Crested Butte Trip
The Clarks finally took a huge summer trip this year. We spent a week in Crested Butte, CO. View the gallery of images below (click one to open up a viewer and see captions). Or, further below, read our rambling recap of the trip.
Saturday, July 28
We all dragged ourselves out of bed at 3am for a flight out of Asheville at 6, through Atlanta, then Denver. We rented a car at EZ car rental which is a shady outfit if there ever was one. Much to the girls horror, we were presented with a red Chevy Impala. The infamous red Impala would serve as our chariot for the rest of the week. We flogged it mercilessly at hight altitude and on many dirt roads. After a scenic, 5 hour drive to CB, we arrived at the miner’s cabin at 7:20pm MDT. We could not have been more pleased with our cabin. We highly recommend VRBO based on our experience, and the owners of "The Miner's Cabin" were a pleasure to deal with.
Sunday, July 29
We slept in as much as we could, then spent some time at the local farmer’s market they hold on Elk street. Later, we drove up to the Oh Be Joyful creek trailhead and did a short hike. That evening, we celebrated Scout’s birthday by dining at The Secret Stash. This is a local pizza joint infamous for its long waits, but fantastic pizza. Our cousin Kathryn had recommended it to begin with, but this review online sealed the deal:
“You know why they call it Secret Stash? Its because it is like crack and once you have one rock you cant call it quits. I will go here every time I come to CB. The pizza was absolutely off the chain and the Margs were super strong and delish.”
Monday, July 30
We all walked down to CB Mountain Guides by 9:00am, where we met up with our guide, Kyle Mattingly. Scout, Dallia, and Calhoun were partaking in the Guides Ridge Route, whereby we simul-climbed with Kyle one of the prominent ridgelines that goes up the front of mt crested butte all the way to the summit. I’ve taken this description off of the Crested Butte Mountain Guides web site:
"Begin your climb by meeting at our offices in downtown Crested Butte. Meet your guide(s), get outfitted for the day's adventure, and then we will drive or jump on the free bus to the base area village at Crested Butte Mountain Resort. Here we will ride the Silver Queen lift to 11,500' on the mountain and minimize our approach to the climb to almost zero. After unloading the lift we will gear up for the climb, make a short traverse across the alpine boulderfields and be at the base of the long and jagged 800' arete known as the 'Guides Ridge'.
Though challenging looking, and intimidating, this climb is a great introduction to technical alpine climbing, or rock climbing being at the very low technical climbing grade of 4th to low 5th class, depending on exact route choice. Due to the varying levels of difficulty that can be done, this climb is perfect as afamily outing for adventurous kids, or can be challenging for the seaosned veteran alpine climber or rock jock.
After a roped ascent of a few hours we arrive on the 12,162' summit of Mt Crested Butte, and either enjoy an invigorating rappell for 60m directly off the top, or a leisurely stroll down the standard hiking route. Once back at the top of the Silver Queen lift, it is a quick and unbelieveably scenic chairlift ride right back to the base area. Coupled with an apres drink or espresso, this is as European and civilized of a mountain adventure as you can get anywhere in the US."
Julie rode the Silver Queen lift up to the top with all of us, and as staff photographer, was assigned the arduous task of hiking almost to the top, perching on an outcropping and taking pictures. Afterwards, she hiked all the way down the mountain (4.3 miles) and then took the local free bus back to the cabin.
The weather was very nice, 70's and partly sunny. We took our time, simul-climbing with Kyle, and stopping every now and then to enjoy the views and catch our breath. The altitude seriously affected our breathing, as everyone had said it would. As we approached the summit, several folks that had taken the hiking route up gawked at us in amazement. We rested on the summit for a while. We had the option of spider-rapelling about 250ft off the side of the summit, but opted at this point to take a leisurely hike down the standard trail back to the top of the lift where a porta-john awaited. Kyle and Scout took it easy, with Scout taking pictures of about 500 chipmunks on the way down. Dally and Calhoun opted for a slightly faster pace.
Tuesday, July 31
Julie and Dal did a 3-hour horseback ride, starting from the Copper Creek trailhead. Their guide Jimmy was from Kentucky as it turned out, and liked to talk, so he and Julie got along well. Dallia on Domino, Jule on Echo, both Missouri trotters. Scout and Calhoun embarked on a cross-country mtn bike ride of the 401 trail, the classic in the area. The guidebook description:
Difficulty: Expert
Technical Skill: Expert – narrow and exposed over steep hillsides.
Aerobic Effort: High
Elevation Gain: 3000 feet.
We rented awesome bikes – Scout had a Blur XC with a carbon fiber frame, and Calhoun rode a long-travel Blur.
We left the cabin at 7:45 am to catch the free bus to the Snodgrass trailhead and started pedaling at 9. We had an 11 mile slog all the way up Gothic road to the Schofield Pass at 10,700 feet. We saw one big deer crossing the road right in front of us. At Schofield, we had a sandwich break then started up the 401 trail’s notorious switchbacks topping out at 11,400 feet.
Calhoun got carried away on the descent on part of the very exposed trail and crashed, almost sending his bike cart-wheeling down an 800 foot 45 degree slope. On the lower 401, we didn’t realize that more climbing was in store, and Scout ended up wheezing badly due to shortness of breath at that altitude. This was a serious ride. High elevation, no cell phone service, and you are not going to see many people on the trail. We saw one on the actual 401 trail the whole way down. We ran out of water about ¾ of the way down the lower section, and Calhoun became a little tense. Fortunately, we soon hit Gothic road, and a short pedal later were able to refresh at the general store with water and food. Scout writhed around on the ground for about 15 minutes while I tried to pour water into her right eye as she'd gotten some blowing sand in it. This crisis averted, we then pedaled another 7 miles ALL the way back to Crested Butte proper, and rode straight into the bike shop at 4:20pm to drop off our thrashed bikes.
Wednesday, August 1
We all did a 5-hour horseback ride into Oh Be Joyful area. Talkative Jimmy was our guide again. We ascended all the way above the treeline to a bowl-like area, with high ridges on almost all sides. We saw numerous Elk on the ridges, Marmots, and even a little black bear. Calhoun was un-prepared for the level of discomfort he encountered. His knee in particular was a problem, and he was horribly saddle sore after the ride. He did admit at one point however that it was a very nice way to take in the scenery, as you could just let your horse do all the navigation while you gazed around, slack-jawed at all the beautiful views. Hot tub for everyone following our ride, then a leisurely dinner of pasta. Later on, everyone picked up bikes again from the Alpineer, and Scout, Dallia, and Calhoun first rode down Elk Street to say hello to cousin Kathryn, then over to the local Pump Track to work in some jumping, and show the locals how to ride. Scout was now on a different bike, a Santa Cruz Julianna. she seems to think she might be getting one of those so was "test riding" it.
Thursday, August 2
Julie and Dallia did a nice scenic Mountain Bike ride on the Lupin Trail, then lthe ower loop back to town and then the cabin. Scout and Calhoun caught the bus up to the ski area, and rode the downhill trails on the ski mountain. Frequency, Awakening. Saw more wildlife from the lift, marmots, a coyote. Unbelievably fun downhill trails, yet you can get in over your head fast. Unfortunately, we were involved in 2 incidents. One, Scout ran over a chipmunk at speed, and Calhoun had to turn around and put the poor guy out of his misery. Total carnage. Two, we came upon an incident where a middle-aged Dad had lost it over a jump. When we arrived a couple of folks were attending to him, but he was face-down in the trail, not moving much, and we could see blood where his head was. We conferred briefly with the bystanders, then agreed we would head down as quick as we could and inform the lift operator of the situation. Calhoun in his hurry short-cutted and dropped down the latter part of one of the black diamond trails, and almost put himself over the bars going down one of the big man-made drops. Last we heard, the injured rider was at least sitting up, and we surmised that he had probably at the very least broken his nose.
Later that evening, cousin Kathryn Johnson brought over a bottle of wine and we all enjoyed takeout from the Sherpa Cafe.
Skate Park
Pump Track
Walking and riding around town.
Restaurants, friendly service and folks everywhere.
Bears raiding trashcans in the alley behind our cabin.
Friday, August 3
Overnight, a bear had jumped our fence and mauled our herbie kerbie in an effort to get it open, even though there was nothing much inside.
Jule and Dally got up early for their, unbelievably, third trail ride. They left at 7:45am for Almont, and Harmel Ranch, for a multi-hour trail ride through Taylor Canyon. They were lucky enough to be put in an advanced group, and were able to do lots of cantering on this ride. Dally was all grins.
Scout and Calhoun had a more leisurely morning. They got ready, then first pedaled over to the skateboard park, and tried riding their bikes in and out of the empty swimming pool there. That was very fun. Out of time, they rode over to Jeff's house where they met up with Jeff and Kathryn, then took off on a riding loop of Jeff's design. They pedaled right out of town, up the mountain to the ski area and kept on going up to Snodgrass. From there, right onto some unknown road, then a single-track trail switchbacking right up the face of the ski slopes to the top of the Painter Boy and Gold Link lifts. A tough climb. After a brief respite, we took a blue trail called Meander and eventually ended up back at Snodgrass, whereupon we all bombed the road down to SaddleRidge, then rode the Lupin Trail, and then Lower Loop back to town. 23 Miles, 3.5 hours. Full credit to Jule and Dally, as the Lupin trail had a couple of technical sections very high up on a bluff where a spill would have been serious, in addition to some fairly hard climbing. We underestimated their ride the other day. We took a break at Jeff's house, then headed straight for Camp 4 Coffee, and a massive iced latte for Calhoun and Smoothie for Scout. Later in the day, while walking down Elk street perusing the Art festival, Calhoun thought he was about to pass out. We think he didn't eat quite enough following his 2nd big ride of the week. We all walked down to the park and Calhoun relaxed while everyone else threw the frisbee, with Mt. CB looming overhead. That evening, after dinner, a nice leisurely walk down Elk street perusing the art festival goings on, and eating ice cream while watching the sunset.
Saturday, August 4
Sadly, it was time to leave CB. We packed up, did laundry, cleaned up, loaded the red Impala, and pointed ourselves towards Denver. A mere 4.5 hours later, we arrived at the Marriott City Center. The Sage's minion, in town for a Rockies game, stopped by for a beer with The Sage in the hotel bar, and then walked back over to the ballfield forthwith. We went out to dinner at the Appaloosa Grill, where we ate outside and were entertained with various street performers while we ate our dinner. For example, we learned how to extricate ourselves from a straightjacket.
Sunday, August 5
We flogged the red Impala onwards toward the airport, ditched it at EZ Car Rental, then flew to Detroit. We then had the pleasure of waiting hours for our delayed flight down to Asheville. Fortunately, we were able to spend time with uncle KC and aunt Erin. The Detroit airport has a nice attached hotel so we met them in the restaurant/bar and caught up while eating brick-oven pizza. After a late but uneventful flight, we touched down in Asheville, drove back to Taylors, and were all asleep by 1:00am.
Big Trip - Done.