GRAND LAKE, Colo. — Nestled at the western edge of Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand Lake stands out as a one-of-a-kind Colorado community. The town sits just steps from the state’s largest and deepest natural lake, and its walkable downtown, lined with shops, restaurants, and cafés, remains entirely free of big-name chains.
With easy access to the outdoors and a pace far slower than its resort-town neighbors, Grand Lake feels both serene and alive. And Denver7 | Your Voice headed up to the close-knit community to learn more about what makes it so special.
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“In Colorado, there’s nothing like this,” said Hannah Sloan.
Three generations of her family all agree that the lake itself is what keeps drawing them back.
Denver7 got the chance to talk with Hannah, her daughter Breckin Sloan, and Hannah's mother Kristin Gilbert.
“I just love the lake life,” said Hannah Sloan, whose family develops land and renovates buildings in Grand Lake. “I think it’s such a unique spot; where you literally have a town right on the lake. And I like the slower pace of it. It’s not like Winter Park or Vail.”
Newcomer Jimmy Cowan put it simply: “I love the small-town vibe, having lived in L.A. I love that everyone knows who you are."
Cowan moved to Grand Lake with his wife just recently.
“It’s like a winter wonderland," he said. "I almost expect, like, the Polar Express to drive through main street one day."
A place to “exhale”
For Nanette Barbiche, who moved to Grand Lake from New Jersey about a decade ago, the mountain community offers both beauty and relief.
“There’s a lake, there’s hikes, we have a boat," she said. "Everything about here just says, 'Come up to the mountains and exhale.'”
Barbiche explained that the move west also came with practical benefits.
“I think when you move from the east and a state that has really high taxes, I don’t know — we weren’t going to last that long in New Jersey," she said. "So, here we are and we love it here.”
Others highlighted Grand Lake as a place to reconnect in the summer.
“I really love paddleboarding on the lake,” said Breckin, Hannah's daughter.
“It’s a great place to have a family reunion in the summertime,” added Hannah's mother Kristin. “Lots to do.”
A family legacy on Grand Avenue
For many, Grand Lake isn’t just a getaway. It’s home.
Bradley Hilton, whose family owns and operates Gifts Unlimited on Grand Avenue, there’s not a better place to live.
“My grandparents moved here in the mid-70s,” he said. “They were just trying to start a new life, basically. They decided to stay through the winter and ran a couple small businesses here on Grand Avenue; and then ended up landing on this place and opened it in 1977. My mother owns it now and I’m starting to get involved, as well.”
Running a business in Grand Lake comes with its own challenges.
“All the small business owners are working very hard and earning it during that time when visitors are here,” he explained of the typical Memorial Day through Labor Day season. “Yeah, there’s challenges, especially with the seasonality. We have bills year-round. We work really hard in the summertime, but for us, it’s still worth being open year-round to stay engaged with the community and continue to build a year-round economy.”
Housing: “Affordable takes on a new definition”
Like many Colorado mountain towns, housing in Grand Lake can be tough.
“I’d definitely say, affordable housing takes on a new definition,” said Cowan, who works for the town and the fire department. “It’s definitely not easy. One day hopefully we’ll buy, but right now we’re just renting from a small apartment near the fire station.”
According to data from Zillow, the average home value in Grand Lake is about $769,000, which is down less than 1% from this time in 2024. Renters pay an average of about $2,000 per month, with one-bedroom units slightly lower and two-bedroom units slightly higher.
Builders face hurdles, too.
“The requirements with the big projects are to provide a certain amount of affordable housing, so we’ve integrated that into each project that we’ve done,” Hannah Sloan said.
Living with fire and ice
Five years ago, the town was nearly destroyed by one of the most destructive wildfires in Colorado state history: The East Troublesome Fire.
Denver7 visited the town roughly half a year after the 193,812-acre fire, the second-largest in state history, forcing more than 35,000 people to evacuate and destroying nearly 600 structures as it roared around the edge of the downtown. Of those structures, 366 were residential. We published two in-depth stories — which you can read here and here — and created a 20-minute special about the town's recovery seven months later, which is below.
Today, signs of that fire still remain. A hillside near downtown still has burned trees, showing just how close the fire came to the downtown area.
“Yeah, the fire came really close to town,” Hilton said, pointing to the burn scar from the boardwalk on Grand Avenue outside his family’s shop. “You can see right here how close it came.”
“You could almost throw a rock that far," he continued. "Throw a rock a couple times and you’re going to be in the burn scar. That’s just a reality of living in a place where there’s pine forests.”
It’s an interesting contradiction of landscapes: A massive burn scar from a wildfire on one side of Grand Avenue, and the frozen Grand Lake on the other side.
And as winter approaches, snow begins to cover those burn scars and the rhythm of a wintry mountain life returns.
“We’re just barely getting into it now,” Hilton said. “Pretty soon the ground will be frozen. We’ll be buried in snow.”
The holidays in Grand Lake
For many, the town becomes even more magical in December.
“Grand Lake is a super beautiful place to spend time near Christmas and near the holidays,” Hilton said. “It’s kind of that holiday comfort, without it feeling commercial. There’s nothing commercial about this town.”
The town hosts a tree-lighting event every November and decks the halls down the entire main drag for the holiday months. Fireworks are planned for New Years Eve, the Pond Hockey Classic kicks off in late January, and the Winter Carnival follows about a week later. Ski joring — where skiers are pulled by horses over jumps — is set for late February on Grand Avenue. And the largest ice fishing tournament west of the Mississippi River, Ice Addiction, comes to Grand Lake in February.
“We’re trying to attract visitors during the holiday season,” Hilton said. “It’s not just a summer town.”
With its lakefront access, rugged beauty, and enduring small-town feel, Grand Lake continues to draw people seeking both adventure and calm.
“I think it’s a little hidden gem here,” Sloan said. “It’s definitely a unique place.”
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