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When Ashley LaRocque wanted to book a stay at a treehouse hotel to celebrate her then-girlfriend’s 30th birthday in 2018, the couple had to fly more than 1,000 miles. “Alea always had this funny little talk track about wanting to live or stay in a treehouse,” Ashley says. “I remember Googling ‘treehouse Colorado,’ ‘treehouse Wyoming.’ I was looking for more of an experience, instead of just an Airbnb. The closest one I could find was in Washington State.”
Now, Denverites will only have to drive about 30 minutes up I-70 to sleep in a luxurious treehouse perched 25 feet up among the pines. In 2019, Alea and Ashley bought a five-bedroom bed-and-breakfast, now called Juniper Lodge & Treehouses, and its 10-acre mountainside lot in Evergreen; in 2020, they got married in a meadow on the property. Five years and lots of water court meetings, negotiations with electricians, and engineering challenges later, the LaRocques have opened the first two of a planned eight treehouses for overnight stays.
“What we didn’t realize going into it was how much of a development it was,” Ashley says. “Being queer, female, very much a small business…we were hit with a lot of unique challenges. A massive developer like the Marriott goes through this process. We’re not the Marriott.” Serving as their own general contractor, Ashley and Alea learned about everything from Colorado’s complex water rights system and culverts to burying electric lines and wildfire mitigation. “It took a lot of calls to get [vendors] to understand and take us seriously,” Ashley says. “We got a lot of nos. It’s a funny project, because it’s small in theory, but it’s very complex.”
When it comes to taking care of guests, however, the LaRocques already had some expertise. They’ve both previously worked as secret shoppers, critiquing the customer experience provided by restaurants. “It gave us an eye for hospitality,” Ashley says. “It made us love it, and it set the bar really high.” As SummitRidge Custom Homes built the treehouses, Alea, who still works full time lining up airport concessionaires, and Ashley—who recently left her job to run Juniper and serve on the Jefferson County Planning Commission, helping other entrepreneurs navigate zoning and construction challenges—worked with Denver’s Cognoscenti Creative to hone their brand identity and Juniper’s guest experience through the existing lodge.
Denali, the couple’s rescued cattle dog/corgi mix, often welcomes guests to main building’s stone turret, originally constructed by a Scottish couple in the mid-1990s. In addition to five private suites, the adults-only retreat has an expansive deck, hot tub, fire pit, honor bar, and several cozy communal spaces (one of which has a postcard-penning station). After learning that a large share of their guests are in town for concerts at Red Rocks, the LaRocques started offering packages that include extras like transportation to the venue, a tailgating setup, and live music at the lodge.
“We’ve learned that people want to interact with people,” Alea says. “In reviews, guests mention us by name. It’s not, ‘Oh, the staff at Juniper were great.’ They’re like, ‘Alea and Ashley!’ and ‘We loved meeting Denali.’ That personal connection has been such a hospitality lesson—it’s really about the transportive experience you have when you come in and you feel really cared for.”
Those learnings are evident in the thoughtful, mountain modern designs of the treehouses, whose layouts (courtesy of Treecraft Design-Build) and decor details (by DLiv Designs) are centered on distinct Colorado themes. The smaller of the two, the 206-square-foot Mountaineer, evokes the feeling of sleeping on a mountaintop, with ideal-for-stargazing skylights directly above the king bed, the rain shower, and a lofted hammock net. The 398-square-foot Miner’s Treehouse draws on the state’s mineral industry history with a copper soaking tub, penny tile, and a glittering chandelier.
All the treehouses feature creature comforts like dining nooks, microwaves, mini fridges, pourover coffee setups, fixings for bespoke cocktails, plush robes, Los Poblanos bath products, remote-controlled shades, and even bidets with heated seats. “People often use the word ‘glamping’ when you say treehouses,” Ashley says. “Some of the treehouses we stayed in had composting toilets and stuff. We were like, ‘No, it needs to be better.’ We were really intentional with those choices to make sure that we were going up a notch.”
The remaining six treehouse sites (one of which will be ADA-accessible) have utilities in place, and the LaRocques hope to start construction on those in 2027. After living on-site for years, the couple recently moved into a home nearby and plan to see the rest of their treehouse hotel dream through, no matter how long it takes. “This is a life for us,” Alea says. “So much of the story of Juniper is also our love story. We met here in Colorado. We bought this business together, we were married here, we lived here—it’s our whole story.”
The existing treehouses can be booked from $675 per night, with a two-night minimum; lodge rooms start at $245 per night. Juniper Lodge & Treehouses, 30500 U.S. 40, Evergreen
