It’s hard to grasp the scope of 172,000 acres. It’s larger than the city of Chicago, which makes it sound big, or half the size of Rhode Island, which somehow makes it sound less big. In any case, that’s the size of Trinchera, the impressive high-alpine reserve and lodge in Fort Garland, Colorado, which once belonged to publishing tycoon Malcolm Forbes and is now, to our good fortune, open to the public.
There are only 16 rooms, with additional accommodations in two private houses and a handful of backcountry cabins, so it never feels crowded. It’s almost comical having access to all that land—like having a national park to yourself. When Forbes acquired the property in 1969, the main attraction was stag hunting, which he made available to friends, well-connected guests, and prospective business partners. There’s still hunting today, but for the new owner, financier Louis Bacon, who bought the land in 2007, the priority is a highly ambitious conservation program—which includes re-introducing the Rio Grande cutthroat trout to their local streams.