Mountain Town
“Going to the mountains is going home.”
A mountain town is a sacred place. At the western edge of Rocky Mountain National Park is the mountain town of Grand Lake. It sits on the banks of Colorado’s largest and deepest natural lake, covering over 500 acres and reaching nearly 400 feet deep. It boasts the highest elevation yacht club in the world, and yet there is little polished about this mountain town. The one block of shops, called “The Boardwalk” by locals, is a collection of locally owned shops and diners without a single chain store or restaurant in sight.
Summer here is short. There are fewer than 50 days suitable for a growing season. Yet, it is a place of incredible natural beauty where Creation, history, and family consistently overlap. First inhabited by the Ute people, Grand Lake became a town in the 1860s during the Colorado silver boom. Few residents live in this picturesque mountain town year-round, with a population of under 500 people in 2020. It is a place where thousands journey each summer to experience the mystique of being together in the mountains.
Surrounding the town of Grand Lake are hundreds of homes and cabins. Each summer, countless families and friends arrive here to be together. Grand Lake is not where family reunions occur in large hotels. Instead, it’s a place where groceries are packed into a small, shared fridge and kids bunk together. Where grandparents watch sunrises together and sunsets with their grandchildren. Where the frigid water reminds every age of the thrill of life. These cabins, some worn with memory, others immaculately restored and rebuilt, are the homes and heart of Grand Lake. Whether nestled among the trees or next to the sparkling water, each becomes a memorable home for families and friends. Sometimes for a single week or maybe the entire summer.
Stories circulate Grand Lake about generations of families coming here. “My parents started coming in the '70s. We’ve never missed a year since.” Or another, “We spent our honeymoon here, then brought our kids. Now the grandkids race down to the dock first thing every morning.” The rhythm of returning to Grand Lake is its own kind of liturgy. A liturgy marked with opening the cabin, shared meals with laughter, long days on the water, and quiet mornings with coffee on the porch—an unhurried place. The town of Grand Lake itself, at just one square mile, feels made for slowing down. The Boardwalk offers enough charm for enjoyment, but enough restraint to not deregulate the slower pace. There is no rush in Grand Lake.
You don’t need an agenda in a mountain town. You only need time. Time to hike a little farther than last year. Time to teach a child how to cast. Time to read a book and never feel behind. The cabins clustered around Grand Lake invite this kind of time. Time to be present to the place and people who are right in front of you.
Mountain towns are uniquely Colorado locations that reminds us that being together in place matters. That sharing a home with family and friends each summer is one of the holiest things we can do. Be it your first trip or your fortieth, consider the invitation to rent the cabin. Load up the car and get away with the people who matter. Find a place that holds stories and silence, laughter and legacy. A mountain town is a sacred place.
