GC79N9X Columbine Lodge & Restaurant TB Hotel
Type: Traditional | Size: Regular | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: momcheers @ | Hide Date: 07/29/2017 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N40° 23.474 W106° 36.197 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
                 

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An easy, very kid friendly, cache along Hwy 40! Great place for a picnic lunch, to stretch your legs, or just flat out take a break from the traffic and learn a little history while you're at it -- so why is this parking lot with electricity here?

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This cache is a gallon-sized, cammo'd can that started with lots of goodies for the kiddos!

At this site... The Columbine Lodge was first established in 1924 by J.R. (Joe) and Stella Goff. By July of 1925 they were making arrangements for a new dining hall and cabins. In Oct 1929 -- 29 cars passed by in one day! It was a great stopping point being as Walden to Steamboat was 62 miles and Kremmling to Steamboat was 57 miles at the time -- the Columbine Lodge was in the middle of both routes!

The lodge was only open in the summers, although the Goffs stayed through the winters and communicated to Steamboat by phone and kept track of news through the radio. They kept track of the snow levels (40' in 1929) and this was a place to measure the snow for many years to come.
By 1932 there were 6 double, furnished cabins and 2 double, unfurnished cabins. Water (cold only) was piped from the lodge to all the cabins but hot water was available at the lodge.

By 1953, Ted Schefler owned the Lodge -- he also owned the Texaco Station in Steamboat. The Columbine Lodge had a filling station by this time and offered AAA emergency roadside service. It was the Scheflers who drilled the well in the summer of 1953 that allowed the lodge to stay open in the winter months. They also added 5 new guest rooms and a modern bath to the 2nd floor of the lodge that year. In 1953 a "full course T-Bone steak dinner" was $2.75!

The Columbine Lodge was sold to a Greeley couple, Richard & Virginia Laurdisen in December of 1962. They opened it back up in January 1963.

The Columbine Lodge was still standing through 1975 although I haven't been able to confirm at this time how long exactly it operated. I will edit the cache when I get an answer!

One ironic note, Stella Goff died in 1942, due to injuries from being struck by a car while crossing the street in Steamboat at the intersection of 10th & Lincoln... the site of the Texaco Station that Ted Schefler later operated (by 1955)!

07/05/2019 By donjill3
Visiting from Kentucky ... TFTC

07/02/2019 By Trekkie79
Day 2 of our trip from Kansas City, MO to Antioch, CA to see the granddaughters. Today was from Burlington CO to Salt Lake City, UT, picking up counties we needed in Colorado and Utah. A good day of sunshine and just a little rain, and able to find almost every one we tried. Interesting scenery, snow still on the ground in some places, and some fun, quick caches.

Did not see any TBs at the hotel. Signed the log and back on the road.

Thanks for the work you put into these fun caches and all the smileys.
Trekkie79

07/02/2019 By momcheers
Sounds like the cache has been moved from it's original spot.... I will return it to it's spot the next time I'm by there.... until then, please take care to keep it hidden! :-)

07/02/2019 By GJF2003
Ignore hint, it's by the sign, TFTC!

07/01/2019 By rockymtn8iv
After returning our granddaughter to her mom at the Saratoga turnoff, we decided to do a little sightseeing/geocaching on the way home.
This was a quick and easy one & we made short work of it too. We had to! The mosquitos were absolutely atrocious!
I remember when the lodge was here and the first time I ever saw a moose was in the wetlands directly north of GZ. I hadn't thought about the lodge in quite a few years so thank you for another reminder of days past!
FI SL
T4TC!

08/22/2018 By korriaan
Traveling through on a major trip out to Washington and seeing the sights between St. Louis and Seattle. Such amazing places to see! Quick stop here, hoping to move along a TB or two, but alas, no TBs were in residence.

08/18/2018 By IowaGerd
I raced to this cache, because of the rain, and forgot to bring a TB.

08/14/2018 By MAGICN3
Nice TB hotel. Good cords. Picked up a TB. TFTC.

08/13/2018 By cal25
I gave it a good try but could not find it.

08/09/2018 By Cryptosporidium-623
Dipping trackables that weren't properly dropped.

09/04/2017 By dustyriver
A good find with Liquidelle, BriGuy on our Labor day weekend grabbing caches trip. We covered over 20 counties over the three day weekend and even got to dip into Utah. Good traveling as one of the SWAC crew, Best Wishes, DustyRiver