Carbondale started as the potato and cattle town that fed the mining camps upvalley, and it still celebrates Potato Day every fall, now with more artists, ranchers and trail riders than miners. The Crystal River meets the Roaring Fork here, Mount Sopris stands over everything, and the mid-valley’s ranches, gardens and stone-and-timber homes keep a rental yard busy. Ours is in Grand Junction, a little under two hours down the valley and the interstate, and the trip is worth it for the machine you can’t get upvalley. (970) 241-4368.
Irrigated pasture and big lawns under the cottonwoods are the Carbondale look, and they take equipment: zero-turn and walk-behind mowers, aerators, power rakes and tillers for the growing season, Husqvarna trimmers, blowers and saws for the edges. If the place is big enough to own the mower, we’re the authorized Hustler and Husqvarna dealer with five zero-turns on the floor and the service bay behind them.
Post-and-rail along the county road, a new water line to the horse barn, the drip system for the market garden: the walk-behind trenchers, post-hole augers and Bobcat mini excavators do in a day what a crew does in a week. For the dry-stack wall and the flagstone patio, the mixer, masonry saw and compactor are on the shelf, and a dump trailer hauls the material in and the spoil out.
Aspen and cottonwood come down every year, and the county wants defensible space on the hillside lots. The chipper, stump grinders and hydraulic splitter turn the mess into mulch and a winter’s wood; the 20-inch Husqvarna saw rents by the day. Bring your own saw to the Husqvarna bench for chain, bar and tune-up on the same trip.