Border Town
Rocky Mountain National Park serves as the border to the east of the riding area. The Never Summer Wilderness is the border to the north. No riding in either place. But you can ride right to the edge of either and see some spectacular views and towering mountains.
During your travels you might also see some snowmobile tracks on Shadow Mountain Lake, which is the man-made lake south of Grand Lake. That's a risky ride. You should definitely inquire locally about ice conditions before riding the lakes. Grand Lake itself is the largest natural body of water in Colorado. Both lakes sit at the base of mountains that seem to shoot straight up into the sky.
All this beauty, awesome powder and great riding hasn't gone unnoticed over the years. Sledders from all over head to Grand Lake for those very reasons, along with the chance to enjoy the 150 miles of groomed trails (nearly 100 of which are groomed).
Grand Lake, by virtue of its self proclaimed status as "Snowmobile Capital of Colorado," sees its fair share of snowmobile traffic. Don't like crowds? Then avoid the weekends. And ride a little farther away from town. It appears to us the bulk of the crowds stay close to town on the trails.
If you want up to date information on trail grooming in Grand Lake, a great source of information is the Colorado Snowmobile Association's website, www.coloradosledcity.com. On the main page, click on "public trails report" and then go to Grand Lake and you see which trails were recently groomed.
Another reason Grand Lake is so popular is, despite being tucked away like it is, it's a fairly easy place to get to, especially from the Denver metro area. It's even easier to get to know now that they've widened U.S. Highway 40 to four lanes over Berthoud Pass (elevation 11,323 feet). That is, unless you get caught up in the ski traffic going to a number of the local ski areas, most notably Winter Park. Avoid the weekends and the traffic is such a bear.
Regardless, Grand Lake is worth the effort.
These days, there may not be gold flakes in them there hills but there are definitely plenty of white flakes.