Crested Butte

July 1, 2009

Deb and I made sure we booked our flight to Denver early enough to take the shuttle up to Fort Collins in time to hit the afternoon microbrewery tastings.

Luikin – 90 pounds of fun
After a short visit in Troy and Susan’s back yard with Luikin, we were off to sample the craft brews at the Ft. Collins, Odell’s, and New Belgium breweries.

There are some fine craft brews in Fort Collins, and the atmosphere in the tasting rooms is fun.

It was great getting back together with our long time friends. I wish we could do it more often.

You may ask, “Where is the motorcycle content in this write-up?”.  We’ll get to it, as a bit of scouting for a future ride.

July 2, 2009

After a very tasty breakfast cooked up by Susan, we packed up the Subaru to make the mountain drive to Crested Butte.  The traffic started to thin as we approached Buena Vista, where we would peel off the main roads and take Hwy 306 west across Cottonwood Pass.  This smaller road gives drivers and riders a more intimate feel for the Colorado highlands.

East of Cottonwood Pass

The pavement of Hwy 306 gives way to a packed dirt and gravel road (CR-209) at Cottonwood Pass.  We took a break at the pass to have a sandwich and hike up a trail to a knoll above the road.  Any amount of exertion above 12,000 feet takes a bit of contemplation to keep from totally running out of air and coming to a halt.

Hwy 306 transition to dirt at Cottowood Pass

Looking west of Cottowood Pass

The drive down from Cottonwood Pass into Crested Butte was a wet one, and I was taking notes for my return ride in a few weeks to Paonia.  Some of our club members will do the same loop I am planning through Aspen, across Independence Pass, and down this same road through Crested Butte to return back to Paonia for camping at the rally.  Even though there are 14 miles of dirt road, it is one of the best I have seen, and should be safe if the corners are taken carefully.  The road turns back to pavement (CR-742) at Taylor Park Reservoir, and is a very enjoyable twisting road along the Taylor River that exits the dam.

We took Jack’s Cabin cutover from CR-742 to Hwy 135 into Crested Butte.  This road is not marked clearly, and has a forest road 813 sign just as you climb up from the highway.

Mt. Crested Butte

The wildflowers started appearing along this road and up the green slopes of the foothills into the mountains that surround Crested Butte.  Cristiana’s Guesthaus would be our home for the next several days here in Crested Butte.  Next objective… dinner planning at the many choices of restaurants.  There was a social event on Elk Street, the Black and White Ball.  We met Dana, who was named the Red Lady for the ball.  There is a bit of controversy in Crested Butte about a moly mine development proposal on the Red Lady Mountain.

	Dana, the Red Lady
	Donita’s – great Mexican food!

July 3, 2009

We drove out a short distance to a valley where we would hike up Brush Creek.  Each corner and every direction we looked was a pristine view of the valley and peaks that make up the back side of the Maroon Bells Wilderness.

The hummingbirds and bees were buzzing all around occupied with the multitude of wildflowers all around us.

July 4, 2009

We are having a granola breakfast here in the lodge this morning watching Lance Armstrong setting a good pace with his best time of the stage so far of 20:12 in the 15 K time trial at Monaco.  The morning was no stress with only breakfast in front of making it down to Elk Street in time to grab a good place to watch the parade.  We stopped in front of what looked like an empty business, but surrounded by OU chairs.

We soon found out that the building will be soon a new restaurant, but property manager Steve would not divulge what type of food or name that the owner Bobby has decided on. We’ll have to check it out sometime, located at 322 Elk St.

The flavor of this parade was a bit out there, with a group of folks dressed almost entirely in skunk cabbage leaves.  We had seen this plant during yesterday’s hike, and now know what the leaves are used for.

After the parade, we did a woods walk up towards Red Lady Mt. and tucked into a grill to escape the daily rain shower.

We decided to take the drive up Washington Gulch Road that Steve at the parade had suggested.  The road turned to packed dirt just beyond the ski area, and Susan negotiated the climb up past Gothic Mountain very well.  Steve said to look for the old truck and turn around to soak in the view of the Crested Butte valley below. He was right. Spectacular vistas were all around us, and it was not hard to capture a good landscape by just randomly pointing the camera and clicking the shutter. We went on up just a bit more, and hiked up to discover an abandoned mine.

Interesting old finds around the back side of Mt. Baldy

After driving back down the mountain, the next quest was dinner at the Brick Oven Pizzeria, and grab a shuttle bus up to the ski area for the fireworks.  The ride up was pretty much a party bus, with a lot of locals obviously putting away some PBR earlier.  Our driver, Leigh, was not phased.  We met her the next day working our lodge, and she did admit the crowd was a bit wilder than normal.  The evening wind was crisp, and a few sprinkles accompanied the cool air.  The flash of the mortars and fireworks ensued and finished, and we grabbed a shuttle back down.  The bus crowd was still a bit lit up, with all of us doing a pretty lively rendition of The Star Spangled Banner.

	Crested Butte ski area just before the fireworks
Happy birthday, America!

July 5, 2009

Today’s main agenda was a scenic drive back across Cottonwood Pass through Breckenridge and on to Denver International Airport.  We took our time, but gave ourselves plenty of spare time to get to the airport. What we did not expect was the two-hour delay traffic jam that stated immediately at Frisco.  This 70-mile jam was reported to be the worst ever for a holiday weekend.  I guess that everyone had the same idea to spend some time up in the mountains.  We got to our gate at the airport 3 minutes before the flight was scheduled to leave, and found it had been delayed.  Oh well… up in the air later that evening and a quick transition the next morning to downtown Dallas life.  It was a nice break in Crested Butte.

Photos    https://photos.app.goo.gl/HsW2TYxvRFazLH9t6