Our Story
Every now and then, you stay somewhere that stays with you long after you've left. That feeling is the whole reason The Outrider exists. We're two families who became close friends and, somewhere along the way, discovered we were chasing the same dream. The more we traveled, the more we agreed on what makes a place worth remembering. Never the anonymous stops off the highway. Always the ones that feel rooted in where they are, cared for by people who love them. The Outrider is our two families building exactly that, together.
A place that could only be here
We could have made this hotel feel like anywhere. We didn't want to. The Outrider is really a reflection of how we love to travel, grounded in its own corner of the world and shaped by the red rocks and thin mountain air just outside the door.
Before it was ours, this was the Manitou Cog Hotel, a longtime fixture at the corner of Manitou Avenue and Crystal Park Road. We gave it a matte-black coat, a new name, and more long nights than we can count. But the point was never a fresh look. It was to hand you a deeper, truer side of Manitou than a quick stop ever could.
Why we're The Outrider
An outrider is a scout, the one who rides ahead, reads the landscape, and leads the way to something worth finding. That's the spirit we wanted for a hotel at the edge of the Rockies: brave, curious, and open to discovery.
You'll see it in our logo, too. A coyote paired with the North Star. The coyote is a natural outrider, alert and resourceful, at home in wild country and always attuned to the terrain. The North Star is the fixed point that keeps you oriented. Together, they're what we hope to be for you: a guide that knows this place, sees what others miss, and points you toward the good stuff.
A place to slow down
The world moves fast, and most of us are more worn out than we let on. We built The Outrider as a place to set the pace down for a few days. Soak in the hot tub under the stars, warm up in the sauna, wake up slow with coffee on the patio, and let a morning on the trail or an evening by the fire do the rest. Come to reconnect, with the mountains, and with the people you brought along.
Something worth passing on
Ask us what matters most and it won't be square footage. Faith and family are the foundation we build everything else on. Our kids grew up walking these hallways with us, cold pizza on the lobby floor and all, and we still run the place ourselves so it never stops feeling personal. More than a business, we hope The Outrider becomes a legacy, something good that outlasts us and keeps giving life to the guests who stay and the town we're proud to call home.
Meet the Four of Us
The four of us at The Outrider's grand opening.
Two families, one Outrider
Between us, we're two families raising four kids and pouring everything we have into one hotel. We sweat the small stuff, the coffee, the fire, the way the light falls across the lobby, because we want The Outrider to be the kind of place we'd choose for our own families: somewhere to slow down, get outside, and feel genuinely at home in Manitou. When you stay here, you're never just a room number. You're a guest of two families who love this place, and hope you will too.
Come Say Hello
We built The Outrider to be shared. Come stay a while, wander a little, slow down a lot, and make yourself at home in Manitou Springs.
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