(photo from State Parks)
Whew! I've been trying to post since 5 a.m. and keep getting delayed by software or people.
Just wanted to make sure everyone knew Cheyenne Mountain State Park, the largest park in town, opens tomorrow. I guess we've waited long enough for it to open that more news on it could wait a bit, too.
We've got photos and trails maps in Out There today and there's a slideshow at gazette.com that includes current and historic photos and renderings of the luxurious visitors center and rental cabins.
So head out there Saturday or Sunday. But don't go during the week: The park is open only weekends for at least another month. (And I thought was suffering delays!)
Come back and comment once you've seen the place and hiked or biked around.
4 comments:
Can someone explain how this park got turned into a resort? Don't get me wrong - this is a great piece of land for hiking and biking. Why did the State think we needed cabins and a ski lodge with a coffee bar? What a waste of money. This park could have been opened to the public at least two years ago!
I'm sure the bottom line is income. Read on for a section of a story Deb wrote when the cabins opened in April 2005 at Mueller State Park:
The idea of luxury cabins is new for Colorado, says parks spokesman Gary Thorson, but it’s been tried in other states.
“When we started talking about these, we looked at parks in Ohio, where 10 of their 80 state parks are called ‘resort parks,’ with beautiful cabins, and we looked at Eugene Mahoney State Park in Nebraska, between Lincoln and Omaha, with full-service cabins there,” he says.
Colorado officials found that those full-service cabins “are really popular, and are booked solid,” Thorson says.
...
These new cabins are a step toward a destination resort, and Nootbaar (head park ranger Greg Nootbaar) thinks it is the right step.
“It’s a new venture for us, nothing like we’ve ever done before,” he says. “But with the population changing, and baby boomers wanting more comfort, I think we’re moving in the right direction.”
Seems to me that Colorado could have also used this money more wisely by acquiring more land (i.e., Cheyenne Mtn).
My daughter and I went hiking on Saturday afternoon up to the Cougar Shadow Loop. The trial up was a bit muddy in some places and some of the construction equipment detracted from the scenery but when we heard wild turkeys calling in a meadow west of us it made the hike worth the sacrifice. We will be back.
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