Sweetwater Ranch

Details & Features

Immediately upon stepping on Sweetwater Ranch, one realizes this is a special place. Located less than an hour’s drive from Vail and Beaver Creek and a little over an hour to Aspen, Colorado, the location is convenient yet perfectly private. Sweetwater Ranch runs from the valley floor, where it controls over 1.5 miles of both banks of Sweetwater Creek, a private fishery, to the rich groves of Aspen trees, which give way to the National Forest and BLM lands topping out at over 9,000 ft. Sweetwater Ranch is blessed with exceptional water rights that nourish the landscape for herds of elk and deer, as well as robust stands of hay. The ranch enjoys views up the valley to the Flattop Wilderness and down the valley on a clear day to the high peaks of the Gore Range and Mount Sopris.

Sweetwater Ranch is a beneficiary of an excellent location. The ranch is less than an hour’s drive down valley of Vail and Beaver Creek and a little over an hour from the resort amenities of Aspen, CO.

Sweetwater Ranch consists of 2,640 deeded acres spanning across Eagle County and Garfield County, Colorado. The ranch runs from the valley floor to the top of the crest of the Moneger Ridge, encompassing over 2,500 ft of elevation change. The lower ranch is a mix of riparian creek bottom along 1.5 miles of Sweetwater Creek and irrigated hayfields, which flank the owner’s home, caretaker’s cabin, and outdoor riding arena.

Sweetwater Ranch offers tremendous opportunities for novice and expert hunters alike. The ranch provides robust opportunities to hunt and harvest elk, mule deer, bear, turkey, and grouse. Located in GMU 25, the ranch is in prime elk and mule deer habitat.

Fishing on Sweetwater Ranch provides a diverse range of opportunities. Sweetwater Creek traverses the ranch for 1.5 miles and provides a completely private and intimate small-stream fishing experience for both brown and rainbow trout. This secluded reach of Sweetwater Creek, which flows through the ranch, is a joy to fish in its current state and is a prime candidate for some carefully managed stream enhancement. In addition to Sweetwater Creek, the ranch controls 2.5 miles of Morris Creek and nearly 3.5 miles of Mason Creek. Both are live streams where more ponds and lakes could be built.

Sweetwater Ranch is managed as a traditional hay and grazing operation by a long-time area producer who has leased the ranch for nearly 25 years. Total hay yields typically fall in the 400-ton range and are put up in large round bales. The hay fields are flood-irrigated with water, stored in the four ranch reservoirs’ and delivered to multiple fields via a series of irrigation ditches, the largest being the “HMS Ditch.” All water is gravity-fed, leading to a low overhead. The ranch runs about 300 cow-calf pairs year-round.

• 2640 deeded acres
• 7 miles of live water
• 4 onsite reservoirs
• National Forest and BLM borders
• 300 head carrying capacity
• Extensive senior water rights
• Owner’s Home, Caretaker’s Cabin, Hunting Cabin
• GMU 25 with OTC Elk and (4) landowner deer tags
• 1 hour to Vail, 1.5 hours to Aspen, 1.5 hours to Steamboat