Welcome to Karen and Gordon's personal website for The Retreat, a mountain community near Glen Haven, Colorado.  The Retreat is 83% surrounded by the Roosevelt National Forest and is adjacent to the Commanche Wilderness area with access via hiking and horse trails. There are two year-round trout streams, open glades, densely forested areas, wandering deer and elk, many aspen groves, tall pine and spruce, and views of Long's Peak and Mummy Range. See the maps page for driving directions.

This home page has recent news.  Use the navigation bar on the left to access pages about the Retreat lifestyle, covering maps, hiking, historical articles, frequently asked questions, introductions of your neighbors, recipes, photos, social events, and ads/services.

Click here to link to the "official" RLA board-sponsored website.

Viewing the files on this Web site will require Adobe Reader, available for download from www.adobe.com/reader

tip: hold the Ctrl key down while using the mouse wheel to enlarge the text.

GHAVFD

Click here to navigate to the GHAVFD info for Retreat landowners.

Click here to jump to the GHAVFD website.

Tree removal

Please do your part in removing trees that are infected by beetles or mistletoe.  There are tree service professionals in Estes Park who are proficient in this area.  If you have a neighbor whose trees are infected and risks your property, the first step is to contact them directly.

The Environmental page has a wealth of information on tree maintenance.

High-speed Internet comes to the Retreat

Many homes in the Retreat are taking advantage of high-speed always-on Internet access that is now available using DSL.  Call Qwest to arrange for installation.  The typical deal is $26.95 per month bundled with MSN.  Since DSL can share a single phone line with voice, households that have had two phone lines (one for computer/fax and the other for voice), DSL will make the second phone line unnecessary and the overall cost will be nearly the same. Once you've had high-speed Internet, you'll never go back.  Note that you don't have to switch your email to MSN to take advantage of DSL, although the special deals from Qwest might make it more cost-effective to switch. 

History and Tree Care DVDs available

There are two DVDs available for Retreat Landowners. 

The first was produced in 2004 and covered some of the history of the Retreat area.  The second is how identify, prevent, and treat the Mountain Pine Beetle infestation. They are both about 12 minutes long. 

Contact me at gordonn@mesanetworks.net or 226-2676 to obtain a copy in either DVD or VHS.

From the webmasters

We have built this website to further the Retreat's sense of community, share ways to care for the ecology and protect our homes, and connect neighbors with each other. 65% of Retreat owners are not residents, and we felt like a website would be a way to connect all of us who are spread across the country and abroad. As we've researched the heritage of this area over the past 5 years, we've grown to love and respect it and believe it is our responsibility to steward it well. Unlike the more famous mountain towns whose history is speculation and exploitation of the land through mining, the people who came before us here were American Indians, homesteaders, and summer vacationers, with a profound tie to the land and wildlife.  We hope you find the historical information as interesting as we have, and the ecology information sufficient to protect and care for the land we dwell on. 

Much of the information on this site was authored by others.  Some of those people are Duke Sumonia, Peggy Burch, Dennis Bicknell, Graham Fowler, Ann Martin, and Ernie Conrad.  The recipes and photos have come from many residents.  Our work for this website is voluntary.

Thanks for browsing here. Please let us know if you have any difficulties with navigating or downloading. We love to include everyone's photos, recipes, and wildlife reports.  You can contact us at gordonn@mesanetworks.net or karenn@mesanetworks.net

This page was last updated on 06/14/08.