Buzz, don't you live in NYC? I would think it would be full of pokemon and stops.
Tons of stops by my house. I pass by 5 in a 2 block walk to my local 711 each morning, as long as I take a little around the block detour. But so far all I'm catching is rattatas and pidgeys. Oh, and doosh chills from writing that in a public forum.
I just hit level 5, I'm guessing the good guys don't show up until later? Looking at the 3 closest gyms in my town, they all seem to be rocking 1000+CP Pokemon. Not sure how I'll ever beat that.
You won't. This game is going to be "won" by teenagers who have the summer off. By the time you have 1000+ CP Pokemon theirs will be level 2000. Just enjoy it. Maybe add a Pokemon to a gym your team controls. One thing I will add is that taking a gym is easier than it looks. You get 6 Pokemon to do it. As long as there aren't 5 or 6 Pokemon defending it's pretty easy to win. Keeping it is another matter.
It's even easier if you counter the pokemon in the gyms. For example I used a Graveler with 550 CP to take down two 700 CP elementals (jolteon & vaporeon). They hardly do damage to me while my damage was super effective against them. I also only take gyms when my Collection cooldown is ready for extra Stardust and Gold. After that, let other people take it since the xp gained from taking a gym isn't much vs hitting pokestops or capturing pokemon.