Visiting Colorado’s Picturesque Y in the Sky

A YMCA immediately brings to mind a boxy, concrete and steel building on the corner of a busy city street. Not so here.

Instead, imagine a rustic mountain lodge in a gently sloping meadow, its pitched, shingled roof floating above log-and-plaster “wood stick” sides and peeled log beams and railings.

Foothills thick with lodgepole pines circle the valley, and above and beyond, the snow-dusted peaks of the Front Range touch a lapis-blue sky.

At the front of the lodge is a wide wooden porch with rocking chairs where there’s protection from the hot sun and you can sit for a moment. You park the car and climb the steps, the boards creaking pleasantly under your feet.

Poking your head inside the cool, cavernous building you’ll find yourself back in time to 1910, the year the “lodge” was built. Afterward it was used as the administration building of the YMCA of the Rockies in northeast Colorado.

Knotty Pine Paneling

Crossing the threshold there’s a large, open, airy space, with log rafters and knotty pine paneling. As in all proper mountain lodges, dusty-looking game animal heads of elk, mountain lion and bighorn sheep are mounted on the walls. Pinned on the bulletin board is a weekly schedule of activities.

A warm breeze blows through open windows. At the registration desk, YMCA employees greet you with a smile. You shush the kids who are jumping up and down and talking all at once.

“Hello,” you say happily. “It’s great to be back. We have reservations for a three-bedroom cabin for the next two weeks.”

You and the kids have returned for another summer vacation at the YMCA of the Rockies, which is no ordinary city Y but a 1,400-acre rustic family vacation and recreation center high in the Colorado Rockies.

This EPC (Estes Park Center), founded in 1907, is not only different from other YMCAs but also from today’s typical resorts. It’s a down-to-earth place where kids and dogs are welcome, the sagebrush grows, the grass is wild, sportsmen can play, artists can paint, poets can write and all wear jeans to dinner.

It’s a place where social people square dance and the recluse reads in the shade of a tree. It’s a hikers’ heaven or a spot to kick back and relax.

Blend of Past and Present

Spread over virgin forest and grassy meadow, the property is bordered on three sides by Rocky Mountain National Park.

Since its founding the EPC has preserved the best of its historic traditions and old-time character. At the same time it has modernized the facilities and brought in the newest in recreation.

This special combination of traditional and modern keeps visitors repeating their stays year after year. Some families even request the same cabin each year, but management won’t guarantee it. A few love the place so much that they’ve donated money to build a cabin that is owned by the Y, but which gives them first rights for use.

Historic log buildings, from pre-Y days when the land belonged to the Wind River Ranch, are cherished, repaired and put to good use as a library, a historical museum, a women’s building and offices. Over the years these venerable oldsters have been surrounded by newer buildings until a small, self-sufficient town has emerged.

A location map you receive at check-in should help you find your way around this complex of buildings. Close by are half a dozen lodges with a total of 540 rooms.

Fanning out from the administration building is a network of winding lanes leading up hills, around knolls and through pine woods to 220 comfortably rustic but conveniently modern rental cabins, each with two to four bedrooms and fully equipped kitchens.

Tall in the Saddlle

For horse lovers there are trail rides from one hour ($9) to all day long ($28). Basketball and exercise are in the gym, volleyball’s outside. Swimnastics and lap swimming is in the indoor six-lane pool ($1).

Then there are tennis courts and horseshoe pits, an arts center with drawing and painting classes, a bus tour of historic Estes Park (three hours, $4 per person). Try the bowling alley (75 cents a game), craft shop, roller-skating rink, photography workshop or take fly fishing classes.

A favorite program of children is the Day Camp, which offers youths activities designed for their age group and gives parents some vacation time alone.

For grades one to eight the Monday to Friday all-day program costs $6 daily per child, with an extra charge for riding, hayrides and barbecues. Children can take their lunches or buy them.

Young mothers make good use of the preschoolers’ half-day programs (morning or afternoon) for $3 per session. Teens can congregate at the Teen Barn, a place to meet and arrange special activities.

The Y’s top program, hiking, which has been going for 30 years, is one that even residents participate in.

Visitors can, of course, hike alone on the 300 miles of wide, maintained trails in Rocky Mountain National Park, but you reach the back country’s most magnificent remote lakes and peaks only on rougher, unmarked side trails.

Hikes are rated according to difficulty and are designed for all age groups. You can climb the highest mountains and see the least-known lakes or find a quiet bird-watching trail or beaver meadows nature walk.

A Break From Cooking

Buses carry hikers to and from the trail head; everybody chips in for gas. Hike leaders also conduct classes on backpacking techniques.

Guests who want a break from cooking can try the breakfasts, lunches and dinners served daily in the Pine Room Dining Hall. Diners can pay for one meal at a time, buy a meal ticket or elect the American Plan: meals included in room charges.

A snack bar serves fast food: hamburgers, sandwiches, fries and thick, old-fashioned milk shakes.

EPC cabins and rooms are neither elegant, plush nor decorated with antiques. They are comfortable, attractive, clean and priced for families. All have baths.

Eastside Lodge rooms start at a $29 a night and sleep five in two sets of bunk beds and a single. Rooms in the Alpen Inn are more spacious. They sleep six, have two double beds and a sofa bed and balcony for $47 a night or $313 a week.

Some guests favor the cabins, which are sprinkled over the hills and have private space around them. Some have fireplaces and all have equipped kitchens. Furniture and decorating is Western rustic.

A two-bedroom cabin for four is $34 a night or $226 a week. The deluxe two-bedroom cabin is $66 a night or $439 a week. The biggest are the Summit four-bedroom cabins that sleep 10 at $135 a night, $898 for a week. Cabin types and rates vary, so write for a reservation application. Prime accommodations are grabbed by regulars in early spring.

The Best Bet

Lodge rooms are usually available, though, and occasional cabin cancellations occur. Your best bet is to take what’s available, and get on next year’s mailing list.

All guests must be Y members. The Y sells $5 family memberships ($3 for single adults) good for the length of your vacation. A 35% deposit is required to hold your reservation. Dogs are welcome in standard cabins but not in lodge rooms. They must be leashed outdoors.

The YMCA, three miles outside Estes Park, is a 90-minute drive into the mountains northwest of Denver. If possible, rent a car; sometimes the Y offers special rental rates with major rental companies. The Greyline Bus Co. also operates between Denver’s Stapleton Airport and Estes Park every day.

For more information, write to Estes Park Center, YMCA of the Rockies, Estes Park, Colo. 80511-2800, or call (303) 586-3341.