Boulder Mountain Lodge — Hotel in Boulder

The Boulder Mountain Lodge is a fantastic place to stay in the Escalante/Boulder area.

The primary reasons to want to stay here are: 1) nice, big, clean rooms, 2) the Hell's Backbone Grill, a truly amazing world-class restaurant, is on-site, 3) the entire compound is a peaceful and relaxing setting, with a hot tub and amazing common areas.

The primary reasons not to stay here are: 1) the location (which really depends on what your plans are, see more detailed discussion below), and 2) the price is about $50/night higher than decent (but not nearly as nice) motels in Escalante or Torrey. But if you're at all a foodie, you should definitely eat at Hell's Backbone Grill, in which case you may want to consider staying at BML anyways.

Regarding location: if you are planning to hike the Escalante River, Upper or Lower Calf Creek,or drive/hike along the extremely scenic Burr Trail or Hell's Backbone Road, the Boulder Mountain Lodge is as convenient as staying in Escalante (and nicer, too). If you are planning on exploring the canyons or trails off Hole-in-the-Rock road, it's about 30-40 minutes to get to the beginning of that road (whereas from Escalante it's 5-10 minutes). And if you're focusing your activities on central Capitol Reef, then Torrey is far more convenient.

More detail on the rooms: they are nice, clean motel-style rooms with little added touches like TV w/cable and in-room DVD player, free wifi internet, refrigerator, little patio areas, and nicer complimentary teas/coffees and bathroom stuff than you get at your average motel. The downstairs rooms do get a little noise from upstairs, but less so than in other motels in the area (and I've stayed at many). The beds are also comfier than average motel beds. Also, the front office has good travel information.

Finally, if you like scenic drives, I'd highly recommend the following all-day route which has constant amazing scenery (has some dirt road driving but 2wd is OK):

-- starting from the lodge, head east on the Burr Trail, down through beautiful Long Canyon and out towards the southern end of Capitol Reef; -- (if you have 4WD, when you enter Capitol Reef take the 3-mile side trip up Upper Muley Twist canyon to the Strike Valley Overlook for stupendous views); -- at the bottom of the steep and scenic switchbacks, turn north (left) onto Notom-Bullfrog road and drive about an hour up the beautiful Halls Creek Valley, with constant views of the Waterpocket Fold; -- at the intersection with Highway 24 turn west (left), and drive up into Capitol Reef; -- after passing through the reef and seeing all the sights, you'll be headed towards Torrey. Before entering the town proper, turn south (left) onto Highway 12, which goes up over the mountain back to Boulder. -- eat dinner at Hell's...

This is a very special place, one we hope to return to! We stayed in four great places on our trip through Colorado and Utah, but Boulder Mountain Lodge is where we truly left our heart! We had initially been unable to get a reservation online, but when we called the lodge and spoke to Erika, she worked out a way for us to have a two night stay in two different rooms - not ideal we thought, but as it turned out, it was just fine! They worked to make the room change quick and easy, and we enjoyed both the upstairs queen with the shared balcony, with easy access to the hot tub for the evenings, and our downstairs double queen had patio access to the pond for early morning bird watching. The lodge is ideally located next to the Burr Trail, a stunningly beautiful drive. Just a few miles drive down the road is an easy walk to the lovely Singing Canyon. Be sure to get the map at check-in which shows you lots of places to walk, hike and drive nearby. This place is already very special, but having Hell's Backbone Grill (HBG) on the property makes the stay truly heavenly. We had two absolutely delicious dinners, met one of the chefs, and upon reading the HBG books which are on the nightstand in each room, came to appreciate how thoughtful the owners of the lodge and the restaurant proprietors both are in providing a place for people to appreciate the natural beauty of this region, the importance of preservation of the land and of sustainable ways of life. Speaking of which, we also appreciated that this was the only place we stayed where staff wore masks (we visited during a COVID surge). We also appreciated the comfy beds, walks around and near the property, the lodge shop and the HBG pantry shop, and the interesting guests who also shared our love of nature. Honestly, we wish we could have...

Our stay at Boulder Mountain Lodge was overall very enjoyable. The price felt reasonable for the accommodations, and I especially appreciated the balcony with the shared seating area directly connected to our room—it made for a relaxing place to sit in the mornings and evenings. We also used the hot tub daily, and each time we had it entirely to ourselves, which was a wonderful bonus.

One feature of particular value—especially given the remote location—is the availability of electric vehicle chargers. This made our stay much more convenient and is something I genuinely appreciate.

I would remove one star for the noise from the room and bathroom fans, which was noticeable, but the lodge holds a special place for my family, and that adds a star back for sentimental reasons. So overall, my rating is a full 5 stars.

The service throughout our stay was mostly friendly, and we felt welcomed.

The only part of the experience I did not enjoy was the on-site restaurant. For my personal preferences, I found the menu to be limited, the pricing higher than I am comfortable with, and it was difficult for me to find healthy meal options that fit my diet. While others may enjoy it, I would choose to dine elsewhere in the future.

In summary, the lodge itself is a special place with a warm and peaceful atmosphere. I would happily...