YMCA of the Rockies
Snow Mountain Ranch

The Basics

ADDRESS: 1101 County Road 53, Granby, Colorado

LOCATION: Between Fraser and Granby

LAST VISIT: 2020

The Snow Mountain Ranch campground has beautiful views, spacious campsites, and tons of ammenities.

I can't even begin to describe all of the activities on the Snow Mountain Ranch campus: fishing, hiking, restaurants, horseback riding, library, mini golf, bike rentals, a gym... It's particularly great if you are traveling with children. There are so many things to do that you could have a great vacation without ever leaving the campus.

There are some downsides, but I think those are just part of what happens when you are running such a massive operation. The bathrooms weren't as clean as some other places we've been, but there was a lot of traffic going in and out of those facilities, and it would have been hard to keep up with it.

Our Opinion

We've been there multiple times, and we would definitely return!
The greatest part is that if you and your traveling companion(s) want to participate in different activities, you can walk or bike to different activities right from the campsite.

Things to See and Do

There are an incredible amount of activities available near Snow Mountain Ranch, but there are so many things to do on the campus that I'll focus on those:

Waterfall Trail
This is an easy, 3 mile hiking trail. It gets really busy, so we did it during the evening, and there were very few people there. We found a bear on the trail that was also enjoying the fact that it wasn't croweded at that time of day.

Trail Around Campus
I don't remember how long this trail is, but there was a trail that went around the campus that was the perfect length for an evening mountain bike ride to wind down at the end of the day.

Zip Line
I am a chicken, but the zipline was geared for families and was very tame, so I actually tried it, and it was fun!

Mountain Bike Obstacle Course
This looked very doable, and other family memebers had a lot of fun with the challenge. After several failed attempts on one of the obstacles, I decided to accept the fact that I'm rather uncoordinated, and I was going to hurt myself, so I spent my time there photographing the rest of the family. I would definitely recommend checking it out, though!

Mini Golf
They had a nice course, and it was a fun way to wrap up a day after more strenuous activities.

Restaurant
We ordered a pizza, and it was great! I am not entirely sure if it was actually the best pizza I've ever had, or if the fact that we'd just returned from a long hike may have affected my judgement. Either way, it WAS a very good pizza.

Fraser to Granby Bike Trail
This one isn't within the campus boundaries, but the YMCA bike trail links to it. We were fairly new at biking and decided to just go from Snow Mountain Ranch to Tabernash to see how things went. That was easy, but we didn't have time to go further; maybe next time! However, there was one very short, steep downhill part that I couldn't handle on my hybrid bike, because the tires kept slipping. A mountain bike (or more aggressive tires on the hybrid0 would be a better choice.

You'll notice when looking at my notes about the activities that there were at least two times on this trip where I got into trouble with my hybrid bicycle with skinny tires. In 2022, I finally switched to a mountain bike. Maybe now I can keep up with the rest of my family!