Detour to a Ghost Resort: When Plan B Becomes the Adventure

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Sometimes the best adventures come from unexpected detours. When bad weather derailed my plans to summit Mount Elbert, I discovered the hidden gem of Interlaken Trail near Leadville, Colorado – a 5-mile journey that transports hikers through time to a preserved "ghost resort" nestled along Twin Lakes.

The trail offers stunning views of Mount Elbert (Colorado's highest peak) before arriving at the historic Interlaken resort complex. The crown jewel is the Dexter Cabin, an impressive Victorian-era house complete with multiple bedrooms, sitting areas, and a distinctive cupola offering 360-degree views of the surrounding mountains and lakes. Walking through its rooms, you can almost feel the presence of the wealthy visitors who once vacationed here during Colorado's mining boom.

Founded in 1879 by Mr. Staley and later purchased by Mr. Dexter, this resort once represented mountain luxury at its finest. Guests enjoyed steamboat rides on Twin Lakes, billiards, and various outdoor activities on the expansive grounds. The resort's decline came with Mr. Dexter's death in 1899, but its buildings have been remarkably preserved. In the 1970s, the Bureau of Reclamation saved the structures by moving them to higher ground when developing Twin Lakes as a water storage reservoir – the original foundations now lie somewhere beneath the water's surface.

Beyond the main cabin, the site includes barns, bathhouses (surprisingly equipped with leather seats), and smaller outbuildings that help complete the picture of this once-bustling resort. The entire hike takes about three hours round trip, making it perfect for history enthusiasts and outdoor lovers alike who want to experience a fascinating piece of Colorado's past.

Give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed exploring this hidden historical treasure with me, and subscribe to join more adventures where the unexpected often becomes the highlight of the journey!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, it's the Natural Medic Out exploring some trails
near Leadville, colorado, doingthe Interlaken Trail today.
I was planning on doing Elbertbut the weather was not the best
to do that today, so save itfor another day.
This trail is going to take usdown to an old resort facility.

(00:22):
It's kind of a ghost resort, Iguess, and we'll go check that
out.
Hope you'll join me as we godown to the interlaken here
Leadville call it, when you'rehiking along the Twin Lakes here
these are glaciated lakes fromwhen there were glaciers in this
part of what is now ColoradoMountain.

(00:43):
Straight out here that's Elbert, highest peak in Colorado,
second highest peak in all ofthe lower 48 states, getting
closer to the Interlaken area.
So stay with me.
Made it to the Interlaken site.

(01:05):
There is an historic cabin here.
I really wouldn't call it acabin, though it's more like a
regular house.
Almost see the little pointyroof things.
I'm not sure what the technicalterm is.
There's the chimney.
I'm up in the topmost portion,walked in on this trail straight
over here to get here.
There's a number of folks onthe front porch enjoying their
lunch, which is perfectly fine,but I didn't film that part

(01:27):
because I didn't think theywould consent to being on camera
, but wouldn't this be cool tolive out here and just look in
this cupola up here?
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Let me know what you'rethinking about.
Thanks, this is like a littlewindowed place.

(01:50):
Up here.
You can look out and see elbertand massive in the distance, a
beautiful lake.
There's some other buildingsover there, which is also part
of this historic site.
The forest service did have towork with pure reclamation and

(02:11):
lake county colorado history tomove these buildings because
they were going to get flooded,created this lake, or I guess
they modified the lake.
The lake was already here, justmodified for larger capacity.
But wow, what a cool spot.
On the second floor of thiscabin looks like a space room

(02:33):
where the master bedroom was acouple of little closets and
then another room over here.
This is how you would get upand down from the cupola.
Up top you have this room here.

(02:54):
There's maybe the masterbedroom, beautiful windows every
direction.
Over here you have otherbedrooms Looking out the back,
another bedroom here, lots ofplaces to hang things A little

(03:23):
closet here.
Yeah, just a closet Littlesitting area right there.
And this goes down to the firstfloor.
Let's go check it out.
Right at the base of the stairslooks like a bathtub with a
lavatory.

(03:43):
That was probably where thetoilet was over there, so that's
pretty crazy.
There's a porch that goesaround the entire building,
kitchen or dining area with astove.
Here's another room here, whichprobably was the kitchen, if

(04:07):
you see from the vent up there,and then another room over here
on the back side.
Wow, there were still folkssitting outside whenever I came
out of the Dexter cabin.
Well, look at this stuff.
It's like a barn, some othersmall little houses it says

(04:29):
Interlaken over there, maybelike a big lodge.
There's some corrals orlivestock pens over there.
Wow, so neat.
So I'm standing here looking atthese weathered buildings.
This appears to be more of abarn.
These over here are actuallybathrooms.
They had six seats in therewith leather seats.

(04:51):
This place kind of making arustic place, but it wasn't
really all that rustic.
They had lots of activitieshere at the Interlaken really
all that rustic.
We had lots of activities hereat the Interlaken.
Originally it was a differenthotel started by Mr Staley in
1879.
You had all these areas outhere under bluegrass you could

(05:14):
do all kinds of activities,riding boats out here in the
lake.
Some people rowed a steamboat,some people rowed the rowboats.
So it's very interesting as tohow things worked out.
Because of the Leadville boomthere was all kinds of things

(05:37):
that were going on.
They had a billiard hall, theyhad a pavilion.
Unfortunately the man whobought it from Mr Staley, mr
Dexter.
We saw his cabin earlier.
There were a number of problems.
In 1897, the Twin LakesReservoir Company, the Lower
Lake, knocked out the roadaccess to a lot of areas.

(05:59):
They had to rebuild the road.
Dexter died in May of 1899, andpretty much he died with the
resort.
So here's the exterior of theDexter cabin.
Wrap around porch you can seethe cupola.
I was in earlier all the way atthe top.
What a nice, lovely view of thesurrounding forest and

(06:24):
mountains.
The Dexter cabin had beensitting here and kind of in
disuse for a long time.
In the early 1970s the Bureauof Reclamation was turning this
into a storage reservoir in thelakes nearby and they put this
house on the National Register,actually had to move it 150 feet
to higher ground on the newfoundation.

(06:46):
Anything that was original wasnow underwater.
Okay, so I made it back.
Here's the trailhead.
That was about five and fourhundredths of a mile round.
Trip Took just under threehours 20 minutes.

(07:08):
Hope you enjoyed your littlehistory lesson.
What a nice spot to be in.
If you like this video, makesure to give it a thumbs up.
Think about subscribing to thechannel if you want to see more
content like this.
Let me know any comments,questions you might have below,
and I will leave you with thisnice view from the parking lot.

(07:28):
See you on the trail, everybody.