Moving to Grand Lake - Need your advice (Berthoud, Frisco: environment, relocation)

[Minx]

I'm moving to Grand Lake and would like to know a little more about the town, what it's like and the people. Is it a friendly place to live? It gives that impression from what I've seen, but would like everyone's advice. Does it have most conveniences for a small town? What about the weather, would you say its consistant year to year?

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Minx

I'm moving to Grand Lake and would like to know a little more about the town, what it's like and the people. Is it a friendly place to live? It gives that impression from what I've seen, but would like everyone's advice. Does it have most conveniences for a small town? What about the weather, would you say its consistant year to year?

Spent two days there in 2005. The town is VERY small, and postcard pretty. I recall a main street with a few local businesses, nothing major. Nearest walmart is 35 miles away in Frisco, CO, meaning a trip over Berthoud Pass.

Lotsa data and pix at:
Grand Lake, Colorado (CO) Detailed Profile - relocation, real estate, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, news, sex offenders

[Minx]

Being a small town is not a problem, I actually prefer it and I've researched the area as much as possible. Not having a Walmart is again not a issue, as long as there are a few restaurants, shopping centers, just for your every day needs. I'm probably more interested in what the people are like, is it a friendly place where they would accept a new person into their community?
Also if you get large weather changes from year to year, or if its consistent. I really like the fact its a small town.

[suzco]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Spent two days there in 2005. The town is VERY small, and postcard pretty. I recall a main street with a few local businesses, nothing major. Nearest walmart is 35 miles away in Frisco, CO, meaning a trip over Berthoud Pass.

Lotsa data and pix at:
Grand Lake, Colorado (CO) Detailed Profile - relocation, real estate, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, news, sex offenders

As far as I know, Grand Lake to Frisco is about 85 miles, not 35.

Edit to add: Just thought of it; might you be thinking of Fraser, rather than Frisco?

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by suzco

As far as I know, Grand Lake to Frisco is about 85 miles, not 35.

Edit to add: Just thought of it; might you be thinking of Fraser, rather than Frisco?

I thought so, but walmart's website said 35 miles I put in the zip code for Grand Lake to find the nearest store.

That would make Grand Lake even more isolated than I thought. Nearest large supermarket might be Winter Park.

[suzco]

If I remember, there's a City Market (King Soopers in the mountain towns are City Markets) in Granby, about 15 miles away; not sure what else is there. There's a Safeway in Fraser, about 30 miles away. Grand Lake is fairly isolated. In winter it's at the end of the road, since Trail Ridge Rd through RMNP is closed.

[Minx]

The isolation isn't a problem. That's what I'm looking for. I'm sure I could still go down the main street and buy bread, milk, meat, just the normal groceries. I would like to know if its a friendly place, the people and just general thing like that. I know the population is about 500 so there are people living there. Would I feel welcome.

[Minx]

I guess no one has had much to do with Grand Lake. I thought someone may have experienced the environment / people.

[BillRadio]

I live part-time in Winter Park and we go to Grand Lake infrequently. The town is very summer-oriented with lots of water enthusiasts. That makes the town very seasonal and in winter it gets very quiet. So much so, you may have to drive to Granby for milk/meat/etc. The one time in winter we went through, the only restaurants that were open were pricey and closed weekdays. None of the employees lived in GL in winter.

The attitude of people is somewhat distant since most people who are there in season actually live somewhere else and are just visiting, much like any resort town. Winters are difficult but not totally intolerable. When the lake freezes, the wind is an additonal challenge. Since it is at a dead end when RMNP closes, a snowstorm can cut off your access to food, health care and employees to run the stores until rt. 36 gets plowed.

I see it as a fun 3-season town, but to survive through winter you need to be hardy and welcome the isolation.

[sunsprit]

Grand Lake is a very small community with a long history of being a destination mountain resort area for wealthy sportsmen and tourists from out of the area.

It was developed long before many other tourist areas of Colorado, and has the distinction of holding the most senior water right (a very big deal here) in the state. The senior water right allows Grand Lake to maintain a water level/recreation pool that doesn't vary by more than a few inches, even when there's a shortage of water in the region. Which is why you can see "boathouses" built along the shoreline of the waterfront properties, where people can keep their boats covered/secured. This doesn't happen anywhere else in Colorado, because lake levels fluctuate so much due to water supply & demand issues.

My impression was that most of the early landowners in the area were very affluent and bought into the area for private hunting/fishing/summer homes. At the time, the area was not very accessible, being a long train ride up from the plains and then by horse into the woods. Even early automobile transport up the primitive roads was quite the adventure. IMO, the model for development would be comparable to some of the "camps" in the Adirondacks owned by very wealthy people ... as opposed to regional Colorado land purchased for farming and ranching that had to be financially productive.

Indeed, Grand Lake is a fairly expensive and exclusive community even today. Due to restrictive zoning and platting, the shoreline and adjacent homes ... mostly 2nd homes for the owners ... are very expensive and have a very low turnover. Some families have had properties there for generations.

Perhaps another perspective on Grand Lake would be of interest. Grand Lake Yacht Club (for which one must be an improved waterfront property owner on the lake to be a member) is one of the yacht clubs where Sir Thomas Lipton deeded a regatta trophy. That's a distinction held by very few yacht clubs across the USA, but it's telling about how connected Grand Lake was to the eastern wealthy set from years ago. Few people in the USA in the era had the affluence to sail purely for the fun of it ... and own sailboats built purely for racing and recreation. There's a number of powerboats on the lake reminiscent of the wooden boats of the upstate New York region ... very expensive, beautifully crafted ... and carefully maintained to this day.

Today's Grand Lake full time resident townspeople are ... for the most part ... folks catering to the tourist economy, in the hospitality business, with a few needed service businesses and rental shops. Seasonally, there's boating on the lake, fishing, hunting, a gateway to RMNP, and then, in the winter ... snowmobiling and cross country skiing. It's a nice place to stay if you're keeping a boat at Grandby.

A small community, I've found it to be friendly and hospitable when I've stayed up that way. I'd expect that you would be welcome to join in and enjoy the area and local residents, much like many of the Colorado mountain communities.