Hi Mary,
I just answered a similar post here:
https://permies.com/t/17484/permaculture/look-when-choosing-new-property
That said, it's always useful to visit other
permaculture sites in the locality you are going to if there are any. I'm only a little familiar with the area around Denver & Boulder, having visited a few years ago. Are you aware of the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute?
http://www.crmpi.org/CRMPI/Home.html They have some great bioshelters that show what can be achieved by modifying microclimates in challenging conditions.
Hops are challenged here by the wet climate and suffer a lot from from mildew being grown in large monocultures, so
chemical treatments are regularly used. I've only seen them do well here organically when grown as part of a food forest system. I don't know anything about growing them in drier conditions, but I guess that conserving water use by using drip irrigation would still be a good idea and
building soil of course.