Evergreen, Colorado offers a rare combination of mountain living, outdoor adventure, and proximity to Denver, so this week on the Back 40, we’re heading just up the road with Broker Harry Woodward to check out what makes this Front Range community so special.
With a rich history in ranching and mining, and trails for hiking, biking, and skiing, Evergreen offers a mountain lifestyle without a remote commitment. Properties in Evergreen are steeped in history and extremely rare, and conservation efforts help keep the wild and untamed beauty of this mountain community open and unique. If mountain life with city convenience appeals to you, come and check out Evergreen.
Special thanks to Downtown Evergreen, the Evergreen Chamber of Commerce, and the Evergreen Mountain Area Historical Society for their research and photo help.
Topics
[0:00] Getting to Know Evergreen, CO
[1:47] What Makes Evergreen Unique?
[2:51] History of Evergreen, CO
[4:19] Personality of Evergreen, CO
[5:04] Recreation in Evergreen, CO
[5:55] Who Lives in Evergreen?
[7:02] Ranching in Evergreen, CO
[9:03] Mirr Properties in Evergreen, CO
[11:14] Why Evergreen?
[12:24] Evergreen’s Hidden Gems
Haley (00:06):
Welcome back to the Land Bulletin Podcast, where every other week we bring you experts in the field to impart their knowledge when it comes to the ranch and sporting property market, buying and selling advice, the latest best stewardship practices, as well as topics that impact landowners every day. I’m your host, Haley Mirr. Let’s jump in.
Welcome back to the Land Bulletin Podcast. I’m Haley Mirr, and today we’re going to be going back to our Back 40 series where we look at some areas of the west that you might not be as familiar with, and we have experts who know them best. And helping me out today is Harry Woodward, and we’re going to be looking at Evergreen, Colorado. So welcome to the show, Harry.
Harry (00:43):
Thanks, Haley.
Haley (00:48):
So you’ve been working up there for a bit, but I know you’ve grown up in Denver, so you have had kind of knowledge of this space for a while. But for someone who has never been to Evergreen before, how would you describe the area?
Harry (01:02):
Yeah, I think it’s a sweet little mountain community. It kind of has an awesome main street, so the shopping and stuff around town are great. It’s kind of centered by Evergreen Lake, and you’ve got a little golf course there. Bear Creek feeds Evergreen Lake, so the fishing, both public and private can be great. And it’s just a great mix of being in the mountains. It still feels kind of a world away, but you’re only 45 minutes from Denver, so the connectivity is great. And that’s what we see from our buyers that have interest in Evergreen is just being able to have a commuter property where you can get out there into the wilderness and onto a ranch in under an hour is just awesome.
Haley (01:51):
What stands out about Evergreen when compared to maybe some other towns in the West or even the Front Range? Because I know there’s a lot of cool little pockets that you might run into in the front range of Colorado, but what sets Evergreen apart?
Harry (02:04):
Yeah, I think that there’s just so much access to public land in there and that the hiking and biking trails are super extensive. We’ve seen over the years several ranch properties we purchased to be public parks, both managed by Denver, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and beyond. So yeah, I mean, I think you don’t necessarily need to buy big around Evergreen in order to have access to some great outdoor hiking, biking. There’s some state wildlife areas dispersed around. So the public access in and around town is great.
Haley (02:40):
I would agree. I think, yeah, the accessibility to get to all of the creature comforts of home while also having access, it’s like you feel like you’re in the middle of the mountains, but you’re 30 minutes from Denver, which is really cool. Right. You’re working on two very historic ranches, but I’d love to know background history of this area. What was the influence of growth? Maybe some notable families that kind of put up shop there before anyone else. I’d love to know the history of the area.
Harry (03:15):
Yeah. So the first territorial governor of Colorado, John Evans, kind of set up shop there before Colorado was even a state. And so the Evans Ranch is super historic. We’ve seen and traded a couple ranches in there. That’s a shared amenity property. And then the listings that we’re working on up there as well are multi, multi-generational in that family and just feel like a part of the makeup of our state. It was before 200 years ago, it was sawmills and mining, but still the standout about Evergreen is you could get to and from Denver quickly. So yeah, the history up there is pretty awesome.
Haley (04:04):
Yeah. You can kind of feel it even with the two properties you have up there, these roads that used to be there for sawmills or things like that. It doesn’t exist in all parts of Colorado. And so that history is pretty rich. How would you describe the personality of Evergreen? What’s a typical day to day look like in the area?
Harry (04:29):
Yeah. I mean, I think it’s a very highly recreational town. If you’re up there on a summer day, you’ll see mountain bikers, fishermen. And so the outdoor recreation is the draw. And while there are always a lot of Denver people going up there for the weekend and for an afternoon hike and stuff like that. So I think the heartbeat of the town is people coming in to enjoy the hiking and biking and recreation.
Haley (05:06):
What are some of the local kind of places nearby? What do people tend to do? What’s accessible from Evergreen that you might not know about?
Harry (05:17):
Yeah, I think we talked about the proximity to Denver being 45 minutes, which also cuts 45 minutes off your drive to skiing. I think that’s a kind of a sleeper part of it. I mean, you can be up to Loveland ski area in like a half hour. So for weekday day trips, it’s just perfect to get up there. And then also you’re really close to Red Rock. So on a whim, it’d take you 20 minutes to get there, which is awesome.
Haley (05:45):
Yeah. Especially for that ski traffic, you can get off at like – Yeah,
Harry (05:49):
You get to jump
Haley (05:50):
On everyone. That’s that one section you want to miss anyway. Who are the kind of people that are living up there? Buyers up there, people that have decided to raise their families there or have secondary residences? What’s the typical person?
Harry (06:11):
Yeah, I think you see a lot of legacy holds up there, especially in the larger ranch assets that we see. They’re multi-generational, the large ranches for sure. And folks will buy on the ranch side to be able to, like I said, be able to get there from Denver in an hour. But while that does exist, there are a lot of folks that have ended up making Evergreen in their full-time home for all the benefits mentioned of you could go to your office downtown and then be in the wilderness and in a very remote feeling place in under an hour. So I think it’s a good mix of people who have set up shop there and then also have used it as a more retreat setting and may not live there year round.
Haley (07:06):
And you’ve mentioned a couple aspects that make this place unique for ranching, but I’d love to kind of dig into more of the kind of property standpoint. What makes this area unique for ranching? I know you said multi-generational, some smaller lots, but maybe some bigger ranches hidden in there. What makes this area unique when compared to other places in Colorado?
Harry (07:29):
Yeah, I think the supply up there is just really limited. So when we see properties come to the market, it’s usually part of a long-term hold. And then the next year it’ll likely be the same. So I think on large parcels, there’s just a scarcity in Evergreen. And that’s because it’s just such a special place and people aren’t really moving out of there for a lot of the reasons mentioned. And so as a long-term legacy hold, the appreciation is great and you’re able to be a part of something that’s really rare, I would say.
Haley (08:07):
Are there any specific type of operations that you might see on ranches up there? I know the properties that you guys have listed right now are of a certain ilk, but what do you tend to see when looking at ranches in the area operationalized? Yeah.
Harry (08:25):
I think one thing that’s cool is in the last 20 years as ranches have been subdivided, there’s been a large push towards conservation. So both the listings that we hold and the Evans Ranch conservation easements have been placed on all of those. So there is this kind of mindset up there of preservation and the ranch land that’s left while limited is going to be like that in perpetuity because the landowners have kind of gotten together with Colorado cattlemens, Colorado Open Lands and the Mountain Area Land Trust to conserve their properties for future generations, which is just great.
Haley (09:07):
Can you tell me a little bit about the ranches that we have listed now and some of the ones that we’ve sold in the past? Just looking at examples of ranches up in that area.
Harry (09:17):
Yeah. So the Upper Bear Headwaters Ranch and Evans Ridge Ranch that we have listed right now, the makeup of those two places is a little bit different. The Evans Ridge Ranch is more of an alpine feel, very private. It’s about 640 acres. And as you mentioned, that’s where the sawmill was. And actually Squaw Pass would run throughout the length of that ranch in the early 1900s, which is pretty incredible when we get up there on a side-by-side and it still feels kind of sketchy at times. And there were horse and buggies going up and down that road. But yeah, I mean that ranch was owned by members of the Evans family and first time it’s going to trade in multiple generations. So it’s just a sweet place. The views of Mount Blue Sky, Mount Evans are just pretty striking. And then to have the amount of elk that come onto that property within an hour of Denver is pretty incredible.
(10:25):
You could shoot a bull in the morning and be back at your office in the afternoon, which you don’t really have anywhere else.
Haley (10:33):
Yeah, I would agree. And I think to your point, it just makes it so special. You have these unobstructed views. Conservation has become a big part of life up there. So a lot of these open landscapes will be there for generations. And I think that area has done a really good job of protecting the history and kind of the view sheds that you do get. Because when you showed me that ranch a couple weeks back, I’d never really been to the top. And it is crazy. You don’t see a single house from that property. And that’s pretty unheard of to be that close to a major city with that amount of privacy. So pretty awesome and a testament, I think, to the conservation you were mentioning. In your opinion, why Evergreen? Why would I choose to invest in that part of Colorado or the Front Range when compared to maybe some other towns or areas close to Denver?
Harry (11:36):
Yeah. I think the scarcity, as I mentioned before, there really aren’t very many large legacy holdings left in Evergreen. And so when they do come up for sale, it’s a rare opportunity. And to be able to get to town, get to Denver in 45 minutes and also own 800 acres is, there’s really not that anywhere else. We see Larimer County and it generally feels like you have to get an hour and a half to two hours out of Denver to own a piece that big, but to be under an hour and in great elk hunting and grape fishing and everything that Evergreen has to offer, I think is really the draw.
Haley (12:24):
I would agree. And since I know you have been up there throughout your life, any hidden gems, restaurants, bars, events, things to expect whenever you go through, you make sure you stop.
Harry (12:44):
Evergreen Lake in the winter’s pretty awesome. There’s some pond hockey leagues that happen up there and to be able to go ice skating and stuff, that side of it’s really fun. I think people see it as a winter destination to go recreate, but yeah, being able to go skate and watch some of those pond hockey games out on Evergreen Lake is pretty fun.
Haley (13:06):
I went on an awkward second date with my friend to go ice fishing. The guy didn’t end up turn out great for her, but the ice fishing was pretty cool. And I didn’t know they did that up there. So yeah, I would say Evergreen Lake and yeah, that main town, I don’t know the name of a lot of the restaurants, but there’s so many little coffee shops and they’re all family owned. There’s no, at least in that main drag, any big name brands or anything like that. It feels like you’re kind of in this small little community, which is neat.
(13:42):
Well, thank you, Harry, for coming on the show and talking to us about Evergreen. I know it’s a very special, unique place to the state, and it sounds like you’d be really lucky to be able to find a really cool ranch here because they’re few and far between. So for those listening, if you have questions on Evergreen or we’re going to hear about some of the inventory that we have listed there today, Harry is definitely your guys. So thank you, Harry, for being on the show. And I look forward to talking to you more about some of these properties in the future.
Harry (14:13):
Yeah, thanks H.
Haley (14:15):
Thanks for joining us today. To learn more about the ranch real estate market or our ranch marketing process, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter on our website at myrranchgroup.com or give us a call at 303-623-4545. See you next time.
