Estes Park, CO is home to the infamous Stanley Hotel (The shining), the never forgotten Big Thompson Flood, the ever-popular H-Bar-G Ranch, and of course, Rocky Mountain National Park.
We arrived in Estes on Saturday morning to blue skies and only a few scattered clouds. We headed for The H-Bar-G Ranch, a family-owned property that once was a dude ranch, a girls horseback riding camp, a Hostel and finally, just an incredible place to spend some quality time with friends and family during the summer months.
The ranch is nestled in a large open meadow, overlooking Estes Park valley and providing sweeping views of Long’s Peak and the Rockies. For anyone who has had the chance to visit and stay at the ranch over the decades, you, as I am, are forever grateful for the gracious hospitality you received and the regal views the magnificent Rocky Mountains deliver day in and day out, sunrise to sunset.
After unpacking the car for the first time in 3 weeks, which (to me) felt as amazing as showering (I’m not kidding), we headed to our future rooms for the next week and a half in the main lodge. Chalet-style furnishings decorate the main room of the lodge while artifacts of past travelers embellish the walls; patches & stickers from world-wide hostellers, snapshots from around the world, and of course an old black and white panoramic photo gifted to the Ranch by one of those grateful travelers.