Ranch Marketing Associates

Grand River Ranch Video Tour>

Colorado River Cattle Ranch is located in northwest Colorado's high country along the Colorado River between the world-renowned resorts of Vail, Winter Park and Steamboat Springs. Just west of the rural sportsman's town of Kremmling, the 1,235-acre private ranch borders County Road 12 and is located just off US Highway 40 on the west end of Kremmling. Sheep Creek flows through the ranch along with water from two ditches and the Jones Reservoir; providing plenty of water to irrigate the ranch's expansive meadows.

Location: The Colorado River Cattle Ranch begins on the west edge of Kremmling off County Road 12, less than a two-hour drive west of Denver. The historic ranching community of Kremmling has a population of 2,000 residents and offers most services including a private jet-accessible airport just minutes from the ranch. Conveniently located, Steamboat Springs is 50 miles northwest of the ranch, Vail is 65 miles south and Winter Park is 45 miles east. The ranch is bordered by other Grand River Ranches of similar size and borders the Colorado River where it enters the Gore Canyon along its southern end.

Surrounding Area: The area around Grand River Ranch has traditionally been a rural ranching community - rich with an authentic western ranch culture and not affected by the ski resort influence. Of equal stature, the area is well known for its gold-medal fishing waters, rafting and water sports along with trophy big game herds. All of the ranches around Colorado River Cattle Ranch are controlled and in strong hands providing a vast permanent open landscape that is rare in mountain areas with high scenic and recreational values. The Colorado River Cattle Ranch has a grazing lease on the other Grand River Ranches. Several of the larger ranches in the area are already protected from development by conservation easements and are under stable long term ownership.

The community of Kremmling offers many modern services and is a recreation paradise for the winter or summer outdoor enthusiast. Kremmling hosts 26 annual community events, providing entertainment for families and visitors of all ages and activity preferences. Kremmling Days (held in June) and the Annual Wolford Mountain Ice Fishing Tournament (held in February) represent two of the more popular ones. Kremmling has two banks and a credit union, kindergarten - high schools, grocery store, hospital with emergency room, library, coffee shops, diner, restaurants and saloons. A private jet-accessible airport (McElroy Field Airport) is only minutes from the Colorado River Cattle Ranch and two commuter/commercial airports are within a 1.5 hour drive of Kremmling; the Yampa Valley Regional Airport (HDN) and Eagle County Airport (EGE). The town of Silverthorne, just 38 miles south of Kremmling, provides access to more dining and shopping opportunities as well as home improvement stores, larger super markets and general service/maintenance retailers.

Acreage: The Colorado River Cattle Ranch is three miles wide and three miles long and consists of 1,235 deeded acres. Just west of US Highway 40, the ranch is comprised of irrigated hay meadow that parallels the Colorado River for three miles then gently slopes up to the north where the improvements and working corrals are located. The Colorado River flows along the south boundary of the ranch for at least three miles just before it enters the Gore Canyon and there are spectacular views in every direction; south to the Gore Range and the 133,000-acre Eagles Nest Wilderness, west to the sheer rock walls of the Gore Canyon, and north to the 19,000 acres that comprise the Grand River Ranches.

Wildlife and Fishery Resources: The shared Grand River Ranch Fishing Camp, below Wolford Mountain Reservoir and the Grand River Ranch Lake, contain rainbow trout, brook trout, creek chubs and fathead minnows. Aquatic habitat, both for fish and for waterfowl, has been substantially enhanced. Exceptional fly-fishing is also available on several gold-medal streams and rivers that are within an easy drive including the adjacent Colorado River and a short drive to the Eagle River, Frying Pan River, Roaring Fork River, North Platte River, White River or numerous North Park streams. Additional lake fishing, water-skiing and sailing is available just across the highway on the 1,550-acre Wolford Mountain Reservoir and the nearby 2,125-acre Green Mountain Reservoir.

The ranch is inhabited by elk, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, coyotes, black bears, red foxes, bobcats, pine martens, and beavers, and numerous small mammals such as snowshoe hares, marmots, long-tailed weasels, ermine, muskrats and chipmunks. Ducks, geese, blue grouse, great blue heron, hawks, owls and eagles frequent the property and moose occasionally migrate through the property and through Grand River Ranch.

Recreational Considerations: Colorado River Cattle Ranch is surrounded by world-class ski areas including Steamboat, Winter Park, Keystone, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Arapahoe Basin, Vail and Beaver Creek. These well-known resorts also offer endless year-round recreation and entertainment opportunities including golf, tennis, water sports, hiking, biking, and culinary, art and music festivals, and a plethora of other winter and summer alpine activities. The adjacent Colorado River offers fishing, kayaking, and rafting. Hiking, climbing, camping and mountaineering can be found in every direction from the property and road cycling is a popular summer activity with an ever-expanding network of dedicated cycling paths. In addition, mountain biking, off-road motorcycling and ATV trails exist on the ranch and in the nearby mountains and hills.

The open areas and beauty of the property along the river give it excellent recreational value with scenic vistas and millions of acres of public land nearby if one chooses to venture beyond the ranch borders. Colorado River Cattle Ranch and adjacent ranches are professionally managed and patrolled to maintain security and mitigate trespassing.

Grand River Ranch: Colorado River Cattle Ranch is a part of the Grand River Ranch that features nineteen individual ranches on 19,000 acres, each with its own character and carefully planned with reasonable covenants and guidelines aimed at safeguarding its history and resources. Conservation easement potential remains intact and the Colorado River Cattle Ranch offers an extraordinary opportunity to own a ranch with other amenities including a Private Lake with Day Cabin for lake fishing and non-motorized boating, a Day Cabin and Overnight Cabin on a first-class fly fishing stream, Sporting Clays Shooting Range, Equestrian Center with Outdoor Arena and the full-service Grand River Ranch Lodge providing overnight accommodations, fine dining and entertaining area.

Climate: Elevations average 7,300 feet at the ranch which features the attractive Colorado mountain climate – warm sunny days with low humidity and cool nights. Average summer temperatures are in the upper 70's with lows in the 40's. Winter is typical of the conditions at the base of some of Colorado popular ski resorts with pleasant day temperatures ranging from the teens at night to 30's during the day and snow cover of approximately 100 inches per year from December through April.

Improvements: Improvements include a 6,000 square foot, two level main residence in a mountain-modern design with five bedrooms, three full baths, three 3/4 baths and one 1/2 bath and a deck offering views below to the Colorado River. In addition, there are three caretaker's homes that range in size from 1,300-1,500 square feet; each with two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

There is a full set of working corrals with water which includes a squeeze chute, processing and loading areas. Outbuildings include a shop with three insulated bays and three cold bays with running water and electricity, an enclosed garage bay with electricity, barn with hot room and upstairs hay storage with water and electricity, shed with cattle shoot and electricity, scale house for cattle with electricity, a lean-to with enclosed upper-storage, 3 grain silos and four additional lean-tos up the hill from the shop – all with electricity in place. The ranch is perimeter and cross-fenced.

Colorado River Cattle Ranch is owner rated at 500 cow/calf pair based on the lease back of the other Grand River Ranches for summer grass, sale of the calf crop less replacement heifers and feeding during the winter months of the bred cow herd. All 1,235 acres are irrigated and put up approximately 1,700 tons of native grass hay in 2007.

Operational Considerations: The ranch has been operated as a hay meadow and pasture and would make a wonderful horse property, private getaway, or stand alone ranch with livestock grazing. All l,235 acres is owned in fee and any new owner has the opportunity to lease back the other Grand River Ranches that make up 19,000 total acres. Currently, the Grand River Ranch has been leasing out the majority of the ranch for summer cattle grazing which can continue with The Colorado River Cattle Ranch, if desired, and which would preserve the agricultural status of the property and the consequent low property taxes. A new owner may wish to place a conservation easement on the property which would no longer require livestock or hay production to maintain agricultural status.