# How hard is it to exchange into Estes Park?



## TheHolleys87 (Jun 17, 2019)

DH and I are interested in exchanging into Estes Park next summer (2020) - potential check in dates roughly mid-June (so that Trail Ridge Road will probably be open) through mid to late September.  We want to visit RMNP but enter from the east (we've stayed in Granby before).  We started to put in an OGS this morning, but DH balked at paying the transaction fee just yet so I'm to check periodically to see if anything comes up.

So my question is, how hard might it be to get an exchange there without an OGS?  It would be just the two of us, so a 1-bedroom or larger will be fine (not a studio).  Any of the three RCI properties would work.  We have 49 TPUs available, if that's a consideration.

Thanks!


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## klpca (Jun 17, 2019)

We were there in May of 2015 (so things could have changed). We spoke with the original developer at Rams Horn Village who was also the manager, and he told me that he never puts any summer weeks into RCI - they have a robust rental program and summer weeks are easily rented. The latest that I have seen is late May. 

There are other resorts in Estes Park, WorldMark, Crags Lodge, but I am not sure about their availability. I suspect that it is a tough trade in the summer. But you never know - put an OGS in now. The Vail area would be easier to get in the summer.


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## Snazzylass (Jun 18, 2019)

I suspect that AirBnB has been a big game changer for me at my home resort. As an owner, I have the option to rent individual nights, last minute, at a decent price. In the last few years, I see my resort advertised on AirBnB and when I call, there's no availability. *sigh*


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## bnoble (Jun 18, 2019)

TheHolleys87 said:


> DH balked at paying the transaction fee just yet so I'm to check periodically to see if anything comes up.


Just as a reminder: if the exchange doesn't come through, you get the transaction fee back. So, you only lose whatever interest that would have made sitting in a bank account somewhere.


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## TheHolleys87 (Jun 18, 2019)

klpca said:


> We were there in May of 2015 (so things could have changed). We spoke with the original developer at Rams Horn Village who was also the manager, and he told me that he never puts any summer weeks into RCI - they have a robust rental program and summer weeks are easily rented. The latest that I have seen is late May.
> 
> There are other resorts in Estes Park, WorldMark, Crags Lodge, but I am not sure about their availability. I suspect that it is a tough trade in the summer. But you never know - put an OGS in now. The Vail area would be easier to get in the summer.





Snazzylass said:


> I suspect that AirBnB has been a big game changer for me at my home resort. As an owner, I have the option to rent individual nights, last minute, at a decent price. In the last few years, I see my resort advertised on AirBnB and when I call, there's no availability. *sigh*





bnoble said:


> Just as a reminder: if the exchange doesn't come through, you get the transaction fee back. So, you only lose whatever interest that would have made sitting in a bank account somewhere.



Thank you, all! I’ll put in an OGS this morning.


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## WinniWoman (Jun 19, 2019)

We went June, 2017 and we decided to just rent directly from Rams Horn. They had a spring special- but was still expensive. Was worth every penny.


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## rickandcindy23 (Jun 19, 2019)

This is where a WorldMark membership comes in handy.  WorldMark has a very nice resort in Estes Park and it's not hard to get this early. 

It's over two hours just to get to the entrance from Vail.  That makes for a long day of travel, so maybe a hotel coming back for one night. 

I never stay in the mountains anymore.  Rick and I were burned out during our many stays in our owned timeshares in Frisco and Fraser.  We have no desire to stay there for a long week.  We stay one night for HOA meetings and that is it.


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## OldGuy (Jun 19, 2019)

Trading in has not changed since we did it almost every year, first week in June.

Summer is tough to get.

Looking through RCI, I see something on May 2 next year, and then nothing more until October 17.

Even that _diamond in the rough _over near the Western Entrance to RMNP is scarce in the Summer.


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## Ann-Marie (Jun 20, 2019)

We are heading there August 23, 2019.  Took me 2 years to get a week between June and August.  I guess this may not be considered a summer week.  Can't wait!


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## PigsDad (Jun 20, 2019)

Ann-Marie said:


> We are heading there August 23, 2019.  Took me 2 years to get a week between June and August.  I guess this may not be considered a summer week.  Can't wait!


Local schools are back in session by then, but it should still be plenty busy in Estes that week.  You should have nice, warm weather as well, but expect afternoon thundershowers.  Enjoy!

Kurt


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## OldGuy (Jun 21, 2019)

Estes Park is one of our favorite special places.  I feel lucky that we were always able to trade into there.  But, then, that was back in the day . . .


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## Ann-Marie (Jun 21, 2019)

PigsDad said:


> Local schools are back in session by then, but it should still be plenty busy in Estes that week.  You should have nice, warm weather as well, but expect afternoon thundershowers.  Enjoy!
> 
> Kurt


I hope we have nice warm weather.  It is 90-100 degrees at home right now and we are thrilled!  I have been watching the temperatures in Estes Park and jokingly I said to my husband, I hope we do not need winter coats!!


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## PigsDad (Jun 21, 2019)

Ann-Marie said:


> I hope we have nice warm weather.  It is 90-100 degrees at home right now and we are thrilled!  I have been watching the temperatures in Estes Park and jokingly I said to my husband, I hope we do not need winter coats!!


We have been having a very cool June (there is snow falling in the high country today!), but August is usually much warmer.

Kurt


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## Laurie (Jun 22, 2019)

Some years ago, maybe 8, we did get an RCI exchange into a 2-BR at Ram's Horn during high summer. My memory is that I had put in an OGS for that exact resort and timeframe, and it didn't match! but it was briefly sitting online and I snagged it. Things were easier with RCI back then, this was before TPU's and before they rented as much of their inventory, but still, don't rule out the possibility and you have nothing more than a couple of dollars to lose.


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## OldGuy (Jun 22, 2019)

Laurie said:


> Some years ago, maybe 8, we did get an RCI exchange into a 2-BR at Ram's Horn during high summer. My memory is that I had put in an OGS for that exact resort and timeframe, and it didn't match! but it was briefly sitting online and I snagged it. Things were easier with RCI back then, this was before TPU's and before they rented as much of their inventory, but still, don't rule out the possibility and you have nothing more than a couple of dollars to lose.



That's worthy of more than a Like, so here it is.


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## TheHolleys87 (Jun 22, 2019)

Thanks everyone, I appreciate learning what your experience has been, and I hope others will comment too.  I currently have an OGS set for any of the three RCI resorts in Estes Park with check in dates from mid-June to mid- or late September 2020, so we'll see what happens.  We'll think about extending the end into October - really want to be able to travel over Trail Ridge Road so concerned about onset of snow closure there.


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## OldGuy (Jun 22, 2019)

People rave about Rams Horn, but it was just getting started when we were regularly staying at The Golden Eagle, which somehow has been rebranded as the Historic Crags Lodge.  It is, in fact, an early 1900s place that's on the National Register of Historic Places. 

It is what it is, and I always called it Summer Camp for Grownups.  When you look out the window wall of the dining room, past the hummingbird feeders, you see downtown Estes Park, and The Old Stanley shining  on the other side of town.

https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/08/8f/80/d7/view-restaurant.jpg

Trail Ridge always opened when we were there, the first week in June, and there would normally still be 10-15 foot drifts on the sides.


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## TheHolleys87 (Jun 22, 2019)

Y’all are all making me hope desperately that we get an exchange there!

(Please continue!)


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## OldGuy (Jun 22, 2019)

OK.

The Taffy Shop. . . . nuff said

http://www.originaltaffyshop.com/taffy-cam.php

I can smell it, can you?


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## OldGuy (Jun 22, 2019)

I suppose next you wanna see elk wandering around town.  Boy, you're hard to please.

But . . . 

Nah, I don't see any right now, but here's some more cams you can scroll through, and activate:

https://piedtype.com/2019/05/14/new-live-streaming-webcams-on-line-in-estes-park/#jp-carousel-50265


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## Laurie (Jun 22, 2019)

OldGuy said:


> People rave about Rams Horn, but it was just getting started when we were regularly staying at The Golden Eagle, which somehow has been rebranded as the Historic Crags Lodge.  It is, in fact, an early 1900s place that's on the National Register of Historic Places.
> 
> It is what it is, and I always called it Summer Camp for Grownups.  When you look out the window wall of the dining room, past the hummingbird feeders, you see downtown Estes Park, and The Old Stanley shining  on the other side of town.


I would have accepted an exchange there because I do appreciate historic properties, and we enjoyed having dinner there in front of that picture window, but I have to say Ram's Horn was one of the nicest resorts we've stayed at, ever, even tho it didn't have the spectacular view.


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## OldGuy (Jun 22, 2019)

Endovalley

great name, nice place

Bald Pate Inn

another great name


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## rickandcindy23 (Jun 22, 2019)

Ongoing searches can be pretty amazing sometimes.  I have a good time setting some and seeing if it comes through, sometimes just for the fun of seeing what I can get.  I have gotten some great stuff.  

Rick wants me to try again for Outer Banks for next May.  But I already have Florida Panhandle for next May, so maybe September 2020 for Outer Banks.


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## OldGuy (Jun 22, 2019)

What's really fun is starting an OGS, and then getting what you want online.


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## OldGuy (Jun 22, 2019)

Colorado got almost two feet of snow yesterday, the first day of Summer, so good luck trying to predict vacation weather in advance:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/22/weather/snow-in-colorado-trnd/index.html


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## Krteczech (Jun 22, 2019)

We'll think about extending the end into October - really want to be able to travel over Trail Ridge Road so concerned about onset of snow closure there.[/QUOTE said:
			
		

> The Trail Ridge road is closed as of today due to snow. We were lucky to drive thru last weekend. Snowdrifts by the road exceeded eight ft in some places.


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## OldGuy (Jun 23, 2019)

So it would be hard to get from here to there.  

My inner ears don't do elevated elevations well, so on some of those cutbacks it would be a tad hairy, so we seldom went all the way from here to there.


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## OldGuy (Jun 23, 2019)

OldGuy said:


> So it would be hard to get from here to there.
> 
> My inner ears don't do elevated elevations well, so on some of those cutbacks it would be a tad hairy, so we seldom went all the way from here to there.



Related . . . 8000 foot elevation, and no elevators in _The Golden Eagle, _it always took a couple of days to get acclimated.  Flatlanders can often underestimate that, and simple hikes become strenuous.
- - - - - -
There are a lot of beautiful drives around Estes Park.  Not just in RMNP, but 36 from Longmont or 34 from Loveland, or the Peak to Peak Highway to the casinos at Central City/Black Hawk.  Or, try north on Devil's Gulch Road from Estes Park, and back to 34 on Dry Gulch Road.

One night driving from Longmont/Lyons to Estes Park, we rounded a curve, and there was a mountain lion crossing the road in our headlight beam. We were both stunned, and said something like, "Wow!  Was that what I thought it was?"


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## TheHolleys87 (Jun 23, 2019)

OldGuy said:


> Colorado got almost two feet of snow yesterday, the first day of Summer, so good luck trying to predict vacation weather in advance:
> 
> https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/22/weather/snow-in-colorado-trnd/index.html




Unfortunately we know that’s a possibility always! Mother Nature doesn’t pay attention to the calendar!


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## klpca (Jun 23, 2019)

We did a day trip from Beaver Creek to the west side of Rocky Mountain NP a couple of years ago to go hiking. It was about the third week of October and the weather was beautiful. It had snowed recently but enough had melted that the hiking was unaffected and driving was easy (it was still a good 2 hours drive, though). We were in Estes Park over Memorial Day the previous year and were able to take the Trail Ridge road to the Alpine visitor center (that was our destination - not sure if more was open) and had huge snowdrifts on either side. Hiking was limited to the lower elevations, even near Estes Park. Shoulder season travel always comes with a bit of uncertainty about the weather.


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## OldGuy (Jun 23, 2019)

klpca said:


> We did a day trip from Beaver Creek to the west side of Rocky Mountain NP a couple of years ago to go hiking.



That's quite a drive to go hiking.  I know that road, I think . . . 

Berthoud Pass, Winter Park, Fraser, Tabemash, Silver Creek, Granby, RMNP

We had a week in Winter Park in '92, and the local realtor (Elk Horn Realty) did the welcome party for all timeshares.  Then, you could go do other things with them, so we went trout fishing.

We wound up buying a _diamond in the rough_ foreclosure from them.

FWIW, all of that is from my warped memory.


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## klpca (Jun 23, 2019)

OldGuy said:


> That's quite a drive to go hiking.  I know that road, I think . . .
> 
> Berthoud Pass, Winter Park, Fraser, Tabemash, Silver Creek, Granby, RMNP
> 
> ...


We will absolutely make a 2 hour drive for good hiking . Plus we had a guest who wanted to visit a national park. My daughter was driving so I have no recollection of the route, just the time involved. I remember thinking that I was glad that I didn't have to do the driving. I just took a look at my notes, and the trail that we did was the Green Valley Trail https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/green-mountain-trail--2, easy incline with a gorgeous meadow at the top. I was surprised to see it rated as moderate because I don't remember it being that difficult - it still registers as an easy hike in my brain, but maybe that's because earlier in the week we went from Beaver Creek to Beaver Lake the day after we arrived from San Diego. Which meant that on Sunday morning I was at sea level, and on Monday we hiked in the snow from 8,000' to 9,600' elevation and I thought that my lungs would burst, lol. https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/beaver-lake-trail But we passed a group of three ladies who were coming down from the lake after having consumed a bottle of champagne (props to them for hauling that thing up the trail, lol) so obviously it wasn't really that bad of a hike.


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## OldGuy (Jun 23, 2019)

http://www.rockymountainhikingtrails.com/hanging-lake.htm

When we were much younger, we went to the Hanging Lake trail, which is actually on I-70.  Since it says _moderate, _we didn't give it much thought.  But, on the way up we saw even-much-younger people sitting, winded, and everyone had ample bottled water.

Wow!  By the time we got to the top, the waterfall and Hanging Lake, I remember that we drank from it.


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## Laurie (Jun 27, 2019)

OldGuy said:


> http://www.rockymountainhikingtrails.com/hanging-lake.htm
> 
> When we were much younger, we went to the Hanging Lake trail, which is actually on I-70.  Since it says _moderate, _we didn't give it much thought.  But, on the way up we saw even-much-younger people sitting, winded, and everyone had ample bottled water.
> 
> Wow!  By the time we got to the top, the waterfall and Hanging Lake, I remember that we drank from it.



Yes! We drove over and hiked up to Hanging Lake, during our timeshare week in Vail (preceded our Estes Park exchange) -- very worth it. I needed my walking stick for the descent, it's steep! Afterwards, a relaxing dip over at Glenwood Hot Springs pool, which I loved also. 

We went to Glenwood Hot Springs pool 2x - one day we drove a big loop as I recall and came back thru Aspen way, visited Maroon Bells and walked as far as we could get around the lake -- I had read about this on TUG! -- absolutely stunning, lived up to all the accolades, and worth the time because we got to experience some of the very best of Colorado on this trip.


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## OldGuy (Jul 9, 2019)

Touching story from the Twin Sisters trail on ABC Nightly News today.

A blind hiker with a lady with spina bifida in his backpack giving him instructions.


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## TheHolleys87 (Jul 16, 2019)

Our OGS matched!  We just confirmed a booking for the Historic Crags Lodge in late June.  Looking at the photos online on the Diamond Resorts website and others, it's just the kind of place DH and I love.  Looking forward to enjoying the area!

PS I was hoping to update the Subject line for this thread to indicate that we matched, but I can't see a way to do that.


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## OldGuy (Jul 17, 2019)

TheHolleys87 said:


> Our OGS matched!  We just confirmed a booking for the Historic Crags Lodge in late June.  Looking at the photos online on the Diamond Resorts website and others, it's just the kind of place DH and I love.  Looking forward to enjoying the area!
> 
> PS I was hoping to update the Subject line for this thread to indicate that we matched, but I can't see a way to do that.



Good for you.  That's our kind of _diamond in the rough, _and we stayed there in June several years.  If we had not, and if we had a TS bucket list still, it would be on it.

FYI, there are maybe three units in a building out in front of the main building, and the tram runs right by behind them.


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## OldGuy (Jul 19, 2019)

TheHolleys87 said:


> Our OGS matched!  We just confirmed a booking for the Historic Crags Lodge in late June.



BTW, folks can call it the Crags all they want, but to us it will always be The Golden Eagle.  One visit we actually saw one . . . golden eagle.

Looks like it might have gotten officially renamed in 1998.  The Crags is the name of the small subdivision on the side of Prospect Mountain that the lodge sits in/on.

*The Crags Lodge is eligible for the National Register under Criterion A in the area of entertainment/recreation for its association with the development of tourism in the Estes Park area from 1914 to 1935. 

 Another early hostelry was Elkhorn Lodge (National Register listed), formerly established in 1901 with the construction of a lodge building, but actually dating back to the late 1870s when the James family boarded tourists at their ranch house. The most famous and elegant of the early hotels was the complex erected on a hill at the north end of the park by P.O. Stanley. Stanley began construction in 1907 and two years later opened his Stanley Hotel (National Register). He soon followed with a manor house, built for year-round occupancy, and a theater building. Several other large Estes Park area tourist facilities trace their founding to the years shortly before the First World War. Automobile roads from Loveland and Lyons provided greater accessibility to the region by this time and stimulated the growth of the town of Estes Park, established in 1905. The new tourist hostelries included The Crags Lodge (1914), the Baldpate Inn (1916, National Register), and the Hewes-Kirkwood Inn (1917, National Register).

https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/0d92c6d0-c4dc-4af2-aee5-e2b63e16ee23

https://www.google.com/maps/place/C...92860296996ff!8m2!3d40.3719047!4d-105.5235628*


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## OldGuy (Jul 19, 2019)

OldGuy said:


> FYI, there are maybe three units in a building out in front of the main building, and the tram runs right by behind them.



The new-er annex was built around 1920, and there are six units there.  The tram runs by the two (I believe) on the left.  You can sit on their little decks sipping your morning coffee and wave at the people on the tram.

https://www.estestram.com/


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## OldGuy (Jul 21, 2019)

The Golden Eagle is a popular wedding and reunion destination, and The View restaurant is popular, so it can get busy and parking can be a problem.  There is a remote parking lot a little bit up the hill.

See it?

https://www.google.com/maps/place/C...392860296996ff!8m2!3d40.371992!4d-105.5235791

(Couldn't usetodo stuff like that.  )


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## TheHolleys87 (Jul 21, 2019)

OldGuy said:


> The Golden Eagle is a popular wedding and reunion destination, and The View restaurant is popular, so it can get busy and parking can be a problem.  There is a remote parking lot a little bit up the hill.
> 
> See it?
> 
> ...



Yes, thanks. Your comments are very helpful!


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