Colorado's deepest natural lake at the southwest entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, the subject of a Ute oral tradition recorded in nineteenth-century travelers' accounts
Grand Lake, CO 80447
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Lake access is free; adjacent Rocky Mountain National Park requires entry fee
Access
Limited Access
Lakeshore park areas with some accessible paths; surrounding national-forest trails are rough.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1881 · Largest natural lake in Colorado · Headwaters of the Colorado River · Southwest entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park · White River Ute historical site
Grand Lake occupies a glacially carved basin at the headwaters of the Colorado River, at 8,369 feet of elevation. The lake covers approximately 600 surface acres and reaches a maximum depth of around 400 feet, making it the largest natural lake in Colorado.
For centuries, the White River Utes used the lake and the surrounding forests as a seasonal hunting and fishing ground. According to oral tradition recorded by nineteenth-century travelers and later documented by the Grand County Historical Association, an Arapaho war party (in some accounts, Cheyenne) attacked a Ute encampment at the lake. The Ute placed their women and children on rafts and pushed them out onto the water for safety; a storm overtook the rafts and the women and children drowned. After the incident, according to the oral tradition, the Ute considered the lake spiritually significant and largely avoided it.
American silver prospectors founded the town of Grand Lake in 1881. The Grand Lake Yacht Club, organized in 1902, claims the title of highest-altitude registered yacht club in the world. In 1915, the establishment of Rocky Mountain National Park made the lake one of the principal western entrances to the park.
Sources
The legend, as recorded by the Grand County Historical Association and the Grand Lake Area Historical Society, describes a Ute encampment surprised by an Arapaho or Cheyenne raiding party. Ute warriors placed the women and children on rafts and pushed them onto the lake for safety. A storm came in from the surrounding peaks, capsized the rafts, and the women and children drowned. According to the oral tradition, the surviving Ute considered the site spiritually significant and avoided it for generations.
Reports from twentieth-century visitors describe ghostly mist that rises above the water on cold mornings after a warmer day — a meteorologically common condition at high elevations — and within that mist, figures and the sound of cries are sometimes reported. Hikers along the lakeshore at night have described hearing wailing carried over the water. The Cowboy State Daily and Denver Gazette have collected several first-person accounts.
The lake is also associated with a separate piece of local folklore involving an 1882 New Year's Day skating tragedy in which several Grand Lake residents drowned when ice gave way; some accounts conflate the two stories.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Self-guided walking along the Grand Lake shoreline, with boat rentals available from the village marina in season. Lake Trail and Adams Falls Trail are popular short hikes. The Grand Lake Area Historical Society Museum on Pitkin Street displays Ute history and the documented oral tradition.
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Gatlinburg, TN
Great Smoky Mountains National Park preserves 522,427 acres of southern Appalachian terrain across Tennessee and North Carolina. The land was the heart of the Cherokee Nation before forced removal in 1838 along what became the Trail of Tears, and home to Appalachian Scots-Irish and English settler communities through the early twentieth century. Congress authorized the park in 1926; it was formally dedicated by Franklin D. Roosevelt on September 2, 1940.
Estes Park, CO
Rocky Mountain National Park, established by President Woodrow Wilson on January 26, 1915, preserves 415 square miles of Front Range Colorado including Trail Ridge Road, Longs Peak, and the headwaters of the Colorado River. The park's Ute and Arapaho heritage is documented in oral tradition and in early settler accounts including the Legend of Grand Lake.
Linville Falls, NC
The Linville Gorge Wilderness in Burke County, North Carolina is part of the Pisgah National Forest and contains the deepest river gorge in the eastern United States. The Brown Mountain Lights — unexplained luminous phenomena visible from Wiseman's View and other overlooks near the gorge — were first reported in published accounts around 1910. A 1922 investigation by USGS scientist George R. Mansfield attempted to explain them as reflected headlights and brush fires but could not account for all reported sightings.