Great Guest Service in Winter Park, CO

Sometimes you just have to toot your own horn. We at Winter Park Lodging Company have always taken pride in showing our guests, either potential, current or past, that we really care about providing wonderful vacation rental experiences in Winter Park. We feel good when you’ve had a good experience in Winter Park!

Here’s a little example of how we  have impressed with super service to our guests:

Thanks so much for all your help.  The friend my daughter wanted to bring can’t go after all so we’re regrouping.  If we end up going skiing I will definetely book something with you.  You and Samantha are by far the most friendly and informative people I’ve requested info from.  

All the best,

Jeni

From the initial contact & search for the right condo, giving local area information to making sure you’ve checked in okay, providing money saving discounts and solving problems fast and courteously, you can count on us to be friendly, communicative and professional.

We thank you Jeni and really hope you can make it out for a ski vacation in Winter Park.

Best Coffee in Winter Park, Colorado

Best Cup of Joe in Winter Park, CO

Coffee, it seems to be every man’s early morning addiction. It makes the morning a little better, a little warmer and cleans the cobwebs out of the noggin’.  Well, we have a few caffeine dealers here in Winter Park, CO and we thought we would share Winter Park Lodging Company’s favorites place to get a steaming hot cup of coffee.

Sooo, here is the top three list of best places to get a cup of coffee in Winter Park, CO.  These are in no particular order:

Rocky Mountain Roastery is one of the local shops here in WP and is a favorite of the WPLCo girls.  The Roastery has two stores one in Winter Park and the other down the road in Fraser (this store is the locals choice).  Here is what the Roastery has to say about themselves:

Rocky Mountain Roastery and Coffee Company was founded in 1993 in Fraser, Colorado, near the famous Winter Park ski resort. Since then we have become known for our unique high mountain roasting process, which allows more flavor to develop in each bean we roast. Each batch is slow roasted by hand at 8,550 ft. to ensure that your coffee is the very best it can be. We are family owned and operated business and always strive to outperform your expectations. We guarantee that you will love this coffee, or simply return it for an exchange or full refund!

RMR offers a $1 cup of coffee if you bring your own cup.  Great deal but they do charge for wireless internet.

Mountain Grind is another local choice and they are headquartered in Winter Park at The Cooper Creek Square.  Serving great coffee, fudge and creamy Italian gelato.  Lots of food items and serving beer, liquor and wine.  Here is what Mountain Grind has to say about themselves:

Come see Mountain Grind for free unlimited wifi, breakfast, lunch, dessert, coffee, or catering and treat yourself to something special! Visit us fountainside at Cooper Creek Square. You’ll love Winter Park’s friendliest (and lots more) coffee shop!

Lastly we have Starbucks.  Two locations in the Winter Park/Fraser area.  One at the Winter Park Resort Village and the other at Safeway in Fraser.  I won’t go on as anyone who drinks coffee and most who don’t have been into a local Starbucks.

Wakeup! Have a cup of coffee.

Moose Class in Winter Park, CO

Moose at Winter Park Resort

My sister Anne-Marie and her husband Larry  celebrated their 27^th wedding anniversary with a ‘Moose Class’ through Ecoadventures, using room 2419 at the Zephyr as their home base. Anne took the class for credit for her career as a teacher, Larry opted for non-credit (wouldn’t do him much good as a flight simulator tech).

Using Zephyr Mountain Lodge 2419 as a base of operation was far superior to tent camping in the rain, which is what many of the class participants were doing. While others were slogging around their tents, Anne and Larry were high and dry, enjoying a glass of wine from their balcony.

The moose class taught reams of minutiae about moose and the class was successful in spotting 5 moose. Also, thanks to the tip from the maintenance man with whom Anne and Larry shared an elevator, Anne and Larry kept their eyes open at the base of Berthoud Pass and spotted 2 more moose on the way home!

All in all, a very memorable 27^th wedding anniversary.

Anne and Larry say thanks to Chris and Sarah at Winter Park Lodging Company.

The only regret was not being able to stick around for the CrankWorx bike extravaganza at Winter Park Base that weekend.

Come on up to Winter Park Resort and check out the moose.  Late summer and fall are the best times to see the moose.  In Rendezvous sub-division moose sighting are very very common and one big bull moose over there has been affectionately named Freddy the moose.

Night Ranger Rocks Winter Park!

This weekend in Winter Park is filled with good times and good tunes. Today, the free 103.5 Fox Winter Park Music Fetival kicked off at 10am in Hideaway Park. Local vendors set up shop  for food, drinks, and fun for the whole family. The playground and skate park were packed all day and we got geat weather overall, with just a few sprinkes late in the afternoon. There was a great line up including Pat Travers, The Groove Hawgs, and the headliners- famous for their 80′s power ballads and melodic hard rock- Night Ranger. They brought everybody to their feet with classics like ‘Don’t Tell Me You Love Me’ , ‘Sentimental Street’ and of course, ‘Sister Christian’. Here they are, singing the emblamatic 80′s tune in downtown Winter Park…

Needless to say, we all had a good ol’ time rockin’ to the 80′s, and the music continues through the weekend all  around town. Our visitors who booked their lodging with Winter Park Lodging Company even enjoyed free VIP tickets to the festival. Come up to Winter Park for some fresh mountain air, Summer mountain music,  and free fun for the whole family. It can ‘t be beat!

Winter Park Village Events: The Back Bowl Soup Company Specials & Music

Back Bowl Patio

We wanted to spread the word on the latest Summer special at The Back Bowl Soup Company, located in the heart of the new base village.  Starting  Thursday, 7/29, Jeremy Farmer will be playing live music on the patio every Tue./Thurs.  from 5:30-7:30 pm for the Mountain Employee Happy Hour.  Enjoy a frosty beverage or a tasty appetizer, while the little ones play on the new Adventure Train playground. They even have free parking close by, right across the walkway from the Back Bowl.  Come out with your friends and family to enjoy good times in the Colorado sunshine, and remember to book your lodging with Winter Park Lodging Company for the best deals and sweetest digs in town.  Here’s a quick list of the specials~

Drinks- 2 for 1 draft beers and house wine

Food- 20% off food orders and complimentary animal crackers and pretzels

Grand Lake Lodge Re-opening in Grand Lake, CO

The Lodge in Grand Lake Opening on a Limited Basis for Next 8 Weeks

Yes!, the Rumors are true the Grand Lake Lodge will be opening for six to eight weeks this summer on a limited basis.

They will be serving up lunch with a limited menu and through the evening.  Does that mean they will be serving dinner?  I’m not sure.  Come “set a spell” on the front porch, book a wedding, take in the gift shop or play in the pool. Noon, July 22, is the big date.

Grand Lake Lodge has been for sale the last few years by the Ted L. James Family and has been closed for operations while the property was being marketed.  With the downturn in the economy there have been no takers on the lodge and the surrounding 54 acres that sit at the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.

Here is the real estate listing info if you have some heavy duty walking around cash:

Opening Dates for Winter Park’s St. Louis Lake Trail

St. Louis Lake Trail is famous for wildflowers

The trailhead of one of the most popular hiking trails in the Winter Park area, the St. Louis Lake trail, has very restricted access. The trail is known as one of the most beautiful wildflower hikes you can find in our valley, and due to this celebrity, it draws thousands of hikers each summer (or it used to).

About four or five years ago, the Sulpher Ranger district of the Arapaho National Forest decided that because of the extremely heavy traffic on the trail, it would be best for the health of the trail and surrounding forest to keep the the gate closed except for on three days of the summer. 

The gate blocks the 3.1-mile road leading up to the St. Louis Lake trailhead. You can still hike the trail anytime of the summer, but you will have to hike up and back on the stretch of road that leads to the trailhead. You can also ride your bike on the road, as long as you leave it once you reach the trailhead that crosses into the Byer’s Peak Wilderness area.

The total round-trip distance including the road is about 14 miles. Not including the road, the distance is less than 8 miles round trip.

Announcing the dates that the St. Louis Lake Trailhead gate will be open this summer:

• Friday, June 25 at 4pm through Saturday, June 26 at 7pm (for people who want to camp).  
• Wednesday, July 14 - 7am- 7pm. 
• Monday, August 16 – 7am- 7pm.

More Winter Park hiking trails and tips to come throughout the summer. Stay tuned!

No. 2 Hiking Trail of the Week in Winter Park, CO

Rocky Mountain National Park Hiking Trails

The second edition of the hike of the week is back for Winter Park, Colorado.  This week the hike takes a little drive from WP up to Rocky Mountain National Park.  This week’s hike is a relatively easy and short hike that goes to a beautiful waterfall and continues to a stunning meadow with great mountain views and small ponds teaming with fish.  There is a charge to get into Rocky Mountain National Park but this hike is a hike in and there is no fee.  If you continue to drive into the Park there is a charge

On the way back stop in Grand Lake and check out Colorado’s biggest natural lake with some of the best views in Colorado.

Adams Falls, East Inlet Trail – Winter Park Hike of the Week

(Rocky Mountain National Park)

BEGINNING ELEVATION: 8400ft.

ENDING ELEVATION: 8480ft.

Miles one way: .5 miles to Adams Falls, 1 mile to the glaciated valley

Rating: Easy

Trailhead Location: From the Winter Park Visitor’s Center drive north on US HWY 40 19 miles through Granby to US HWY 34 and turn right. Continue for about 15.3 miles to the Grand Lake Visitor Center and turn right in to the village of grand Lake. At the Mountain Food Market, the road will veer to the rights into Grand Lake (a wooden sign days “Welcome to Grand Lake”) veer left and follow the road for 2 miles to the end of the road to a parking lot, the trailhead is well marked.

Trail Information: This is an easy hike up to a beautiful waterfall. It is suitable for all ages. Be careful at the top of the waterfall as the water is fast and strong. Keep small children well away from the water’s edge at the falls and stay on the trail only. If you decide to, you can continue on another .5 miles past the falls in to an alpine meadow with gorgeous views of “Mt. Baldy” and ponds full of fish.

Special Trail regulations: This hike is in the Rocky Mountain National Park so no dogs or bikes are allowed.

Stay tuned next week for the third installation of the Winter Park Hike of the week.

Winter Park Hike of the Week No. 1

Fraser River in Winter Park Named to Endangered River List

Colorado River Named to”Most Endangered Rivers” List

Our beloved Colorado River and more specifically the Fraser River has been named the #6 most endangered river in the United States.  The threat of water diversion from the state’s namesake river has landed the Upper Colorado at  #6 on this year’s list, as compiled by the conservation advocacy group American Rivers.

Right here in Winter Park the proposed firming of the Moffat Tunnel Collection System Project is threatening to make the Fraser River that most of us here depend on into a trickle of a stream.  As it is now it is a trickle of what it once was.

The proposed Moffet firming could lower the river flow to the point of threatening the Fraser and the Colorado Rivers prized trout fisheries.

Supporters of the Moffat diversion say the water is needed in order to ensure a reliable water supply for Colorado’s fast-growing population. We say those needs can be met through other means, such as working to use water more efficiently. The Upper Colorado and its major tributaries provide water to the resort areas of Granby, Winter Park, Breckenridge, Keystone and Vail; as well as a large portion of the urban Front Range.

The Denver metro area users gobble up a huge percentage of the Colorado River water already and piddle it away on grass watering and other non-essentials and keep on grabbing for more.

Lets keep a healthy Colorado and Fraser River and say no to Denver Water and the proposed  firming of the Moffat Tunnel Collection System Project.

Winter Park Corona Pass to Reopen?

Rollins Pass to Re-Open?

Reopen Corona Pass? Officials are discussing the possibility of reopening the 32-mile road across Corona Pass (also called Rollins Pass) between Winter Park and Rollinsville. The road follows the old route used by trains before the Moffet Tunnel was built and could attract additional tourism to Winter Park. Grand, Gilpin, and Boulder counties, and two Forest Service districts are involved, plus the road is close to two wilderness areas. Costs could be excessive and liability would be high: the Needle’s Eye Tunnel, which has collapsed twice, would need to be repaired.

The 32-mile road that passes through three counties, two U.S. Forest Service districts and federally protected wilderness land can be accessed on either side of the Continental Divide, but users haven’t been able to continue the route to the other side since 1990. The Needles Eye Tunnel in Boulder County was closed off at that time from a rockfall, which caused a Denver man to lose his foot. Boulder County became liable for the injury at a cost of around $85,000.

Once dubbed the “Hill Route,” the pass served as a temporary railway line from 1904 to 1928. When the Moffat Tunnel was completed, the original Hill Route was abandoned until 1955 when it became an automobile route on the rail bed. The route served as a tourist attraction until a rockfall occurred in 1979 near the north portal of the Needle’s Eye Tunnel. Upon repairs, it reopened in 1987, but collapsed again in 1990.

The proponents on both sides of the pass who would like to see it open again cite the road’s scenic vistas, its capability of attracting tourism to Rollinsville and Winter Park, as well as its glimpse into Colorado’s railroad history.

Here are some photos pf Corona/Rollins Pass and the trek sounds and looks just amazing.