If you believe most adventures should begin and end within walking distance of a well-stocked bar, you'll find a lot to like about Devil's Thumb Ranch. Step away from your Old Fashioned, its materials promise, and you'll discover,"5,000 acres of raw Colorado." And if that has you interested, then you'll also appreciate the bajillion-square-foot spa, the miles of cross-country skiing trails, the stables and the general lack of cell-phone service. Don't expect to check e-mail on the go. This is the experience Devil's Thumb offers.
The decor is "raw" and "Coloradan" inasmuch as any four-star resort hotel can be either of those things. Wood abounds. Dark stains impart a closeness in an otherwise enormous building, and a central stone fireplace soars three stories. Cowboy hats hang from every vertical surface, but mercifully, no one has yet thought to include a bear carved out of a stump. For everyone's sake, I hope it remains so.
Checking into your room, you may or may not find a TV, a fireplace, a bathtub or a chair that fits a normal-sized adult. This is also raw, in the sense that you, like the pioneers who first explored these parts, will never know quite what to expect from your environs. You can, however, count on a bedside document detailing just how "green" Devil's Thumb has made your visit. I don't remember the exact language of the card but it goes something like, "At Devil's Thumb, the way we figger it, bein' green ain't just for kicks; it makes plain good sense." So they cut a hole out of the center of your soap to prove the point. And trucked a Civil-War-era barn from Virginia to Colorado so they wouldn't have to build a new one. This does not make sense, plain good or otherwise, but you don't come to Devil's thumb to ask questions.
You do come for the overall effect, which is as you'd expect: rustic and relaxing. Absent the go-go mentality of a ski resort, Devil's Thumb offers something more along the lines of bucolic bliss. You can feed the horses if you want. You can snowshoe. And at any given time, you'll rarely see more than a few other people. It's that kind of place, set sometimes literally in the shadow of the Indian Peaks, where no matter what you're doing, you feel you've arrived, and that you're no longer obligated to do anything else. It's about being there to be there--not about spending the night and moving on. I sense it's this quality that makes the place something of a wedding factory throughout the year. Well, that and the two bars.
If you want to go elsewhere, though, Winter Park is a completely reasonable drive, and the town of Fraser offers several more dining options. But I imagine that if you've picked Devil's Thumb, you're not about to leave until your stay is over. Why would you want to?
The Deets:
Cost: You'll spend at least $300/night on a room in the lodge. There is (or was) a "bunkhouse" down the road which sounds a lot like a hostel and goes for about $100 + tax.
Activities: Spa, cross country skiing including rentals and lessons, snowshoeing, horseback riding, biking, hiking, game rooming, marrying, drinking, cigar smoking
Eat and drink: Two restaurants, both pricey. Two bars with a decent selection of wine and beer. Reasonably-priced coffee shop. read more