TripAdvisor

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tripadvisorlogo1The Horseshoe Lodge is a great place to stay; come for just a night’s getaway, the weekend or bring your group. We are excited to be listed now at TripAdvisor, the premier travel presence on the web that helps people plan and book trips.  If you have stayed with us we do hope you will write your review of your stay and if you have not had the chance to enjoy our unique and beauty-filled location, please visit us at our TripAdvisor page and check us out.  This is what a recent guests shared with us...

I enjoyed the retreat and learning about the wonderful “gem” of a place at The Horseshoe Lodge.  I loved the trails and will definitely spend time down that way again to explore more. The view from the top of the North Ridge was so neat, the contrast of the granite wall, the elk herd field and the forest! I slept so good and it was so quiet. WOW what an experience. – C. Smith, Boulder, Colorado
MPECWomenRetreatMarketing Box

Women Love MPEC! Yoga and More Programs!

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On retreat with The Gratitude Goat
On retreat with The Gratitude Goat

MPEC has many donors and members that are women who enjoy coming for women’s day retreats, overnight retreats and more. We find that women love our easy to drive to access along with our lovely quiet spaces that nurture their connection to Nature.  Our Women’s Winter Solstice Retreat was a huge success with women coming from as far as Grand Junction, Boulder and many from Pueblo.  Beth McCarthy will return to lead our Women’s Winter Yoga in Nature retreat at the end of January. She has been here many times leading retreats and everyone loves her yoga teaching style.  Below are some fun photo for you to enjoy from past retreats with captions to help you see. Our Peace Pole inspires students at programs especially women on retreat on retreat with The Gratitude Goat Inspired art activities are included in women’s retreats. Everything at MPEC is about learning and art is included in many of our offerings. e what is by women students at MPEC.

 

 

 

women girlfriends

This great group of women came for a “Girlfriends GetAway” and were reported to laugh late into the night!

 celestial seasons the Horseshoe Lodge MPEC

yoga women snow
Walk the Bluebird Labrynth and get inspired in the pines.
yoga women snow
Everything at MPEC is about having fun and being healthy!
Summer Yoga Retreat with Beth McCarthy
The hot summer days are right for a yoga retreat with Beth McCarthy August 2014

Get Away for A Night At The Horseshoe Lodge

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The Bluebird LabyrinthDo you live in Beulah and have friends and relatives coming during the holidays and need a place to stay for one night or more?

Or are you someone that is seeking an inexpensive short getaway before Jan 1st begins?

We have rooms available for guests to come and stay through the Christmas holiday and over New Years too. We hope you will steal away and come and enjoy the beauty of the winter forest, the majesty of the morning sunlight on the mountains and the warm comfort of our biomass heated Lodge.

Details on booking a room are at this link and if you have questions call our Hospitality Director Michelle at 719-485-4444 and she will strive to meet any special needs you may have.

We loved everything. There was 10 of us that sat for over 3 hours by the fireplace before bed telling stories and laughing hard and we are already planning our next girlfriend’s get away for 2015. Thank you for the beautiful lodge, delicious food and hot tea and coffee first thing in the morning.  – Jean Latka, Pueblo, CO

Jean Latka Group
Wyoming

 

MPEC Serves Solar Roast Coffee

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mpecservessolarroastbearHere at MPEC we believe in supporting local businesses and are always on the look out for healthy and organic alternatives to what we serve at Arthur’s Kitchen. We purchase coffee served at our meals and offered for our overnight guests from Pueblo’s Solar Roast Coffee Company.  We appreciate Solar Roast’s commitment to quality and how they use the power of the sun to roast organic coffee beans. They created a custom blend of coffee for Mountain Park called ” Good Morning Mountain” that is bold and warming. We are proud to support this group of entrepreneurs that are building business in our community as we are at MPEC.

You can order Good Morning Mountain coffee on line here and have it shipped directly to you or stop in to our Nature Gift Shop and buy some for holiday gifts

 

coffee in mug 1470337_675308301430_3220626913678396091_n solarroast2

 

Book A Room and Stay Before Dec 31st!

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Our Goal: 100 Rooms Booked by Dec 31st! Can you help?

Beulah Hwy1Our Fall into Winter Fundraiser is a fun one – Can you come and spend a night or two (alone or with friends) and experience up close the magic of The Horseshoe Lodge? There is nothing like spending a night in the quiet of our ponderosa pine forest under our down covers on a cool night. You’ll love our art inspired rooms and walking outside the door.  And when the day warms there is porch rocking and fun always happening.
Canyon EchoesWe are asking all our members, donors and most anyone to come spend a night before the end of the year. Choose from any of our open dates and you have 11 bed and breakfast rooms to choose from. Plus if you wish to bring a larger group and stay in our dorms, that can be fun too. Pines

 

 

 

Help us reach our goal and come and see us soon! It’s a great way to make a memory for yourself!table

Details on rooms, rates and availability are here book a room banner

 

 

Fall is in the air at MPEC!

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 Autumn asks that we prepare for the future—that we be wise in the ways of garnering and keeping.  But it also asks that we learn to let go—to acknowledge the beauty of sparseness.— Bonaro W. Overstreet

earth studies mountain park environmental centerEarth Studies for Pueblo City Schools 5th Graders began this week and MPEC is a’flurry with students, school buses, teachers and learning. It’s a fun time of the year when our daily classes of about 75 students return for learning about our natural world. We have a strong group of Nature Educators led by MPEC’s Program Director Audra Goodsell and supported by other MPEC staff who keep buses running and the phones answered.Audra GoodsellAudra Goodsell

We are most proud of this program and will also announce our fall line-up of hikes, classes, workshops and retreats soon. The newsletter is getting ready to go to print and MPEC Board of Trustees will come on Monday to gather with our staff and consult on how to make MPEC an ever better organization.

From the Seasons of Change blog these words guide and inspire us as September opens before us.sunflower banner

 Change is not only good, it is absolutely brilliant! At other times of the year change is often slow, gradual and imperceptible. But in autumn the bright reds and oranges and yellows, shout out the glory of their transformation. They yell, “Do it now! Go for it!” Too often we fear or ignore impending change. Autumn is warning us that change is inevitable, and we must prepare for what is ahead. The birds are migrating to warmer territories; the squirrels are gathering food to carry them through the cold winter months. It’s time for me to take stock of where our life is now, look at what lies before us, and gather the necessary skills, supports and supplies that we will need for the journey.

Invite Ranger Dave to Present his Colorado Trail Concert/Slide Show!

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final pass cairnUpdate on Ranger Dave’s Colorado Trail Hike: In 2014, Ranger Dave was back out on the new 80-mile stretch of the Colorado Trail, called Collegiate West, continuing his effort to raise funds for MPEC’s Nature Education programs. His updated Concert/Slide Show adds photos and stories from his 2014 adventure to his popular Colorado Trail Concert/Slide Show. Click here on more information about this program and how to schedule a presentation for your group or event.

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Ranger Dave’s Colorado Trail Blog

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Dave Van ManenFollow Ranger Dave as he prepares for and hikes the Colorado Trail this summer. A little history: In 2010 and 2011, MPEC’s Founder Dave Van Manen backpacked the 487-mile Colorado Trail as a fund-raiser for MPEC Nature education programs. He recently learned that an additional 80 miles have been added to the Colorado Trail, along the high peaks of the Collegiate Range west of Bueearth studies bannerna Vista and Salida. So, Ranger Dave will be hitting the trail once again. This effort will also be a fund-raising effort for MPEC’s education programs. You can follow his adventure at Ranger Dave’s Colorado Trail blog by clicking here. Please consider making a pledge or donation towards this fund-raising effort – all funds will directly support giving young people meaningful experiences in Nature (like MPEC’s award-winning Earth Studies program that reaches over 1200 Pueblo 5th-graders every year with multiple days of outdoor-based education). You can click here to make a donation, or you can send a pledge to Dave at mpec@hikeandlearn.org. Thanks!es group lodge

Top Ten Reasons to Send your Child to MPEC Summer Camp!

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1. Every child needs to spend some time in Nature, and the Mountain Park is full of beautiful Nature.

2. It’s a great way to get them off the couch and take a break from electronics.

3. They will make some new friends.

4. They will learn camp songs, and every child should know some camp songs.

5. Camp is a great way to build a child’s self esteem.

6. MPEC camps are so affordable, and we have a generous scholarship program for those that need some financial assistance.

7. MPEC camps will broaden their vocabulary and teach them many concepts about ecology, which can make them better students.

8. MPEC provides all round-trip transportation from Pueblo.

9. Summer days are usually ten degrees cooler in Beulah than they are in Pueblo.

10. MPEC camps are fun!!!

Thinking about Fire Mitigation and our Woody Biomass Furnaces

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biomassI took a walk along the park’s scenic highway this morning and noticed some significant stacks of firewood along the way. They are the result of the hard work that some volunteer crews have been doing in getting the downed logs out of the forest from the steeper, more difficult areas that were mitigated for wildfire in recent years.

The thought occurred to me that we just completed our fifth year of heating the Horseshoe Lodge with the wood that we pull out of these forests. Over five winters, we have burned a fair share of firewood to transfer the solar energy that is stored in the wood into the the loop of water that circulates throughout the lodge’s 14,000 square feet, keeping it warm and comfortable (also heating the water for domestic needs like showers). Had we not installed this heating  woody biomass heating system, we would have burned so many thousands of gallons of propane at a cost that very well would have been unaffordable.

Thanks to this heating system, we utilize the logs from our mitigation efforts to heat the lodge, we have a healthier forest by thinning the unnaturally overgrown forest, the park and surrounding area is less vulnerable to catastrophic wildfire, we utilize a local source of energy, we prevent the burning of thousands of gallons of fossil fuels (and the carbon from ancient carbon cycles that these fuels release when burned), and we provide local jobs in managing the forest health / wildfire mitigation efforts and the biomass heating system.

After five years, the heating system has more than paid for itself in recouping the initial cost of installing the system in savings from projected propane costs. It would be fair to say that, had we had to go with a propane heating system, the renovation of the Horseshoe Lodge would very possibly not have been done, due to the projected astronomical costs of buying propane to heat the building. A win-win-win situation if you ask me!