Grand Lake Opinions

[bamf]

Pros....
Grand Lake Trailgroomers - great trail conditions. Too good for those of us on bikes actually
Bars and restaurants in town. Great values and quality
Snow conditions. For this time of year it was awesome

Cons....
Boulder Lodge/Americas Best Value Inn. ****hole. Had space heater in room. Complained about us having trailers and told us to go park across the street. My room mate got to town before I did, found short hairs in bed so he took the one with the least amount.
Getting trail permits. What a hassle. Different answer from everyone we talked to. Just lucky we didn't show up on Sunday.

My biggest complaint! The amount and lack of etiquette of rental riders was appalling. When someone holds up their left hand that is not a gang sign and no I don't like you and am just waving. It is there so we all know what to expect around the next corner. I was following my nephew in and he had no brakes. Two times he went around groups and then they took off without looking to see if he was alone. I took my 7 year old to the black hills last week and had to tell him once the etiquette of the trails and he got it. I am not going to throw anyone under the bus but either the renters are not briefing their customers or the guys taking the sleds out aren't listnening.

All in all...I will be back.

 

[sillyrabbit0420]

I just got back from Grand Lake today. Snow was awful compared to other places I've been this season.
I took my wife and another guy and his girlfriend up there. They rented sleds from On The Trail Rentals and I had my own sled up there. OTTR is about the least expensive place I've found to rent a mountain sled.
They actually DON'T brief trail etiquette, and you are 100% right... the amount of rental clowns is appalling. But... it's Grand Lake, so that's what you get. I was leading the crew and tossed up the appropriate amount of fingers to oncoming traffic.
The trails were groomed nicely... if that's your thing. I took my group up some single track and tried to find some areas that weren't totally packed out by the rental hoardes.
It is pretty cool that you can ride into town and grab lunch. Especially if you're playing tour guide for some chicks who are freezing and need to get warm after a few hours.

Want a cool cabin to stay in? Then do not go to Columbine Cabins. That place seems to be run on the cheap. I'm handy at fixing things, and it seemed to me the hot water knob in the shower was purposely sabotaged in order to save $$$ on the bills there. No hot water in the shower. Pretty sweet. The blankets looked like someone used them to clean their gun after they murdered someone in the cabin. Aside from that, the cabin was actually pretty nice. I just don't think hot water and a clean blanket was too much to ask. I have mixed feelings on it. I'd go stay there with some dudes, but I wouldn't bring chicks back there again. Chicks don't like ice water showers.

Why do you have someone out on the trails with no brakes?

 

[bamf]

We thought it would be a fun added challenge to ride without brakes. Try to kill somebody! We were coming in I said. He got in a pickle and when he rolled the sled to get it out the brake res. hit a rock and broke off.

 

[sillyrabbit0420]

Ah, Gotcha... That would definitely suck.
Ya never know... I've seen dudes out in the middle of nowhere on sleds that barely run, blowing belt smoke and leaving a trail of black soot in the snow behind them, hit a jump and the seat flies off and all kinds of sh*t.

There were plenty of rocks and stumps to hit out there. I wasn't at all impressed with the snow conditions.

 

[COWolfe]

I have been riding up there the past month with a guy that knows the area pretty well. I have been riding all over this year, and GL is no different than most riding areas. The main meadow areas are always packed out, but with a little looking there is plenty of good snow. I rode there on Saturday.

Pros: This area has a huge variety of riding (hillclimbing, trees, open meadows, etc), There are good options for most types of riders, and its big enough that if one place doesn't have good snow, another area not to far away probably does. There is a good thing about the rental fleet, they usually do not wander to far off the trail, and stay near the hill.

Cons: The rental fleet has no etiquette. The riding area signage is hit or miss, sometimes you'll come to a place with a map, but other places that could use a map do not have anything. The area is confusing to navigate at first and can make it difficult to find good snow. If I hadn't been riding with a friend that knows the area really well, I may not have returned. I probably would have gotten buried in a dense tree area and then left.

During lunch Saturday, my buddy told me we should eat lunch and watch the renters climb the big hill (I can't remember the name of the hill). We watched them get stuck quite a bit, but we left pretty quickly after a ghost sled came over the hill after one of them fell off.

I enjoy the area, the amenities near by are nice and that's what makes this a good place to ride. There are other options that have less traffic, but it depends how far you want to drive and who is with.

 

[sillyrabbit0420]

I have been riding up there the past month with a guy that knows the area pretty well. I have been riding all over this year, and GL is no different than most riding areas. The main meadow areas are always packed out, but with a little looking there is plenty of good snow. I rode there on Saturday.

I'm sure you're right, dude. I didn't get to explore nearly as much as I would have liked. I was busy mostly digging out stuck sleds, and it looked like there was more snow the further back we got, but we just ran out of daylight. I found several places to bang off the trail and get into some steep deep treed out stuff, but I was looking hard for an open park that wasn't paved out so the people I was riding with could experience something other than packed out trail. The crew I had couldn't follow me on my tree banging excursions. Actually, I'm almost glad I didn't find deep snow because there were several times where all three of them were stuck and my back will probably never be the same. I did a lot of ski pulling, and yanking on trenched out tunnels. Had a good time though.

 

[tom999p]

Geez, as if noone has figured it out yet, Grand Lake is for beginners. I was just up there too. On an experience level of 1-10, Grand Lake is like a 2. If anyone is going there to expect to do balls-out backwoods riding in super deep virgin powder, then you're wasting your time. Have you ever been on those trails and meadows in the summer?? There are tree stumps, cut trees and big rocks everywhere. If people are going off the trails and getting stuck and busting their sleds, then they deserve whatever damage their sled gets, especially if it's a rental. People who are renting/riding for the first time have NO business going off the groomed trail. I've been riding for 39 years, and besides the meadows, wouldn't go off those trails unless I didn't mind busting my sled and/or getting stuck, because the snow just isn't deep enough there yet.. If people want to go off-groomed-trail riding, why not just go somewhere else and stop complaining about Grand Lake? There are so many other places to ride....
Also, I agree with the first poster about the hand signals, some people got it (usually the ones on non-rental sleds), but the rest either threw back peace signs, hello waves, or strange looks....

 

[capulin overdrive]

Haters!



It's the best place to ride in Colorado, every magazine says so!

 

[IGOTGAS]

"Boulder Lodge/Americas Best Value Inn" interesting - I've stayed there several times in the past and found the rooms free of such hairs, however, that's all I need to do is read a post like this and I'll take heed of warning. I've also stayed at the Rapids Lodge and have had good luck there too.....so I think I'll learn from your experience. Thanks and sorry you had to deal with that kerwrap.