Crested Butte in the Summertime

Our arrival in Crested Butte that afternoon was marked by a sun-shower and a remarkable rainbow that arched over the mountain (from our vantage point). You could even see where it "touched down"!

The next day, we jumped in to the Crested Butte trail scene with both feet, riding the Green Lake Trail. 1 hour, 45 minutes of climbing; 37 minutes of descending. Plenty of rocks and roots to keep things interesting. *phew*

No, Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas (or in this case, Texas) anymore.

We were able to ride right from our door, using the concrete path down to town. (The trailhead is just on the outskirts.) That did mean more climbing right at the end of the ride, but the views were lovely.

And yes, you will have to put up with lots of flower pics. Deal with it.

The next day we did a trail run at the Oh-Be-Joyful Trail. That was such a scenic spot! Several waterfalls could be seen in the distance, from the snow melt. The trail ran parallel to a creek much of the way. And the wildflowers were in abundance.

Our next day was to be the "epic" one, with a substantial ride followed by a substantial run. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. But we did get to experience the main part of 401, which is a lovely trail in its own way. Even the climb on the road is scenic. Unfortunately, the descent isn't recorded in pictures very well, as we were trying to out-ride the rain (and some thunder). After we finished with 401, we headed on up to higher ground and did a little hiking (it was too slippery to run) at West Maroon Pass. Again, the flowers were incredible. But this time the thunder was a bit too close, and our time on the trail was shorter than we had hoped.

We decided to spend our last full day exploring a couple of trails that don't see much use. And as it turns out, they have no trail markings! No matter. We found our way.

We started with Wildcat Trail, which takes a very direct way up and over a ridge to hook up with the upper part of Green Lake Trail. It's kind of a put-your-head-down-and-climb ascent, but the scenery at the crest was glorious. And of course, Green Lake is beautiful. We went back down the same way, then drove out to Irwin Lake to do Scarp Ridge and take in the highest scenery of our trip.

Once you leave the lake, the area around Scarp Ridge Trail is littered with exploratory holes blasted into the ground in the 1800s by prospectors. And of course, as we climbed higher, the views were stupendous. Wow. Impressive stuff.

And then it was our last morning; we had to depart at midday. So we did another ride from our door, heading down the concrete path toward town, observing those same low-lying clouds photographed by Clay. The trail provided a great recovery spin, with a limited amount of climbing (and slippery, rocky, rooty spots--which the guy from Pennsylvania was loving!). And, of course, lots of great scenery, both on the trail and along the concrete path.

Thank you, Crested Butte, for sharing your beauty, your challenges, and your charm.

Nice stuf SW, thanks for the Passion hit :thumbsup: The scenery can be a bit daunting and cause you to loose the ride for wanting to keep taking pics every few feet - I know, been there, done that but it's something that's hard to help when it's your first visit. Ain't the feeling in your lungs just so nice when you reach that Schofield pass sign: :skep: Holly cow it's just lung busting, but so worth it. Love'd that 401 trail.