Photos: Legendary Caribou Ranch Hits Market for $48 Million

Once a mining camp, then a ranch that raised Arabian horses, it became a recording mecca fifty years ago.

August 8, 2024

The recording studio was built into an old cabin. Hall and Hall

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The legendary Caribou Ranch is about to start another chapter. Back in 1971, musician/producer Jim Guercio bought an Arabian horse ranch in an old mining camp outside of Nederland, with the goal of creating a world-class recording studio.

He succeeded: Over the next dozen years, Caribou hosted close to 200 musicians, including Elton John and John Lennon, who recorded "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" there in the summer of 1974.

In 2017, Caribou Ranch was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame.

click to enlarge

Arabian horses were raised on the ranch before it became a studio.

Hall and Hall

By then, it was no longer in the music business; a fire in the studio control room in 1985 ended that chapter. In the ’90s, Guercio sold half the ranch to Boulder County and the City of Boulder for open space; the second half, which includes the studio built into an old cabin, sold for $32.5 million in 2014 to Indian Peaks Holdings LLC, operating on behalf of Ben Walton, a member of the equally legendary Walton family.

The next year, an auction sold off much of the musical memorabilia connected to Caribou Ranch.

And now the 1,700-acre property itself is for sale again, at $48.5 million.

click to enlarge

The ranch is bordered by open space and national forest.

Hall and Hall

"Caribou Ranch has benefitted from thoughtful and committed land stewardship practices that have enhanced the wildlife habitat and protected its incredible access to recreational opportunities on and around the property," according to the Hall and Hall real estate listing. "A conservation easement ensures the property will continue to be a residential haven with a heart for habitat. A future ranch owner will find unparalleled natural beauty and tranquility on the Caribou Ranch."

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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