Granite Wall Ranch

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Blizzard of 2003

The snow started falling on Monday, March 17th. We arrived at 7:30 PM that evening and 8 inches had already fallen. Had we arrived an hour later, we would have not been able to ascend the hill. The weather forecast was for a "significant snow event" lasting for the next 48 hours. The forecasters were correct. By the time the snow ended, we had approximately 3 to 4 feet of snow.

It is now Saturday, March 22, and we are still stranded. Last night, the snow plow crew made it about half-way up the last incline, but quit around 11:00 PM. We're hoping they finish sometime today. Click here for a pictorial tour of the Blizzard of 2003.

Top 10 Lessons Learned:

10) Snow blowers are good things.
9) We need a snowblower.
8) We should have sleds up here.
7) Snow shoes aren't so great in 4 feet of powder
6) We now understand the term "cabin fever"
5) The firewood should be stored in a place that does not get covered with a 5 foot snowdrift
4) Extra food is good.
3) A generator should be part of every mountain home (we didn't need it, but being stranded for 5 days without power would have stunk).
2)The telephone is a good thing
1) When 3 feet of snow is forecast, consider postponing the trip

The dream begins.

In June 2000, Nick and I spent a week in Colorado intending simply to visit a number of locations around the front-range, seeking locations suitable for building a log cabin. Or perhaps if we were lucky, find an existing home we liked. We started near Ft Collins and worked our way down the front-range.

Well that all changed the moment we entered the Lost Canyon Ranch off Teller County Road 1, just south-east of Florissant, Colorado. Instantly smitten, I knew deep inside that this was the place. After touring all the tracts and hiking around the area, we settled on Lot 10. While it does not have the spectacular rock formations on the property as do some of the other lots, the views from our 22 acres of paradise are indescribable. It was as if someone offered to sell us a lot in a National Park.

The name of our retreat is Granite Wall Ranch, after the massive granite rock formations in the area. We have built legacy for family and friends and we trust all – including perhaps someday our grandchildren and their children – will come to know GWR as a place of beauty, peace, calm, and joy. See the cabin principles and rules for more insights. There are deer, elk, bear, mountain lions, big horn sheep, mountain goats, foxes, rabbits, badgers, bald eagles, and coyotes in the area and on the property.

Much to mom’s delight, we found fresh bear scat about 20 feet from the future building site. Although no bears were sighted during the construction process, we had two bear visits on the first two days we were in the cabin. In the first case, a bear cub wandered onto the kitchen deck while were we unloading the moving van. In the second sighting, a full-grown bear rambled across driveway.

We have selected a hand-crafted home from Pacific Log Homes. They are beautiful homes and fit the style ingrained in me as a kid in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming.

Construction began in April of 2001, and finished in May, 2002. It was a long process, but well worth the wait.

Click here for a pictorial tour of the cabin.

Click here for the construction story.

Here are some additional pages (AOL users may experience some difficulty with some of these pages). The Satellite image page is really cool!

You can also link back to our family’s homepage at http://www.mcwebcom.com or send email comments to jonathan.mcintosh@att.net

The weather in Florissant, Colorado

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