Amazing views; Great location; Lovely home
Submitted: September 2, 2012
Stayed: August 2012
We stayed at the Hertel's Log Home from Aug. 2-Aug. 11, 2012. From the beginning, working with Dave Hertel on the booking was easy. He even called a few weeks before our trip to update me on the forest fires (BTW - no impact on our trip). Don't let the seemingly remote location deter you. The home is easy to find with the Hertel's directions, and it's only 10 minutes from the town of Woodland Park, which has all the amenities you need. As soon as you walk into the home, you see Pikes Peak through the abundant windows at the back of the home. We spent a lot of time just sitting on the back deck and enjoying the view of America's most famous "14er." The view is far from static, as it changes with the time of day and weather. One day after an afternoon rain shower we even spotted snow on the Peak. All this on a warm day in August! And of course the stars at night are spectacular.
The home itself is lovely, well-maintained with plenty of room for a big family. We were a family of 5, with 2 kids (10 and 13), our 21-year old niece, and us (married couple). The only thing "missing" is cable/satellite, but we really didn't care. The house has a good internet connection, so a laptop caould easily replace cable/satellite if that matters to you. You can also plug your iPod into the hosound system.
Another great advantage of the house is its location. In addition to being just minutes west of Woodlands Park, it's within an easy drive to a lot of great sites and activities: Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, Cripple Creek & Victor, Mueller State Park, the petrified forest park, and of course Pikes Peak. We even went up to Denver for a day. It's difficult to rank all that we did, but I think our two favorite activities were (1) Echo Canyon Raft 'n' Rail on the Arkansas River (take the "back way" through Divide and then south, as opposed to going through Colorado Springs) and (2) a hike on The Crags trail, just across from Mueller State Park. I would HIGHLY recommend the latter: it's a family-friendly 4-mile round trip with spectacular views of the west side of Pikes Peak from The Crags. The hike has everything: aspen forests, mountain meadows, a gourgeous stream, rocks to scramble on (if you want), incredible variety of wildlife and fauna, and the aforementioned view from the The Crags (uniquely beautiful themselves).
All in all, we would definitely go back to the Hertz's log home and it has our high recommendation.
Recommended for:
Adventure Seekers,
Tourists without a Car,
Families with Teenagers,
Families with Young Children
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