Last weekend, Team Lazar decided to embark on their first camping adventure. What better place than the quant wildflower capital of Colorado- Crested Butte! On Friday afternoon with the Civic stuffed with camping supplies, fresh ice in the cooler, and big smiles on our faces we headed southwest. The 5-hr drive from Denver turns out to be incredibly scenic, as the highway often narrows to two lanes as it twists up and down mountains ranges, through the fertile valleys of cattle country, passing through three different national forests. We arrived in Crested Butte at about half past eight, after dust had settled over the small mountain town. We were hungry, but we didn't stop at any of the nearby restaurants, attempting to lure us in with the smells of garlic and sounds of laughter drifting through our open car windows. We were thinking, instead, about roasted franks and hot beans over a small campfire.
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| Link to Google Maps: http://g.co/maps/fhgs |
It took us another half an hour to find our final destination for the night. We were following directions from a friend, and in true Colorado dialect, the navigation descriptions went something like this:
Follow Slate Rd about 10-15 min up. You go past the big gorgeous pond, through a couple thickets of aspens surrounding the road, and then there's a relatively unmarked left turn-off down a pretty precarious road (you guys have an SUV, right?) that takes you right down to the river where the campsites are.
Since it was after dark, we felt like we had passed three various ponds and wondered if the trees we were seeing were aspens or birches (or did it matter?) and the only roads turning left were completely unmarked instead of "relatively unmarked." To make a long story short, we took a left turn after spotting most of the reference landmarks only to nearly lose the undercarriage of the car on the "precarious" parts of the dirt road (she wasn't kidding about the SUV). But as luck would have it, we ended up down by the quiet banks of the Slate River. We sat there for a while with the engine still running, staring at the silver stream before us and wondering if we should set up camp here or turn around to continue searching since we were not confident that our location was the same "x" on the map that our friend was referring us to in her directions. We couldn't see other tents or campfires. Glancing at the rocky road that we just descended from in the rear view mirrors, we decided to stay put and call this place home for the night (neither of us wanted to admit our fears that the car wouldn't make the return trip).
Our nerves quickly dissolved into giddy excitement! We were in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a star-freckled sky over our heads. The air was crisp with the night's chill but we stayed warm as we buzzed around setting up the tent, unloading the car, and hunting for dry kinder for a fire.
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| Joe and I tag teaming the tent assembly. This tent was gifted to us at our wedding (such a wonderful gift) and can be assembled in less than 10 minutes! |
Once we got the fire steadily crackling, we perched ourselves on two river rocks that Joe dragged from the banks and starting heating dinner. I would highly recommend bringing along lighter fluid for "just in case" scenarios, such as random afternoon rain showers that keep wood debris damp well into the evening hours. We passed Smokey Bear on our way into town holding a sign advertising for "moderate" risk for forest fires. Thank goodness it wasn't "high" since we quickly discovered that lighter fluid soaked pine brush takes flight quite easily in small wind gusts whiles its needles are still glowing with heat. Yikes!
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| My happy mountain man tending to his first hotdog of the evening. We decided to open a special bottle of beer that my brother, Michael, had given us back in July (The Lost Abbey Avant Garde Ale). We were saving it for a special occasion and couldn't think of a better way to appreciate a fine brew than our first camping adventure. |
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| A small, foldable grill and extendable skewers make for a luxurious outdoor dining experience. |
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| A close up of what I call, "Cowboy Cuisine". We got franks a roastin' (with no added nitrates thank you very much), bread a toastin' and a fine can a beans a boilin'. |
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| One of my favorite things: baked beans. It was even my lucky night because I caught the bacon piece. I equate that to getting the maraschino cherry in can of cocktail fruit. Anyone else with me? |
After feasting until nearly 11:00 PM, we took the empty beans and beer containers, filled them with river water and drowned our cozy campfire before retreating to our tent for the night. One of the wonderful things about Colorado is that there are no blood-thirsty or light-drunken critters, like mosquitos and june bugs, swarming around your head or your flashlights. It is like camping in the heavens! There is the risk of bigger animals. For this reason, we stored all food items in the car overnight.
The next morning, we awoke trembling with cold and fighting the cobwebs of sleep. We managed to dissemble camp by about 8:30 AM, by which point we had time to study the hiking trail maps and visually devour our campsite now that the sun was up. It really was beautiful...
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| View from the car, looking at our tent location across the Slate River. |
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| Looking downstream from our tent's perspective. We got really lucky both nights with diverted storm clouds. |
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| Lookout for what? A sign located on Slate Road. |
We drove back towards town to get to an intercetion that would lead us north down Gothic Road. This took us into along a route through another small town of Mt. Crested Butte (an appendix settlement of Crested Butte we decided) past Crested Butte Mountain flanked with ski lodging, past rural log-hut communities to a narrow dirt road skirting a large meandering stream with emerald waters. Around 9:30 AM we reached the trailhead for the "401." The 401 is a mountain biking trail starting from the lowlands between Avery Peak and Gothic Mountain and ending at the Schofield Pass. At 16 miles roundtrip, we figured we could just hike out as far as our legs could carry us, squat for lunch, and then return by mid afternoon. We ended up doing about 10 miles total, a hearty 5-hr hike! During this time we encountered four wooden bridges crossing various streams full of water from mountain snowmelt, birch tree forests, tall grasses mingling with colorful wildflowers. Being late-August, we missed the peak season for the blooms, which occur mid-July, but it was beautiful nonetheless. We stopped frequently for water and photos (such as the following).
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| After stopping in the main town of Crested Butte to refill our water supply, we wandered down the town's main street and stumbled upon a local brewery, the Eldo, with roof top patio seating. Two beers, please, for the weary travelers! |
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| "A sunny place for shady people," is what their motto is, haha. |
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| Fat, starch, and salt become the desire of post-hiking hunger. These were probably the most memorable cheesy fries I have ever had, as they were freshly cut, spread thin, and topped with aged cheddar and pepper jack cheeses until they became one gooey mass of greatness. This picture was snapped quickly before completely disappearing. |
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| Quite the popular place among locals. |
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| The last meal was complete with generous portions of hot coffee, buttered toast, homemade potato latkes, eggs and challah bread french toast. Unfortunately, we were so quick to stuff our faces that this photo came as an afterthought and only captures the last few bits. Take my word for it... soul warming. |
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| Until next time Crested Butte! Thank you for your mountains, hiking trails, and delicious food. |
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