you’d have on the back of a pickup truck?

In a quite remote wooded place do I really need to worry about anyone taking anything from my land? I’d think it’s something more likely to happen in populated areas.

[Mike from back east]

Over the years we've had posters tell us that most anything not nailed down in rural America is up for grabs. Locks on doors mean nothing if you're away for months.

[otowi]

My parents once had a 30 acre plot of land not in SLV but nearby. The land around was either similar private undeveloped plots or some blm land. At one point they put a little camper on the land with some supplies for camping inside. It was broken into and basically everything stolen or vandalized. This seems to be a very common problem/issue. They ultimately decided to sell the land because they could not have any expectation of being able to leave anything on it without it being stolen or ruined.

[brightdoglover]

Originally Posted by Hyperviktor

...

In a quite remote wooded place do I really need to worry about anyone taking anything from my land? I’d think it’s something more likely to happen in populated areas.

Not so, apparently. What appears quite remote to a newcomer is just part of the landscape to local people. I had friends in Maine whose cabin was only reachable on skis, and someone came in and stole two cords of wood he chopped.

A friend who had a part-time rural property in northern Italy lost $10k worth of farm equipment and tools, and I remember he said, "The damn modern world has intruded!" As if there was no thievery in the past in rural areas? What were those city walls all about?

[DOUBLE H]

I kind of hate to pile on here but there is reason for it. Mike from Back East and Otowi make good points. Hyperviktor, do a web search for an article by Coloradohealth.org. It's titled "A Rural Crisis: The Opioid Epidemic In The San Luis Valley."

A few people who get to the Colorado Forum have been critical of Southern Colorado, specifically Pueblo and Walsenburg over the drug situation, lately prescription drugs. It has been bad in the San Luis Valley for some time. I would think real hard about building a place and only live in it for a few months out of the year. For one thing, like what's been stated here it will only be a matter of time that someone or someones will invite themselves in. I'm not saying that there is a huge homeless problem in the San Luis Valley but if I was homeless and hungry I wouldn't think twice about breaking in.

And then there is another issue at work here regarding drugs, and that is meth. Big problem in the rural areas of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. You get these kids (and adults) cooking meth and selling it, well, I personally haven't been in a motel room where the smell in that room reeks of the stuff. But if you talk to a motel owner he will give you an education on it. I do a tad bit of travelling. I classify my budget as Motel 6 (thrifty, in other words) and several Motel 6's I've stayed at over the years have had to basically gut out a room because the smell in that room just knocks you over. And in those cases Motel 6 administration has had to close the rooms on both sides of the one room that is affected.

I'm not trying to discourage you from moving to that part of Colorado, just trying to make a point on a subject that has been talked about and a subject that is getting worse by the month, that being meth, opioids, fentanyl, etc., etc.

[WinterJo]

I agree with recent posters. We live at the end of the road and hook into state and USFS trails beyond us. Someone came out last week, drove a bit past our driveway and shot off a box of shotgun shells. They left behind a dirty needle and empty casings. Obviously, not how people in their right mind act. I wasn't home at the time or I would have heard it. I am actually glad I wasn't home. Even when we feel we live in seclusion, the opioid epidemic can still find us.

[PcolaFLGuy]

Originally Posted by Hyperviktor

I’m looking at more from the practical side of this - I wouldn’t mind really if someone takes a showel or a spade, it’s more like i’m curious what i can leave there that’s safe, weatherproof , wouldn’t harm animals etc.

Maybe a type of toolbox you’d have on the back of a pickup truck?

In a quite remote wooded place do I really need to worry about anyone taking anything from my land? I’d think it’s something more likely to happen in populated areas.

The deal in the SLV is that it simply can't be patrolled like other areas. It's basically "no man's land" most of the time. I imagine that, unless you reside there 24/7/365, folks will come snooping and take what they can.

As has been mentioned, this area is where some folks go to 'drop off the radar'. Property crime is mentioned a lot on these and past threads.

[Hyperviktor]

I don't mind if someone steals it as I wrote earlier, I'm more interested in practical opinions - could a metal box harm animals ? Would it be weatherproof ? Do I need to slightly dig it in the ground ? Etc.

Thanks for all the other info so far.

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by PcolaFLGuy

The deal in the SLV is that it simply can't be patrolled like other areas. It's basically "no man's land" most of the time. I imagine that, unless you reside there 24/7/365, folks will come snooping and take what they can.

As has been mentioned, this area is where some folks go to 'drop off the radar'. Property crime is mentioned a lot on these and past threads.

That is true of many rural areas. The sheriffs are spread thin, lack generous budgets, etc etc.

If someone stealing a few cheap-to-the-“foreign”-owner things seems inconsequential, consider a very different type of property crime that also is too common: People cooking up meth and discarding the toxic stuff. I don’t know if this happens in England or Hungary, but it happens in the USA.