Colorado's Echo Lake Lodge slated for three years of improvements

Nov. 14—Denver's Mountain Parks offer an escape from the concrete jungle that is the city. The parks dot the front range and some extend deep into the mountains. They offer trails, campsites and learning opportunities. One of the most popular park features through the years has been the Echo Lake Lodge.

Situated near the base of Mount Evans, the lodge has served as a popular summer stop for tourists hiking or visiting one of Colorado's tallest 14ers. And for the past 57 years, a restaurant and souvenir shop has been operated by Bill Carle's family.

That is, until now.

The city declined to renew Carle's contract earlier this year, effectively shutting down the concession store and restaurant. Carle, though not heavily involved in the day-to-day operations of the store in the past, took over operations after his sister passed away last year.

"I'd been trying to meet with Denver for months before the lease ended," he said. "They brought me in in December and said, 'Well, (your sister) did a great job at Echo Lake, but we want to go in a different direction.'"

That different direction includes returning to what Shannon Dennison, the director of Denver's Mountain Parks, calls "mission based" use. Exactly what that looks like is still being planned by the city, but some early plans include overnight use, reopening the upstairs to the public and making repairs to the septic system.

Dennison has worked for the city of Denver for five years and became the Mountain Parks director last year. She became a park ranger in 2004 and has worked in many national parks.

"I'm excited about bringing back more mission focused use to the lodge," she said. "Using it as a visitor center, giving people an opportunity for overnight programming, being able to use the upstairs rooms again and being able to stay overnight in the building."

The process will take three years and during that time, the lodge will be partially open. While preservation architects and construction workers come and go, tourists will still be treated to food and beverage services through a food truck. Dennison hoped the lobby could reopen as a visitor center as soon as next year.

The work to restore a historic building is not as simple as renovating a home or office. Outside on park grounds, Dennison says Denver's outdoor adventure and alternative sports master plan should be a great help for Echo Lake Park.

"One of the focus areas is going to be Echo Lake Park and trying to again bring some of the winter recreational activities," she said. "In the 1970s we used to do ice skating up there, so we'd love to bring that back."

Dennison also said Denver is looking at how the lodge, which is not open during winter, can be improved to support snowshoeing and cross country skiing. The lodge is not winterized, meaning it doesn't support running water in the winter. Exploring winter use is one of the tasks preservation architects have.

Dennison said Denver hopes to reopen the building for its 100-year anniversary in 2026.

All of these plans left a sour taste in Carle's mouth. His family has been in this business for 130 years, starting at Pikes Peak and slowly but surely expanding outward and upward.

"My sister got up for 40 years making pies. Somebody in my family made sure that the donuts got made for 99 years on Pikes Peak," he said. "It takes somebody getting up every morning, doing this to make these things legend, to make them iconic and make them part of the culture. You can't come in and invent this stuff."

Carle recalled a number of stories people shared with him during his last days at the lodge. Some used it to celebrate anniversaries, others birthdays and some just came for the restaurant. One person, a 99-year-old, came in to eat at the restaurant one last time. She'd been coming for many of those years, sharing a picture of her sister at 3 years old eating in the restaurant.

Memories like these make Carle think Denver hasn't thought out its move.

"It's almost like it's a whim," he said.

Predating the National Park System by four years, the Denver Mountain Parks were founded as a way to get people into the mountains. The image of Denver as a mountain town was shattered 100 years ago, as it often is today.

Denver leaders realized that as more people moved west, the city was missing out on two major items: Tourism dollars and a good path to the mountains.

"People would travel to Denver and they would expect it to be the gateway into the mountains, and as we know Denver is the Queen City of the Plains," Dennison said. "There are no mountains in Denver, so people were either going to Estes Park or Manitou Springs."

Enter the Denver Mountain Parks. Prior to their creation, a lot of land in the mountains was privately owned. Names like Gates and Boetcher adorned the side of mountain mansions, off limits to the public.

So with a limited amount of room, Denver set out to create what Dennison called an automobile touring system. People could drive to Denver and take a day trip into the mountains where they'd picnic, visit historic sites like Buffalo Bill's grave and adventure in the mountains before returning to the bustle of the developing city.

The advent of the interstate highway system changed much of the tourism landscape, however.

"It brought deeper mountains closer ... so people started to bypass the Mountain Parks a little bit more," she said. "A lot of the Denver community has sprung up in the foothills and a lot of the parks have been surrounded by suburban development."

Echo Lake Park was an exception. Built on U.S. Forest Service land, the park has managed to retain the pristine feeling of what the mountain park system was originally designed to be, Dennison said.

The lodge was originally built in 1926 for $28,106. If adjusted for inflation, the lodge would have required a $473,216 investment in today's dollars.

Beyond the family history Carle has with the lodge, there's also a practical element to it: Food and water for hikers and tourists.

"It's the only thing there is: 14 miles to Idaho Springs, 19 miles to Bergen Park, 14 miles to the top of Mount Evans and it's the only place to get a bottle of water," Carle said.

Carle admitted he's in the souvenir business.

"People like to buy souvenirs," he said. "It's been good to my family for five generations, and they're just ignoring that."

But the heavy commercial utilization is what has worried Dennison. It was a large factor in letting the contract expire, especially considering the building is almost 100 years old and essential systems have begun to fail.

"We're not re-advertising the same services," Dennison said. "The concessioner has made a lot of proposals over the years about different types of commercial activities that they'd like to engage in. Those weren't always things we could support for one reason or another."

Carle said one of those proposals was construction of a 5,000-square-foot addition to the gift shop. This would allow the lobby to be opened up like so many archival pictures show.

"They all see this picture of some people in front of the fireplace in a rocking chair," he said. "I had a proposal in with them, and I thought I was going in to talk about that. We didn't even discuss anything, I was just told, 'We're moving in a different direction.'"

Though the experience has been bittersweet, and not how Carle wanted things to end at the lodge, he said he was able to work through it. On Wednesday night he was mopping the floor, as he had done countless nights before. He reflected on all the time spent at the lodge and he said it worked as a way to resolve it all in his head.

But on his last day, Carle got a rotten cherry on top. A friend and business partner came up to help him move out his last remaining items. The 72-year-old had just finished his 13th round of chemo treatment and slipped in the parking lot, breaking his arm.

"That's how it's ending on Mount Evans: A friend hurting themselves trying to come and help me," he said. "So I was having a good time on my way out, resolving it in my head, and then that happens. I thought, 'Son of a gun, this didn't need to end like this.'"

Though the ending is far from what Carle wanted, the self-described "rock 'n' roll" businessman has other ventures he can attend to. He recently purchased and restored an amphitheater in Missouri and his family continues to operate the concession stand at Buffalo Bill's grave.

He did leave the door open to Denver, should the city decide to reopen the lodge to concessionaires.

"It wouldn't be me. It'll be my nephew," he said. "He's 36, I'm 68, and I think the amphitheater is the last project I want to take on."