Ok so we didn’t exactly stumble upon it.  Dick and I went down several trails in the Eldorado National Forest, near Rock Creek in search of Deer View where the legendary Bret Harte Hotel is located.  This place was built (but not completely finished) but never opened for business due to the death of the dreamer, Abram Peter Turner Elder.

This hotel reminds me of what the Titanic was.  Revolutionary for its time, each room having a bath and hot water, swimming pools, and beautiful gardens–luxury in nature.  But all of that came to a halt when APT Elder died around 1924 (they are not sure of the exact date).  His heirs on the east coast did not share his vision so they sold off everything they could.  It then stood abandoned and in 1936 a big part of roof collapsed from heavy snow.  It has gradually fallen apart over time but still a beautiful place to see if you can find it.  Below are some photos from Sierra Nevada Adventures of what it looked like back then as well as my own photos I took the day we found it.

You can see the basement windows are still standing in the other photos.

Remaining Foundation

You can see the windows here if you compare to the original photo.

Getting there is half the fun!

Thanks to Paul Beacham for photo and description below