Woodland Park

Update on the McAfee estate

October 1, 2009 by Carrie

Remember the Woodland Park estate of software developer John McAfee? It’s one of the more famous houses in the area these days. McAfee spent over $20 million developing the property into a private getaway and yoga retreat, and then sold it to Patrick Wu for $5.72 million in 2007.

Wu fell behind on the payments and the property went into foreclosure. It’s now owned by the bank and is currently listed for $4.5 million.

Jeremy has done quite a bit of research on the property for a potential buyer and was able to find a lot more information about the property. If you’re in the market for a spectacular piece of property in the beautiful mountains of Colorado Springs, he’d love to share more information about the property with you, either via phone (719.231.9043) or email (jeremy@thecircagroup.com).

McAfee estate’s future still up in the air

May 6, 2009 by Carrie

Does the name McAfee sound familiar? Yep, it’s the name of one of the very first anti-virus software companies, and its founder, John McAfee built a large estate in the Colorado Springs area. He poured around $25 million into the 290 acre estate in Woodland Park, but sold by auction it to Patrick Wu for just $5.72 million in 2007.

Wu put the property up for auction last fall, but it failed to get even the minimum opening bid of $3.8 million. According to the Gazette, the property is now scheduled to be put up for sale by the Teller County Trustee’s Office on June 3rd.

You can still view a lot of photos from the estate at the site of the auction company that ran the last auction.

It’s quite the estate, though I’d say for the money there are quite a few of other homes I’d buy instead of this one. However, the opportunity to own a 290 acre property with 3 guest homes, 2 guest apartments, 9 guest cabins, and various other outbuildings that supposedly cost $25 million originally for a very small fraction of the cost might be tempting.

The shortest route from Monument to Woodland Park

May 1, 2009 by Carrie

People in Monument don’t get to Woodland Park too often. You have to drive all the way down to south Colorado Springs, and then up through Ute Pass. Google Maps is telling me it’s only 33.4 miles, but as you can see on the map below, it’s quite a drive for two places that, as the bird flies, really aren’t that far apart.

There is a shorter route, however. If you’re not in a hurry, and you want to get from Monument or Woodland Park to the other side of the mountains, you can drive Mount Herman Road (Road 320), connect with Rampart Range Road and take pretty much a straight shot across the mountains. It’s a gorgeous drive, and you’ll get great gas mileage since you can’t drive very fast!

We’ve taken this route a couple of times, and you definitely get better views while driving if you take it from Woodland Park to Monument. There are some fabulous views of Pikes Peak to be seen while you’re driving the eastward route, and as you emerge from the mountains, you can catch some amazing and uncommon views of the Air Force Academy, the eastern plains, and the cities of Colorado Springs and Monument. Go in the morning when the skies are typically clear – storms roll in during the afternoon and make it hazy, even if it does rain (as above).

The terrain around Mount Herman is full of huge, smooth rock boulders, and there are several spots with large boulders easy enough even for kids to climb on.

There’s a few miles on the east side of Mount Herman Road that are pretty rocky, and if you start on that side, you might consider turning around. It does get much better after those first few miles – it’s not that rocky the whole way. There are several places where the road is washed out pretty bad, but nothing that should be a problem as long as you’re not driving 55 MPH up here. Our minivan has gone both west-to-east and east-to-west on this road and made it just fine. Remember that this road has two-way traffic!

Mount Herman Road meets up with Rampart Range Road, which you can take south to Woodland Park, or north up to Denver (note: we were up there the other day and Rampart Range Road headed to Denver was closed because of wet conditions).

To us, this is one of the best things about living in Colorado Springs – even if you can’t take a full week-long vacation, there is so much to do around here, you can just take a one-day vacation and see so much! People from all over the country (and the world!) travel to Colorado to ski, hike, bike, rock climb, and drive the mountain roads. Steve Garufi (the “Colorado Guy”) has a site with more pics of Mount Herman, and lots more info on Colorado hikes and back roads!

Snowfall totals vary widely in Colorado Springs

March 30, 2009 by Carrie

How much snow you’ll get during winter in Colorado Springs really varies by where you live. According to KOAA’s meteorologist Mike Madson, last week’s snowstorm gave Monument fourteen plus inches, the Briargate area got nine to ten, Woodland Park and Green Mountain falls got ten or more inches, and the main part of Colorado Springs? Just three to five inches.

So, if you’re scared of snow, I’d probably live south of Woodmen Road, a ways east of the mountains, and west of Marksheffel Road. (The plains east of Marksheffel Road tend to be windy and therefore have lots of drifts and whiteout conditions.)

As usual, the snow mostly melted in the two days following the storm and we were back to beautiful clear skies – seems like Colorado Springs rarely goes more than 24 hours without sunshine. In fact, we had clear skies on Thursday morning before the snow started in the afternoon, and by Friday morning it was crystal clear again!

This morning we were greeted with a little bit more snow; which, even though I was ready for spring, is a good thing since we really need the moisture.

Christmas Events Roundup: December 1-7

December 2, 2008 by Carrie

Lots of parades and everything else going on this weekend! I’m going to stick to posting about the free/nearly-free events and Christmas open houses.

Woodland Park is holding its annual Lighter Side of Christmas parade on Saturday, December 6th at 6 PM in downtown Woodland Park. The theme this year is “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” and benefits Habitat for Humanity. The parade will be followed by the tree lighting ceremony and some live music.
The Colorado Springs Festival of Lights parade is also on Saturday, December 6th at 5:50 PM in downtown Colorado Springs.
You can eat breakfast with Santa on Saturday the 6th in Old Colorado City from 8 AM to 11 AM. It’s $3 for kids and $5 for adults. Free pictures with Santa are from 12 PM to 5 PM in Bancroft Park.
The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum will be hosting a free Children’s Holiday Magic Celebration on Saturday, December 6th from 10 AM until the Festival of Lights Parade in the evening. There will be live music, a magician, a model train display, and more.
Monument is hosting a Small Town Christmas on Saturday, December 6th from 10 AM to 2 PM. Lots of merchants will be holding open house-type events with refreshments and fun activities for the kids.
The cadet choir from the Air Force Academy will also be performing Handel’s Messiah on Friday, December 5th at 7:30 PM at the Protestant Cadet Chapel.
Village Seven Presbyterian Church will also be presenting Handel’s Messiah on Sunday, December 7th at 5 PM. No charge for admission.
Six Woodland Park homes are open for touring on Saturday the 6th (10 AM – 4 PM) and Sunday the 7th (12 PM to 4 PM). Tickets for the 10th Annual Holiday Home Tour are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. Here’s more info and a tour map. Proceeds benefit the Pikes Peak Regional Medical Center.
The 14th Annual Holiday Bed and Breakfast Tour, benefiting the Old Colorado City Historical Society, is Sunday the 7th from 2-6 PM. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door.

You should also know…

On-street parking in downtown Colorado Springs is free for the first three weekends in December and in Old Colorado City there’s free parking every weekend in December! Happy shopping!

Woodland Park

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