Western Slope

Western Slope road trippin’

Published September 2, 2017

Louisville ⇨Valley View Hot Springs

Labor Day: unofficial start to Autumn. For us snow lovers…almost made it thru another summer 🙂

3 day holiday. Staying ‘local’ this year, road trippin’ Colorado’s Western Slope. Trip highlight: hiking in scenic Telluride – yep, another high-elevation ski town mountain-etched by massive canyons [the San Juans]. Aspen, Crested Butte & now Telluride – been an outstanding Colorado summer.

Friday 5pm. Work ends, holiday begins.

Packed, picked up the Pup, on the road by 6 – along with most of my Front Range neighbors. Argh. Camping holiday. Needed to check into my site by 10pm. Valley View folks were mighty nice to hang around ‘til 20-past. Otherwise would have started my adventure with a hefty night hike, parked on the wrong side of a chained cattle-gate. As it was, struggled to pitch-tent in the dark. Mighty remote.

Woke Saturday morning to quiet Colorado paradise. Dry arid landscape, mix of evergreen & cacti. Natural hot springs tucked between the Great Sand Dunes & Gunnison National Park. Hiked thru fields of sunflower, lapsing 30-45 minutes at each naturally heated pool. Meadow Pond, Waterfall Pond, Top Pond, Party Pond…whole lotta warm-water bubbling.

Pupster begged, no one around. I relented. Happy dog-paddling pup.

Valley View Hot Springs ⇨Telluride

Our most remote ponds are up a short, but steep trail. Most take about twenty minutes to trek the ¼ mile trail to the Top Ponds. Guests agree these peaceful, bubbling warm waters make it the trip well worthwhile. It’s a series of three (almost four) ponds flowing one into the next. The top-most pond fills about two feet deep and offers ample space to find a corner to one’s self. Its water cascades down to join more warm source water beneath a large tree providing shade throughout the day. Water temperatures vary dramatically as these ponds mix with more snow-melt and runoff than our other sources. In recent months, temperatures ranged from 98°F to 107°F.

Showered, on the road by 1pm. Quick detour in Villa Grove. Small 3-building town – but one of those buildings advertised pie. Never miss an opportunity for pie ❤

3 hours of winding byway. Poncha Springs, Gunnison, fuel/sanity break in Montrose. Ridgway, Placerville, Sawpit, Telluride. Campground, no room in the Inn. Soooo many people…Telluride Film Festival. Who knew?

Opted to drive toward Bridal Veil Falls – tomorrow morning’s hike launch. Mile-half of dirt & boulders (4WD trek). Secured an overnight pull-off, clouds grayed, evening skies opened. RAIN. Car-camped high above Telluride. Nite 2 elevation: 10,000ft+.

: mix of evergreen & cacti

: natural hot springs tucked between Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes & Gunnison Nat’l Park

: Happy Pup ❤

: Hot Springs Canyon

: I spy PIE

: blackberry – YUM!

: cowboy DEER roping?

: Ridgway ⇨Sawpit ⇨Telluride

: Film Festival, who knew?

: San Miguel County Courthouse

: Festival foot traffic: Ethan Hawke sighting (not pictured)

: Bridal Veil Falls Trailhead

: tomorrow we HIKE

Posted in Western Slope | Tagged backpacking, hiking, night-sky | Leave a comment

Rocky Mountain High

Published July 3, 2017

Whole lotta, whole lotta going on yesterday.

Today: new town, new adventure. Eased into the morning with a skillet breakfast at McGill’s – “the” place for a.m. grub in Crested Butte. Diner breakfast in the high mountains. PERFECT day start. Highly recommended 🙂

Walking tour of downtown: Town Hall, the Trading Post, historic Rock School Building (circa 1883, now houses the community library) – AND a museum. FAAAANNNTASTIC!

[History nerd alert] When the railroad extended from Gunnison, modern-day Crested Butte was born – a vital link for 3 neighboring boom towns (all since deserted), providing supplies/necessities, transporting silver back to Denver. Early 1900’s living, mighty tough at 10,000ft. “Nine months winter and three months company.” Another fave: “This is God’s country but He doesn’t live here in winter.” LOL>

Read ‘bout Colorado’s largest mine disaster, Jokerville mine. Gas explosion killed 60 miners, the site never reopened. Read ‘bout the town’s transformation into a ski destination. Had the place to myself – the ONLY tourist this day. NO regrets!

HIKE fail, dirt-road DRIVIN’ dream

High noon: started the 3 ½ hour drive to Aspen. Yep, original plan was to hike over the Pass, spend the night in Crested Butte, then return hike the following day. Sooooo my hotel reservation tonite was back in Snowmass Village.

Not ideal folks, but only serving lemonade today, no more lemons 🙂

Scenic dirt-road tour of Gunnison Nat’l Forest, over Kebler Pass, thru the Grandfather Aspen – NEVER seen so many Colorado Aspen. WOW!

Stopped at the reservoir spillway in Paonia State Park.

Visited Redstone’s historic ‘beehive’ coke ovens. Built in the 1890’s to carbonize or “coke” coal mined nearby, product was later loaded onto rail cars. Laugh if you will but MIGHTY interesting stuff – unlike the museum earlier, was not the only car to stop. LOL>

Rolled into Aspen late afternoon. Window-shopped, toured downtown, watched kids play in the town fountain. Fancy trout dinner (local catch). YUM!

Back home tomorrow, Independence Day cookout on Ash’s grill – but not before an hour solitude/a walk-about in John Denver Sanctuary. LOVE LOVE my Colorado life ❤

He climbed cathedral mountains, he saw silver clouds below

He saw everything as far as you can see

And they say that he got crazy once and he tried to touch the sun

And he lost a friend but kept his memory

Now he walks in quiet solitude the forest and the streams

Seeking grace in every step he takes

His sight has turned inside himself to try and understand

The serenity of a clear blue mountain lake

And the Colorado rocky mountain high

I’ve seen it raining fire in the sky

You can talk to God and listen to the casual reply

Rocky mountain high (Colorado)

: “the” place for a.m. grub

: Trading Post

: Rock School Building, circa 1883

: had the place to myself – the ONLY tourist this day

: Jokerville Mine Disaster

: ski destination transformation

: Colorado Aspen ❤

: reservoir spillway

: Redstone’s historic “beehive’ coke ovens

: built in the 1890’s to carbonize or “coke” coal mined nearby

: Independence Day weekend

: Rocky Mountain High

Posted in Western Slope | Tagged museo | 1 Comment

Aspen to Crested Butte

Published July 2, 2017

Holiday weekend. Add Monday as a vacation day & suddenly you’re 4 days from the office. Mentally scheduled this weekend’s trek a year ago, when PS’ CEO (my employer) made the journey. Hotels in two towns – both sides of this epic mountain crossing adventure.

Aspen to Crested Butte.

By car it’s a 3 ½ hour drive. On foot, one can be there in under 8. Waist-high fields of wildflower. Hike start at Maroon Bells, Colorado’s most photographed peak. Sign me up!

Lazy morning start, couldn’t drop Pup at the kennel ‘til 9am. Lunch in Georgetown, Hwy 24 south to Leadville, west over Independence Pass (open ‘til October or first snow). Late afternoon arrival in Snowmass Village, 20 minutes from downtown Aspen (& much better on the pocket book). Carb- loaded for dinner. Hiking all day tomorrow, why not? 🙂

Sunday morning. What I didn’t know? Only access to Maroon Bells trailhead [in summer] is by bus. No cars allowed. No drama, surprises happen…but later trail start than expected.

Maroon Bells. Never been in summer. Trees all leafed out, lush meadow undergrowth – whole lotta green. Maroon-Snowmass Trail #1975 to Crater Lake, 1.4 miles. Busy hike path. Trek canopied in Colorado Aspen. BEAUTIFUL!

Snapped photos & snacked at Crater Lake. Couple of hikers shared their topo map (thanks!) – soon after, switched trails. Next landmark: West Maroon Pass. Path broke from rock to mud. Long patches of pack snow. Continued to lose trail, backtrack, regain trail. Snow-melt waterfalls, beautiful landscape though sometimes frustrating process to maintain forward momentum.

Biggest trail miss? Came across a large swath of glacier remnant & fresh snow. Fast-moving water rushed underneath weakening the base, making it precarious to cross. Trail couldn’t be on the other side, right? Bush-whacked 45 minutes (half-mile) UP UP thru dense willow & snow-covered pine. Zero path, nada. Continued to push thru thicket, trek UP/over, listening for human sound. SUCCESS! Group of 6 hikers stopped for lunch high ‘bove a scenic glacier – unfortunately not trekking to Crested Butte, not on trail. ARGH! Obliged to snap a group photo, then far far in the distance saw 2 hikers snow-crossing. TRAIL! Backtrack, restart.

Most harrowing water crossing? Used a fallen pine to ford West Maroon Creek. Fast-moving waist-deep water. How cold would a complete submersion be? Yep, that thought entered the brain. Slow & steady. Luckily, no drama 🙂

Elevation increased, temps dropped. Deep shoe-sucking mud, emptied into seasonal streams, trail ultimately lost under pack snow. Snaked thru a large boulder field, cairn-marked between competing 13- & 14er peaks. Less than a mile UP to West Maroon Pass, then another 4 [miles] down to the trailhead. Transport on the other side leaves at 4pm – mighty tight timing. Yikes!

Dark clouds from the West. Weather change.

Passed a guided group of climbers; they had turned back. 20 feet of snow at West Maroon Pass. IMPASSABLE.

15 minute discussion with my hiking mate. [good/bad trait] I’m a determined, focused individual – not easy to redirect once I’ve got a game plan cemented in the head. Lost the battle today; turned around we did. In hindsight OF COURSE we had no choice…but at the time, disappointment overwhelmed any happy endorphins. Hiked a good 2 miles in silence.

This too shall pass. AND it did ‘bout the time we reached Crater Lake.

Caught the return bus back from Maroon Bells, headed back to my Snowmass digs – hoping to find a spot in the Inn. 3-day holiday weekend, not a chance. Nor another hotel in Aspen…or Snowmass Village…or Carbondale…or Glenwood Springs (an hour out).

Of course I DID have a hotel reservation tonite – in Crested Butte, 3 ½ hours away by car. Fueled up, purchased a bag of gas station snacks. All part of the journey. 9:30pm rolled into my HIKE destination.

New town, new adventure awaits in the morning 🙂