Cave house offers spectacular views of Glenwood Canyon, life inside rock formations
Well, if you've clicked on this story, you already know a little bit of what you're in for. But the cave house of Glenwood Springs is more than meets the eye, and we'll take you inside to show you what we mean.
When you first get to the property, you walk to a mine shaft elevator to descend more than 100 feet into the solid rock. The elevator shaft was chiseled out by hand by the home's owner and builder years ago, and as you descend the slow ride down, you can see spots where he's cut away at the rock. It's just a taste of what's to come.
Once the ride has come to a stop and the iron gates of the elevator are opened, you walk out into what feels like could be anyone's basement room, a pool table sits in the middle of an open area with glass windows against the back wall. The major difference is that the ceiling is craggy rock formations, uneven, and a bit tight in some spots for people over 6-foot.
The guest room is just on the left, with a tongue-in-cheek sign hanging from the wall proclaiming "man cave." Our tour guide/realtor Will Vannice points out that from time to time, water will drip through the ceiling but that's a part of the charm of living inside of a cave system. The bathroom is built into the guest room with frosted glass blocks.
"Easier to bring them down piece by piece in the elevator," Vannice points out.
Just outside that room, through the glass wall is the balcony, with a breathtaking view of Glenwood Canyon. The patio goes up and down levels, bringing you up about half a floor to the next set of rooms, including the kitchen, bedroom, TV nook, and laundry room/jukebox room. A large open patio sits right outside, housing a hot tub (sadly no longer functioning.)
But the part that makes this house so incredible is just off the bedroom, behind a closed door. If you walk past it in a small hallway just like any other home, you're transported to an incredible cave system and open room, where stalactites grip the ceiling and ribbon rock formations adorn the walls. This is an entirely different feel than the rest of the house, and it's noticeable even in the air around you; the musty air of a cave system, just on the other side of a home. Tools are still jammed into parts of the rock, with a trail leading to a scene you would expect from any good spelunking movie.
"We have an idea but we really don't know how far back this goes," Vannice said laughing. "We're going to have someone skinny go check it out for us and report back."
The 25-acre property also has plenty of room to grow and depending on the person who'd purchase it, plenty of room to expand the existing rooms, so long as they're comfortable chipping away at it like the previous owner.
The Cave of the Chimes system is featured in the book "Caves of Colorado," where the home's builder got the idea to put it there in the first place. The home is currently listed for close to $2.5 million. Vannice said he's known the place was special even before it was featured online on social media accounts like "Zillow gone wild."
Right now he said he's shown the home a few times and even had someone check out the property via private helicopter, as that's a possibility for someone to access it in the future. Right now, they're just looking for the right person to make this cozy Colorado cave their home base.