The historic ranch lodge
A restored miner's hotel more than 130 years old — five bedrooms, three ranch meals a day, and a porch over the confluence of two trout streams. The lodge is where the day starts before light and ends around the player piano — the heart of a 138-year working ranch on the south slope of Pikes Peak.
The lodge
The lodge is a restored miner’s hotel, more than 130 years old — built for the mining camp that once stood here, now the headquarters of a working ranch. Five bedrooms with extra-long beds sit above a parlor with a player piano and a large dining room. Heat is wood and fire; the lights run on solar; two shower-and-toilet facilities serve the house. The kitchen runs on ranch time — coffee on early, three meals a day off the same long table the hands eat at.
The porch is the best seat on the place. It hangs out over the confluence of two trout streams — a pond below and a horseshoe pit in the yard — faces south, and catches the day from sunrise to the last light off Pikes Peak. Most evenings end out there or around the piano, boots off, the stove ticking.
The floor creaks where it always creaked. The doors are heavy. The pine has darkened with age and woodsmoke. Restoration keeps the building honest rather than polished — it looks and feels like the long-worked center of a 138-year working ranch, because that is exactly what it is.
Timeline
Before the cattle, this ground was a mining camp, and the lodge was its hotel — a five-bedroom miner's hotel and ranch house standing over the confluence of two trout streams. The Rathke Ranch is founded on the south slope of Pikes Peak in 1888 and the cattle operation begins around the old hotel. The lodge bench is the highest point on the ranch that catches winter sun all day.
The family homesteads the valley and puts down the roots that hold today. The lodge becomes the dining and gathering hall for ranch hands, the cookhouse, and the place the day starts and ends.
Brothers Mark and Jim buy the Rathke Ranch and fold it into the operation. The lodge stays what it has always been — the working headquarters of the place.
The lodge anchors the modern multi-program mix — hunts, drives, weddings, family weeks. Five bedrooms, three ranch meals a day, the porch over the canyon, and the player piano in the great room.
Still standing
The miner’s hotel isn’t the only thing that survived. A root cellar, a blacksmith shop, a slaughterhouse, and the barn have all stood for more than a hundred years and are still on the place. In the brush you can find the remnants of 1920s liquor stills and — the story goes — a rumor of lost treasure no one has run down.
Higher up sit century-old working mines, and homestead ruins abandoned more than 140 years ago — the older camp this ground served before the cattle. None of it is staged for guests. It is just what’s here, the way a long-worked ranch keeps its own record.
What to expect
The lodge has been restored carefully but it is not a luxury resort. The integrity is preserved at the cost of certain modern conveniences. Read these before booking.
The view
The porch faces south. Sunrise behind the Sangres, Pikes Peak over the shoulder.
FAQ
The lodge is a restored miner's hotel more than 130 years old — the historic headquarters of a ranch founded in 1888 on the south slope of Pikes Peak. It began as the hotel for the mining camp that stood on this ground, and the family has run the ranch since homesteading the valley in 1929. The milled pine, the heavy doors, and the chimney are in continuous use today — the heart of a 138-year working ranch.
The lodge accommodates parties of up to 12 guests across multiple bedrooms. For larger groups — family weeks, wedding parties, or corporate retreats — Elk Glade pairs the lodge with the private cabin.
The lodge runs free Starlink within a radius of the ranch house, so the main rooms have fast internet. Cell service is unreliable inside the structure and absent across most of the ranch. For emergencies there's a radio that reaches Colorado's largest medical-helicopter service directly. Most guests keep the quiet and use the connection only when they need it.
The lodge sits at 8,500 ft on a south-facing bench. The ranch ground ranges from 8,000 ft at the lower meadow to 9,500 ft at the upper benches. First-time visitors should plan an easy first afternoon for altitude adjustment; experienced high-country travelers are usually fine by day two.
Yes. Ranch stays are available as standalone bookings — lodge rooms or the private cabin. The schedule prioritizes hunt and drive weeks (which are confirmed first by season), and standalone stays slot into the open weeks. Use the quote builder or call for availability.
Book a week at the lodge
Standalone lodge stays slot into the open weeks between hunt and drive bookings. Send a note or build a quote; we’ll tell you which weeks the lodge is open and when the cabin makes more sense.
