Toklat: A Private Retreat and Tour Destination in Aspen’s Castle Creek Valley

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Eleven miles up Castle Creek Road, past the last of the aspen groves that give this valley its color every September, sits a small property that has been quietly shaping the way people meet, reflect, and reconnect for nearly 75 years. The Catto Center at Toklat started as the family home of Stuart Mace, one of ACES’ founding board members, and it has since grown into a rare jewel in the Aspen area: a working wilderness retreat center with a real history behind it.

Today, organizations, boards, small business teams, and individuals book time at Toklat for a different kind of gathering than what you’ll find at a downtown hotel. If you’re a nonprofit planning a board retreat, a company looking for an offsite that won’t feel like every other offsite, or simply someone who wants a private, naturalist-led hike through Castle Creek Valley, Toklat was built with exactly that in mind.

A Historic Setting for Modern Retreats

Stuart Mace and his wife Isabel established Toklat in 1948 as a wilderness lodge, taking the name from an Inuit word meaning headwaters of a glacial valley. Over the years the property held a natural foods restaurant, a gathering place, and an art gallery, all rooted in the same respect for the land that later became central to ACES’ mission. ACES acquired Toklat in 2004, on three acres tucked into the National Forest, and has worked since to preserve it as what the organization calls a community cornerstone rather than turn it into another mountain event venue.

That history is part of what makes a Toklat retreat feel different the moment you arrive. A hotel conference room resets between clients. Toklat doesn’t. The same building that once hosted Stuart Mace’s dinner guests and community gatherings now hosts strategic planning sessions and staff retreats, and that continuity gives the space a weight that’s hard to manufacture. You’re not renting square footage. You’re stepping into a place that already means something to the people who’ve spent time there.

Private Retreats at Toklat

Toklat’s retreat spaces are built around conversation rather than presentation. The property offers several cozy indoor nooks suited to small-group discussion, a dedicated presentation space for when your agenda calls for one, and outdoor gathering spots for the parts of a retreat that work better outside four walls entirely. Every private retreat booked at Toklat includes an introduction to the property’s history and an educational outing led by an ACES naturalist, so the retreat itself becomes part of the experience rather than an afterthought squeezed in between meetings.

This format tends to work well for:

• Nonprofit boards looking for a distraction-free setting to work through strategic planning without the interruptions of a normal office day
• Staff retreats for organizations that want the day to build team cohesion, not just check a box
• Wellness groups and small cohorts seeking a setting that supports reflection rather than competing with it
• Small business teams who want a working session that still leaves room for a walk along Castle Creek

What separates this from a hotel conference room isn’t just the scenery, though the scenery does plenty of the work on its own. It’s the built-in naturalist component, the intimacy of a three-acre property instead of a sprawling resort campus, and the fact that your group is fully immersed in the wilderness setting for the entire retreat rather than glancing at it through a window between sessions. If your organization wants to inquire about booking a private retreat, you can get in touch through ACES to start the conversation. 

Business and Organizational Offsites at Toklat

Aspen’s corporate retreat market is well covered by luxury properties selling boardrooms, ski-in ski-out access, and five-star amenities. That’s a legitimate offering, and plenty of companies want exactly that. Toklat isn’t trying to compete with it.

What Toklat offers instead is a genuine disconnection from the usual rhythm of a business offsite. There’s no hotel lobby, no conference center hallway, no sense that your team is one of three corporate groups booked into the building that week. There’s a historic wilderness property, a naturalist who can lead your team through Castle Creek Valley as part of the day, and a setting that tends to produce clearer thinking simply because it removes the usual noise.

For mission-driven companies, sustainability-focused teams, or any organization that wants its offsite location to actually reflect its values rather than just its budget, that alignment matters. A team that spends its working hours thinking about environmental impact, community, or long-term stewardship tends to notice when its offsite venue reflects those same priorities instead of contradicting them. 

Private Guided Tours and Naturalist Experiences

Not every visit to Toklat needs to be a full retreat. ACES also offers private guided tours that let individuals, families, or small groups explore Castle Creek Valley with a naturalist leading the way, on foot in summer or by snowshoe once the snow settles in.

These outings run at a gentle pace over manageable terrain, and the route can be adjusted to fit your group’s fitness level, interests, and available time. Whether that means slowing down to talk through the valley’s plant life and wildlife or picking up the pace for a longer route, the guide shapes the outing around the people on it rather than running a fixed script. It’s a fitting complement to a retreat booking, and it’s also a worthwhile outing on its own for anyone planning a special visit, an anniversary, or simply a private day outdoors in the Castle Creek Valley with someone who knows the land.

Why Choose Toklat Over a Traditional Venue

The choice between Toklat and a traditional Aspen retreat venue really comes down to what your group is optimizing for. A luxury hotel offers scale, polish, and predictability, and there’s real value in that for the right event. Toklat offers character, history, and a mission your group can feel while they’re there, which is a different kind of value and, for a lot of organizations, the more memorable one.

A retreat that happens inside a place with 75 years of rich history tends to land differently than one held in a room built specifically to be rented out. Toklat’s setting doesn’t ask your team to imagine meaning into the space. The meaning is already there, in the building, in the valley, and in the fact that ACES exists specifically to protect places like this one. For a board or a team trying to think clearly about the future, working inside a place built around long-term stewardship isn’t just scenery. It’s the right frame of mind, already built into the walls.

Planning Your Retreat or Private Tour

Booking a retreat or private tour at Toklat starts with a conversation. The Toklat team, including Charlie Robinson, the Toklat Project Coordinator, works with organizations to understand what your group needs before locking in a date, whether that’s a single-day board retreat, a staff offsite, or a private guided hike for a smaller group. Because Toklat books both private events and public programming throughout the year, reaching out early gives ACES the best chance to match your preferred dates with the property’s availability.

To start planning, inquire with ACES directly, and the team will walk you through what to expect from booking through the day of your retreat.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How many people can Toklat accommodate for a retreat? Toklat is built around intimate gatherings rather than large-scale events, with several smaller indoor nooks and a dedicated presentation space rather than one oversized ballroom. Because group size affects which spaces make sense for your retreat, it’s best to share your expected headcount when you inquire so the team can plan the day around it.
• Is Toklat open to the public during private events? Toklat operates on public hours alongside its private retreat and tour bookings, hosting community programs, artist workshops, and educational excursions throughout the year. What’s public versus private during your specific visit depends on your booking, so it’s worth confirming the details when you inquire.
• How far in advance should we book a retreat? Toklat hosts both private events and public programming year-round, so earlier outreach gives ACES more flexibility to match your preferred dates. If you have a specific season or date in mind, mention it as soon as you reach out.

Start Planning Your Toklat Retreat

Toklat has spent nearly 75 years as a gathering place for the people who love Castle Creek Valley, first as Stuart Mace’s home and now as ACES’ wilderness retreat center. Whether your organization needs a setting for strategic planning, a staff offsite that actually feels different, or a private naturalist-guided tour through one of the most storied valleys near Aspen, Toklat offers something a conference room never will: a place with history and purpose already built in.

Inquire with ACES to start planning your retreat or private tour at the Catto Center at Toklat.