The Allen/Graf Family of Blue Mountain Ranch is doing now what they've done for 70+ years - making preparations for another fun-filled summer at their exciting camp located just west of Pikes Peak in beautiful Colorado.
An anomaly in today's world, Blue Mountain Ranch remains a small, private co-educational summer camp attracting some of the finest families in the US and throughout the world.
Though some aspects of camp life remain much as they were years ago, exciting innovations have brought the program into the future.
But how did BMR come to be?
Here's a little history on how this wonderful camp got started.
The area around Florissant, Colorado in the 1940’s was mainly used for farming and ranching. Blue Mountain Ranch itself was a working potato farm when Coach Bill Allen and his wife Dorothy purchased the property for a summer camp in the summer of 1946. Bill Allen was the well-known athletic director and football coach for Paschal High School in Ft.Worth, Texas and had been a counselor at Camp Stewart in Texas. After deciding not to do a camp in Texas because of the heat, they leased a camp in New Mexico for one summer and found it to be too heavily forested with not enough open space to play. The Allens purchased the 80 acre potato farm in Florissant for $20 an acre, and at that time the only building on the site was the John Barr homestead cabin. Coach Allen purchased an old school bus and began transporting boys from the Dallas/ Ft. Worth Area, Wichita Falls, and Amarillo up to the Colorado property for athletic training. This soon evolved into a youth recreation program that spanned the entire summer, initially called Blue Mountain Ranch for Boys.
The first new building on the ranch was Beaver Lodge, built by Bill Allen and his football players. The lodge contained sleeping quarters, a kitchen and a dining area. There was even a place for the cook, Cap Land, to hang his hat! The lodge was soon followed by a bath house, nurse’s cabin and three boys’ cabins. A reservoir was constructed for the ranch on Fish Creek in 1950 creating further recreation opportunities for campers. As the camp continued to grow, a number of new buildings and facilities were added, the last major addition being the construction of a rec center in 1998.
In 1972, Blue Mountain Ranch became coed when Camp Wanaka, a girl’s camp in Woodland Park was closed and those girls transferred to BMR. That first summer, the girls were housed in Beaver Lodge – just like the first boys group. The first of the dedicated women’s cabins was built the following year.
In 1953, Coach and Dorothy had purchased a second parcel for horse grazing purposes. It became known as “The Meadow” for obvious reasons! Over the years this property doubled as a backcountry wilderness camping spot and a simple cabin shelter was built there in 1970. The horses took that over in recent years!! The bus used to transport kids for so many years was retired to this sport and is still sometimes used as sleeping quarters for adventurous youth!
The current owner and director of the camp is Suzie Allen Graf, Bill and Dorothy Allen’s daughter. Suzie’s two sons, Tim and David Graf, co-manage the camp alongside their mother and maintain all camp facilities. Offering activities as diverse as swimming, horseback riding, tennis and rock climbing, this family-run operation continues as the third generation of the Allen family gradually takes on management of the camp. Blue Mountain Ranch is the oldest continuously operating private camp in Park County and one of the oldest in the state of Colorado.
For more information or to sign up for a session at camp, sign up online, email us, or call us at 719-748-3279.
We'd love to spend the summer with you!
An anomaly in today's world, Blue Mountain Ranch remains a small, private co-educational summer camp attracting some of the finest families in the US and throughout the world.
Though some aspects of camp life remain much as they were years ago, exciting innovations have brought the program into the future.
But how did BMR come to be?
Here's a little history on how this wonderful camp got started.
The area around Florissant, Colorado in the 1940’s was mainly used for farming and ranching. Blue Mountain Ranch itself was a working potato farm when Coach Bill Allen and his wife Dorothy purchased the property for a summer camp in the summer of 1946. Bill Allen was the well-known athletic director and football coach for Paschal High School in Ft.Worth, Texas and had been a counselor at Camp Stewart in Texas. After deciding not to do a camp in Texas because of the heat, they leased a camp in New Mexico for one summer and found it to be too heavily forested with not enough open space to play. The Allens purchased the 80 acre potato farm in Florissant for $20 an acre, and at that time the only building on the site was the John Barr homestead cabin. Coach Allen purchased an old school bus and began transporting boys from the Dallas/ Ft. Worth Area, Wichita Falls, and Amarillo up to the Colorado property for athletic training. This soon evolved into a youth recreation program that spanned the entire summer, initially called Blue Mountain Ranch for Boys.
The first new building on the ranch was Beaver Lodge, built by Bill Allen and his football players. The lodge contained sleeping quarters, a kitchen and a dining area. There was even a place for the cook, Cap Land, to hang his hat! The lodge was soon followed by a bath house, nurse’s cabin and three boys’ cabins. A reservoir was constructed for the ranch on Fish Creek in 1950 creating further recreation opportunities for campers. As the camp continued to grow, a number of new buildings and facilities were added, the last major addition being the construction of a rec center in 1998.
In 1972, Blue Mountain Ranch became coed when Camp Wanaka, a girl’s camp in Woodland Park was closed and those girls transferred to BMR. That first summer, the girls were housed in Beaver Lodge – just like the first boys group. The first of the dedicated women’s cabins was built the following year.
In 1953, Coach and Dorothy had purchased a second parcel for horse grazing purposes. It became known as “The Meadow” for obvious reasons! Over the years this property doubled as a backcountry wilderness camping spot and a simple cabin shelter was built there in 1970. The horses took that over in recent years!! The bus used to transport kids for so many years was retired to this sport and is still sometimes used as sleeping quarters for adventurous youth!
The current owner and director of the camp is Suzie Allen Graf, Bill and Dorothy Allen’s daughter. Suzie’s two sons, Tim and David Graf, co-manage the camp alongside their mother and maintain all camp facilities. Offering activities as diverse as swimming, horseback riding, tennis and rock climbing, this family-run operation continues as the third generation of the Allen family gradually takes on management of the camp. Blue Mountain Ranch is the oldest continuously operating private camp in Park County and one of the oldest in the state of Colorado.
For more information or to sign up for a session at camp, sign up online, email us, or call us at 719-748-3279.
We'd love to spend the summer with you!
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