Best crag in the USA/world to telework?

I'm pretty fortunate in that I've got a job with flexible hours and flexible location. I will occasionally have meetings with clients, but I can frequently get away for 2-4 weeks at a time. I've taken a couple 7-10 day trips to RRG/Miguel's, but I'm looking to broaden my horizons. Even if I only get 2-3 hours of climbing per day, that's still infinitely better than living in the suburbs and being a weekend warrior.

So, where can I go that has:

• Easy, inexpensive camping with WiFi and general amenities (showers/bathhouse, power, food prep areas, etc)
• 15-20 minute drive to (most of) the crags
• Decent (or better) 4G cell reception around the crags
• Within 90 minute drive of an airport

To be honest, I can't think of too many spots other than Miguel's at Red River Gorge. On a trip like this, work is the priority, so some creature comforts like a bathhouse, power, and wifi are mandatory. Can't really go off the grid dirtbagging like I'd prefer. Work would likely be split throughout the day (some in the AM, some in the PM) with climbing mixed in as available.

Any suggestions? Open to anywhere in the USA. And if a boy can dream, I suppose options overseas would be cool to think about as well once I get a bit more stable (or work slows down).

Check out New Paltz and climb at the Gunks. Around 90 mins to a few airports and NYC, and a cool town, 20 mins from the sickness and reasonable camping options.

Plus, Vegas baby! I just got back and the guys who live there have their poop in a group. You can live outside the strip area, access the airport and amenities and never be more than 20 mins from the scenic loop. Lifetime of climbing there. Literally.

Slc?

The Gunks is my home crag. My drive is about 1 hr flat into New Paltz. Unfortunately, there are no local campsites with power and wifi, or at least, none for under $40/night (i.e. ridiculous). Also - I've been climbing there for close to 15 years - hoping to check some other areas out as well.

Now that I think about it - HP40 also hits just about every criteria, except there's NOTHING in the surrounding area. It's hard to even do basic grocery shopping.

I thought about Vegas/Red Rock. There's certainly no power/wifi (or even cell reception) at the main campground. Are there other camping options? Last time I was there (just last month) we stayed at an AirBnB house rental which was great, but too expensive ($50/night plus a one-time cleaning fee) to consider for long term use.

Bishop?

You forgot the most important detail...what kind of climbing do you like to do?

Bishop, South Lake, Truckee??

Go the NRG, closer than RRG, AAC campground is good, not sure if they have put showers in yet but I know it was in the plans, or if its warm shower in the river, can find plenty of wi-fi in town, try Cathedral Cafe, plus their basketball skills are way above those of the miguels crowd.

I'm looking for power and WiFi at the campsite. I don't want to have to post up at a place of business for 5-6 hours a day.

Otherwise NRG would be a contender. No WiFi at the AAC, no convenient power at Cantrells, etc.

"You forgot the most important detail...what kind of climbing do you like to do?"

Anything from single pitch sport to multi pitch trad. I climb up to the low 12s on bolts, never tried a trad 12, too chicken. Even bouldering, I suppose. Biggest concern is finding partners of course.

Move to SLC - rent a room for $300. Climb in LCC, Maple, City of Rocks, and Moab.

Given your circumstances, I wouldn't entirely rule out the possibility of renting a room or a dinky little studio apartment via a short-term Craigslist sublet. It would allow you a comfortable place to live and sleep, a shower, electricity, and a quiet, private place to work. A lot of climbing areas are near some shitty desert towns with very cheap rental markets, so the financials of getting a place to live indoors can be suprisingly reasonable. Sometimes it doesn't cost any more than staying in a nice campground. Las Vegas comes to mind as a place where you could easily find an inexpensive sublet situation for part of the season...cost of living is still pretty cheap there following the real estate bubble collapse. I've heard that finding an inexpensive place to live short term in Chattanooga is also pretty easy; I know people who have done this.

I've done this--paid rent for an apartment while on a climbing trip--once, and it worked out great. It was a few years ago, I was working a seasonal job, and had a few months free in the middle of winter for a climbing trip. I had schemed up a trip to Spain, and had been saving my pennies all year to buy a plane ticket and have just enough left to pay for the rest of the trip. Unfortunately, the timing just wouldn't work to make it worth flying over there. That winter, there were various family obligations that required me to be in California every couple of weeks, and I was also applying to grad school; leaving the country wasn't going to happen that winter. After some frustration, I realized that for less than the price of a plane ticket, I could rent a little 1-room mini-apartment in Bishop for a few months, and live very comfortably. It was great; I found a furnished room, with a little kitchenette, cable TV, wifi, etc for $400/month. Hanging out in Bishop for a winter was perfect: I got to do a ton of climbing, lived very comfortably, was still able to be around for real-life stuff, and actually saved money as compared to a shoe-string budget trip to Spain. Highly recommended. You could go even cheaper in somewhere like Vegas (housing in Bishop is weirdly expensive).

Another perk of having your own little indoor home, as opposed to camping, is that you save money in all sorts of little ways. You aren't paying for showers, or for the extra gas driving off to some remote camping spot, or for cups of coffee to justify another hour of using the coffee shop Wifi. When it all adds up, including daily camping fees, camping is sometimes not that much cheaper, and it is certainly less comfortable. Camping for $10 a night isn't that uncommon for a nice cmpground, and over the course of a month this adds up to $300...you can sometimes get a room in a house or apartment for that much.

Edit: Austin beat me to the punch by moments. SLC would be a great place to spend some time in the summer/fall (or winter/spring if you like to ski). I have a friend who did this last summer; he an his girlfriend were working remotely and wanted to skip the Southeast's summer, so they headed out to Salt Lake and settled in to an inexpensive little apartment to work and climb.

Another suggestion, more to your original question: check out the Lazy Lizard Hostel in Moab. It is a nice little operation, and fairly cheap (like $10/night to sleep in a comfortable bunk). Internet, showers, a table to work at should all be available. There are some private rooms available too, and not terribly expensive either. The Lazy Lizard has always been my preferred Moab shower option, and I've also stayed there a few times after getting stormed out of the Creek. I've always found it to be a nice place to stay. Also, the quality of the climbing around there goes without saying.

Horseshoe Canyon Ranch in Arkansas meets your criteria.

Easy, inexpensive camping
- Pitch a tent anywhere at $10 a night.

WiFi
- You can get wifi at the lodge (may have to sit outside at a table)

showers/bathhouse
- Check

power
- May be the tricky part. There are outlets in a pavilion near the campsites as well as near the lodge and gear shop.

food prep areas
- Check

15-20 minute drive to (most of) the crags
- 5-15 minute walk

4G cell
- Check (at least I've never had a problem)

Within 90 minute drive of an airport
- 36 minutes away from Boone County Regional Airport

Edit: Also, no shortage of partners.

I have been doing pretty much what you described for about a year now. I found that it ended up being worth it to spring for a short term rental, motel room, or whatever as opposed to camping and then trying to get wifi somewhere. I did that in Moab for a bit and for me it wasn't worth the money I saved.

As for areas, here's the spraydown on places I've been:

Boulder
- housing is expensive
- no reception in boulder canyon but you can get reception in Eldo and some of the bouldering spots (flagstaff, flatirons, etc)
- stuff to do in town when you're not working/climbing
- you may occasionally get accused of being a rado

Moab
- camped in blm sites, used wifi at restaurants
- no reception in climbing areas or most campsites

Vegas
- Hotels are crazy cheap during the week (like $20/night). Plus then you can chow down on buffet food which is also cheap
- No reception in most climbing areas

Joshua Tree
- Cheap motels but not as cheap as Vegas. $35/night maybe.
- No reception

Bishop
- Renting a house here currently. Kind of expensive but not as bad as Boulder.
- Cell reception in the buttermilks, sometimes in the happies, rarely/never in Owens.

Rodellar!

adam brink wrote:Rodellar!

That is the sort of response that immediately jumped out at me too.

Does your job pay something like you'd earn in a career or is it something that you can do online as long as you aren't too far from home and aren't paying rent?

I certainly met a couple trancriptionists and technical writers in my travels. They could do it from about anywhere and could earn around $1000 a month. With no rent you can do this forever or until you realize you're wasting your life, whichever comes first.

If it's real honest to goodness health insured/contribute to an IRA/fix your car without going to the junkyard type of work, I can't imagine what is keeping yo in the states. Rent a cottage in Margalef or something, then post about it. I promise to piss hot jealousy.

nicelegs wrote: Does your job pay something like you'd earn in a career?

Yeah - it's a proper career job. It's a pretty sweet gig with a great and very flexible boss. As long as the work is getting done and quality is up to par, my location and hours-worked are usually up to me.

I'm in the USA cause I have a girlfriend I'd rather not ditch and I still have face-to-face client meetings every couple weeks. I could do a 3-4 week trip overseas with a bit of planning, but any more than that would require flying back and forth multiple times - too expensive. However, I am planning on moving to CO in a couple months with the gf once she finishes up this school year (she's a teacher).

Not sure how expensive, but I imagine you can get a pretty cheap motel room or something in Plymouth, NH, and climb at Rumney. You should be within 90 minutes of Manchester Airport.

Jon H wrote: Yeah - it's a proper career job. It's a pretty sweet gig with a great and very flexible boss. As long as the work is getting done and quality is up to par, my location and hours-worked are usually up to me. I'm in the USA cause I have a girlfriend I'd rather not ditch and I still have face-to-face client meetings every couple weeks. I could do a 3-4 week trip overseas with a bit of planning, but any more than that would require flying back and forth multiple times - too expensive. However, I am planning on moving to CO in a couple months with the gf once she finishes up this school year (she's a teacher).

The job market for teachers in CO is grim. I hope you earn enough to support her while she works as a part time para to get her foot in the door. If she does get hired, be prepared to never see her again. She'll be expected to work 65 hours a week and if she doesn't, there are dozens of qualified teachers who are ravenous to get the chance to fill her shoes.

Of course, 300+ people are moving to the Denver Metro every day. Rental housing has nearly doubled in 5 years. It's still rising. Be prepared with 3 months rent in cash if you think you've got a prayer of getting a nice place. Don't think about it, you have to commit immediately because the next guy will take it.

Unless you live at the base of the mountains, you are still half an hour to an hour from shitty crags and 1.5 to 3 to all the good ones. It's mostly traffic jams with a view of mountains. Speaking of traffic, we have this thing called I-70. I hope you have really comfortable seats in your car.

I mean cool, come to CO bro. It's fucking roses out here.

mountainproject.com/v/bedro…

$16 a night in Vegas

Ryan Watts wrote:I have been doing pretty much what you described for about a year now. I found that it ended up being worth it to spring for a short term rental, motel room, or whatever as opposed to camping and then trying to get wifi somewhere. I did that in Moab for a bit and for me it wasn't worth the money I saved. As for areas, here's the spraydown on places I've been: Boulder - housing is expensive - no reception in boulder canyon but you can get reception in Eldo and some of the bouldering spots (flagstaff, flatirons, etc) - stuff to do in town when you're not working/climbing - you may occasionally get accused of being a rado Moab - camped in blm sites, used wifi at restaurants - no reception in climbing areas or most campsites Vegas - Hotels are crazy cheap during the week (like $20/night). Plus then you can chow down on buffet food which is also cheap - No reception in most climbing areas Joshua Tree - Cheap motels but not as cheap as Vegas. $35/night maybe. - No reception Bishop - Renting a house here currently. Kind of expensive but not as bad as Boulder. - Cell reception in the buttermilks, sometimes in the happies, rarely/never in Owens.

what is a rado?