The Mount Hayden Backcountry Lodge Story
“I felt an immediate connection and deep love for this place the first time I walked through the clearing. It was a visceral response, a lightning-strike moment felt through my soul. The cabin sat buried in the purest snow at 11,100 feet above anything familiar, surrounded by silence and the alpine wilderness. Untouched for two decades, it showed promise and opportunity. I knew this had to be my home.”
Our Values
- Adventure
- Kindness and Compassion
- Comfort
- Harmony
- Health and Wellness
Our Purpose
Creating off-grid experiences for people to connect to nature, themselves and their friends and family.
The Lodge Found Me
The best things in life are often those we can’t plan for. In 2016, I was based in Boulder, working as a chef and living a life for which I was grateful each day. And then, I received one of those calls that would change everything.
My brother-in-law had inherited a small cabin. His father had built the cabin on Mount Hayden in the 1980s using traditional methods– felling, cleaning, hauling, and booming the logs by hand. His father lived in Texas and would visit his mountain retreat as often as possible, but eventually fell ill and couldn’t return. That’s when a local few hippy squatters took up residence in the summers and took care of the cabin and property.
My brother-in-law asked me to check it out to see if was worth keeping or if he would be better off selling. I’m not sure whether he understood the intensity of that request, as it was mid-winter. But I obliged.
I embarked on the six-hour road trip and then skied in the 2 miles as it was (and is) the only way to access the property during the winter.
With plenty of time to think on my trek back down the mountain, I decided my fate. I would create a European-style, full-service backcountry lodge to serve the Ouray area. I spent the next six months doing my due diligence to learn about permits and codes to see if something like this could really fly in the high country. Then Ouray County gave me the clearance I needed.
It was totally insane, but never had anything felt more right. I bought the property from my brother-in-law, quit my job, sold my house, and moved to the cabin. In doing so, I’ve become the first year-round resident up here since the mining boom 100 years ago.
I spent the summer of 2017 roughing it in an outfitter’s tent while I renovated the cabin so it would be ready to live in full-time by winter. Since then, I’ve been hard at work building the Mount Hayden Backcountry Lodge, a rustic yet refined 16-person destination deep in the San Juan Mountains to reality.
I’ve spent my entire life recreating in the mountains, always working in hospitality, and this venture feels like a calling. It’s the perfect way to bring together everything I love with old and many new friends. I can’t wait to share it with you.
— Eric Johnson, Owner
Eric Johnson
Co-Owner, Host, Chef
Eric served as Chef de Cuisine in the famed Flagstaff House Restaurant in Boulder, Colorado, before transforming a remote, single-room cabin in the San Juan Mountains into Mount Hayden Backcountry Lodge, an eco-friendly, full-service, European-style backcountry lodge in Ouray, Colorado, that serves adventurous families, community members, solitude seekers, and avid backcountry hikers and skiers as well as hosts corporate events, weddings, and retreats. Eric’s mission is to create an inclusive community space with a small eco-footprint for all to enjoy.
Eric creates memorable backcountry experiences and, as a classically-trained and highly esteemed chef, is proud to serve his guests nature-inspired, farm-to-table cuisine on a daily basis.
With nearly three decades of experience in cooking and serving heartwarming dishes in Washington, D.C., Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Boulder, Colorado, Eric is passionate about working with the finest local seasonal ingredients to execute high cuisine.
Eric’s pride and joy is the Mount Hayden Backcountry Kitchen, where he constructed a professional six-burner range, oversized sink, and oak cabinetry with an open and outward-facing basalt countertop to invite guests to saddle up and chat while he prepares their dishes.
An aspiring yogi who is committed to a low carbon footprint, Eric begins his year of wood-gathering every spring as he fells dead trees and splits wood to heat the lodge’s American-made cast ironwood stove. The lodge runs on solar power complemented by a small hydro-electric generator.
His love and care for warm, inviting spaces and company make every moment in the backcountry an exercise in beauty. Eric loves to fill the air with the aroma and anticipation of a satisfying meal and good conversation and is passionate about extending this invitation to community youth groups and nonprofits in Colorado.
Eric attended the California Culinary Academy of San Francisco and received numerous accolades and positive reviews for his restaurant in Denver, The Curtis Club, and Ouray’s Mt. Hayden Backcountry Lodge.
Daniel Griffin, MD, PhD
Co-Owner
Daniel Griffin became the new co-owner of the lodge with Eric in October 2025. Daniel and Eric have been friends since the 1980s, when they enjoyed some exciting alpine adventures in the mountains of Colorado and the walls of Yosemite and Toulumne Meadows.
After a short sojourn as a ‘ski bum’, Daniel attended the University of Colorado in Boulder. After medical school, he did further training in Salt Lake City, Utah. He then returned to Colorado, where he practiced primary care in Fort Collins, Colorado, and became the Chief of Medicine at UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital.
Daniel has, for many years, loved southwestern Colorado and has spent time Ice Climbing, Skiing, and backpacking in the area around Ouray, Silverton, and the Weminuche Wilderness. His first ascent of a Colorado fourteener was Uncompahgre back in 1986. His famous 165-pound Alaskan Malamute, Zarathustra Silverton, did her first backcountry trip across the Weminuche Wilderness from Silverton to the eastern boundary of the wilderness.
Daniel is committed to the lodge’s focus on health, wellness, and connecting with nature.
Bree House Pup
Our honorary house pup, Bree, was a friendly, adventurous, and calming presence at the lodge. She passed at age 15. She’s skied every line at least five times more than any guest ever will, and is always more than happy to show you the way.
