ON THE HOME FRONT Mark Samuelson

Colorado’s mountain real estate scene tends to be about ski towns — but one spot that’s always popular for second homes has little to do with downhill skiing, and never did.

Grand Lake, 50 minutes from Winter Park, was a resort destination well before the state’s first rope-tow was installed. In 1896 the family of Kentwood agent Carolyn O’Donnell’s husband bought property they came to call their “summer camp.” Every year, she recounts, they’d make a three-day trip by wagon just to spend a few weeks on the lakeshore.

Now that takes a little over two hours, to where O’Donnell has a home she’s showing this Friday that could put a family within walking distance of the same attractions that were luring vacationers a century ago.

Starting with the lake — four miles around and near-400 feet deep — a natural feature carved out by the same glaciers that sculpted its backdrop in Rocky Mountain National Park. Explorer John Wesley Powell made the connection that the lake was the headwater of the Colorado River, reaching 1,450 miles to the Gulf of California.

Boat dock

The house at 900 Tallaqua Drive is a 4-bedroom 4-bath layout that’s sized for overnighting cousins. It’s a 15 minute walk from Grand Lake’s historic boardwalk shopping and dining district along Grand Avenue. Better yet, she adds, it’s a 5-minute walk from the lake and from a marina on adjoining Shadow Mountain Reservoir where an owner has docking rights maintained by the Grand Lake Estates HOA.

From there one can set out onto Shadow Mountain Reservoir (that water is a little warmer for swimming or water skiing, O’Donnell says); or pass under Rainbow Bridge and down the quarter-mile channel into the colder natural lake, fed by snow melt.

“You can put a boat in and you don’t have to take it out until the end of the season,” O’Donnell said.

The house itself, built in 1983, was renovated to the studs in 2023, its cabin-style layout opened up into a wide family/dining area that includes a gourmet kitchen with premium appliances. The new interior has the bright-and-white look, offset by hardwood floors and by beetle-kill ceilings with that characteristic blue hue.

Like most vacation properties, it’s sold fully furnished, has all-new mechanical systems, and lots of storage for mountain “stuff” to match the attractions with 15 minutes of here, including fishing, hiking into the national park, and Nordic trails.

Price reduced

The price — already reduced — is $1.499 million, for 3,047 square feet plus a 2-car garage on a near-quarter-acre lot. To put that in perspective, O’Donnell says lakefront properties with marina access are averaging  $3-to-$3.5 million on the lake, $2.5 million on Shadow Mountain Reservoir.

The mountain market, O’Donnell adds, shows inventory up but prices stable, with supply growing faster for condos than for single-family homes like this one. “It’s a good time to buy,” she said, noting that sellers will be more negotiable.

She’ll do a happy-hour open house from 1-to-3 p.m., and point to some of her own clan’s favorite destinations, including kid-friendly Coyote Valley Trail five miles into the national park, and the lake’s beach beside Miyauchi’s Snack Bar, with the “best burger and ice cream cone in town.”

About this home:

Where: 900 Tallaqua Drive, Grand Lake. From I-70 west of Idaho Springs, take Exit 232 onto U.S. 40/Empire-Granby, continue 47 miles to U.S. 34; turn right, continue 14.5 miles to Grand Lake’s entry at W. Portal Road, take Portal 2 blocks to Lake Avenue, turn right 1 block to Shadow Mountain Drive to Tallaqua Drive.

When: Friday, July 13, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. 

Price: $1.499 million