Give us a call 970-872-3322
Give us a call 970-872-3322
Ask Jake Hubbell
One of the hardest things about finding the perfect ranch is making a man with a thirst for adventure happy, while his wife or partner also finds the property appealing. Quite often the two are literally worlds apart. He wants seclusion, privacy, access to the mountains, and great hunting. He wouldn't care if it were a three-hour drive to the nearest town. She, on the other hand, wants to socialize, go shopping, and get a great cup of coffee in town, and her furthest distance from town might be 45 minutes, but 20 minutes would be much better. The Lone Cabin Ranch has the perfect combination of assets to make both people happy, with outstanding views, a gorgeous home, 383 acres of beautiful mountain land, excellent hunting, National Forest access out the back door, and it's only 10 minutes to town. Boom!
The Lone Cabin Ranch has a great set of assets for year-round living in a wonderful climate. Ranch attributes include:
387 total deeded acres with approximately 50 irrigated acres
Abundant water rights, with 1,858 shares of Lone Cabin Ditch Co, 2 adjudicated springs, and water tap
Beautiful 2,100-square-foot custom log home w/3 BR, 2 BA
880-square-foot caretaker's home
Historic log settler's cabin
Borders National Forest, BLM lands
Excellent deer & elk hunting with GMU 53 landowner tags
Paved year-round access, mild climate
9 minutes to Paonia, CO
High-speed fiber internet, natural gas
Paonia is a funky little mountain town situated on the west side of McClure Pass between Aspen and Crested Butte. It is known for its mild climate, with local vintners and orchardists growing apples, pears, plums, cherries, wine grapes, peaches, and apricots. Paonia is a hotspot for organic farming, with farmers raising honey, melons, garlic, hemp, lamb, beef, goats, garden vegetables, and even such crops as eggplant and artichokes. While Paonia is at 5,700 feet in elevation, this property is situated less than 3 miles southeast of town, right at the base of Mount Lamborn. The home sits at 6,300 feet and enjoys cool mountain thermals coming down from Mt. Lamborn on a warm summer night. Paonia is a vibrant town with a K-8 school, a couple of banks, several restaurants and brewpubs, quite a few churches, a couple of liquor stores, and a thriving business community. Paonia has a good paved airstrip with refueling services. Many private jet pilots stop off in Paonia on their way to Aspen because fuel is cheaper there.
The Lone Cabin Ranch is in a stunning setting, tucked in right under the 11,400-foot peak of Mount Lamborn, which dominates the viewscape in the North Fork Valley. The views are simply beautiful. Built from round spruce logs imported from Canada, the log home is one of the best examples of log home construction we've seen. It is beautifully and tastefully done. The main living area features a spacious kitchen, open living room with cathedral ceilings, and two downstairs bedrooms and a full bath. Downstairs is a storage area, workshop, and mechanical room. The upstairs loft area features the master bedroom, 5-piece bath, and roomy walk-in closets. The baths feature beautiful tile work with river cobble stone floors. At the entry to the ranch are two historic homes. The first is a 1-bedroom, 1-bath miner's cottage from the 1930's, and has had all electrical redone and remodeled the kitchen and bathroom in 2018. It is in good condition and works well as a caretaker's or ranch manager's home. Additionally, there is a historic log settler's cabin from the 1890's that could make a great short-term rental property or guest house if it were properly remodeled.
This ranch offers excellent hunting for trophy mule deer. Savvy hunters know that GMU 53 produces some of the biggest bucks in Colorado, and this ranch is ideally located for trophy mule deer. The seller leases the property to an outfitter who takes between 2 and 6 bucks a year off the property. Additionally, the landowner draws at least 1 trophy buck tag a year that can be sold for as much as $4,500. During the late seasons, elk come down from the high country and winter on the ranch. Wild turkeys are also numerous on the ranch.
German Creek flows off the slopes of Mt. Lamborn through the ranch, which owns 1,858 shares of the Lone Cabin Ditch Company. In turn, the Lone Cabin Ditch company owns shares of two different reservoirs further up the mountain-3/16 of the Minnesota Reservoir and 1/16 of Beaver Reservoir. Additionally, the owner of the ranch has filed on two different springs popping up on the ranch, and owns a good well also. Water resources are so strong on the property that the Town of Paonia filed on a spring on the south side of the ranch and built a storage tank and therefore gave a domestic water tap to the ranch. The ranch currently has adequate water to irrigate about 60 acres, but the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) just approved an $8 million grant to pipe the Lone Cabin Ditch, which should double the amount of water available to the ranch. It should be possible to irrigate several meadows above the ranch to provide more grazing and improve wildlife habitat.
The Lone Cabin Ranch has excellent grazing and meadows for raising hay and pasture. Local ranchers lease the property for spring grazing before moving their cows onto National Forest grazing permits. There is ample pasture for horses and many trails to ride on the ranch and on adjacent public lands. A public access road goes through the north edge of the ranch to provide access to many thousands of acres of public lands to the north, east, and south of the ranch. The ranch is bordered by BLM lands on the north and east for almost a mile. Once onto BLM lands at the top of the ranch, it's only a hundred yards or so before you can ride or hike onto many thousands of acres of Gunnison National Forest lands.
Delta County is known as having some of the most relaxed building regulations in Colorado. There is no conservation easement on the property, no HOA, and multiple possibilities to build more improvements on the ranch. There are no regulations prohibiting short-term rentals. Water resources are ample and Delta County has no building codes other than state-mandated electrical and plumbing inspections, including engineered septic systems.
