day 15…7.29
Last night when I got back to camp, there were 3 vehicles in the camp spot next to me…two camper vans & one car with a tent set up. There were 3 families with little kids, bikes, coolers…a whole bunch of stuff….but it’s a pretty good size camping spot…there was still enough room for me to back up my car in between the two sites (& for all the other cars that come down our dead end road looking for camping & needing to back up). But when I woke up this morning, there was another camper van tucked right in between us all…it was getting cozy at camp! I knew I would be leaving for Denver today & therefore my campsite would be empty overnight…not a great thing on crazy-Friday nights. I decided I’d go meet my ‘family-neighbors’ & just deal with it….I wondered if more camper vans were coming. Before I did that though, I moved my car up & set up the screen tent next to Danny’s tent; giving us a little more room. As it turns out, the middle of the night camper van that arrived, didn’t belong to the families. After a couple of hours went by in the morning, it’s engine started & it drove away…none of us ever saw the man or woman get out. Kind of weird!
As I was drinking my coffee, I saw these deer come down for their morning drink in the river…sweet!
I was debating to possibly not go hiking & just stay in camp & ward off all the people zooming into camp trying to find a spot. But then I decided to just let it go….& go on a hike. I chose a hike Jill & I had done a couple of years ago 16 miles out on Kebler Pass. I’d be going that way to Carbondale after the hike, so it was on the way & a fairly short hike of 3 miles; necessary today since I’d had a lot planned. The trail is called Three Lakes loop. However when Jill & I went on it, we never found the the trail to the third lake…PS: The first lake is called Lost Lake, but it was actually the third lake that we lost! (ha ha). But this time I found the trail, the third lake & therefore the loop! It was a beautiful morning, I was so happy to be hiking & glad to not be worrying about whatever craziness was going on in camp!
After the hike, I drove the rest of Kebler Pass…loving to see one of the largest Aspen groves in the world. Then headed north up the highway to Carbondale & to their Mountain Festival. I love art fairs & also was going to drop something off for Kate who had a booth at this fair. I parked & walked to the festival which had only been open about a couple of hours. There were fun things for kids to do & lots of really cool art booths too. I found Kate, gave her the item she’d forgotten, looked around & then took off for Denver along I-70. Wow…it was a crazy drive. It’s definitely not my fave way to get to Denver. I was glad I wasn’t headed west bound because there was a ‘boat’ issue which closed the highway for about 20 miles. People were literally partying outside of the cars with each other…they knew it would be a long wait. I saw a tractor trailer that had caught on fire going east. One crazy thing after another.
I was trying to get to REI before they closed for a piece of gear I really wanted & a couple of other things I thought I might want. Normally so helpful, they were out of everything & the guy helping me was no help at all. That’s how it goes sometimes…I would just do without. I drove up to Hops & Pie & in about 5 minutes scored a place at the bar. I had a FANTASTIC Cuban sandwich & three tasters of beer…I love this place! Then I had to go to the ‘dreaded’ gross store (my term for grocery store) to buy food for us at camp. It was about 11pm before I got to the Denver Airport & found my place to park for the night in the cell phone lot & wait for Danny’s arrival tomorrow! I’M SO EXCITED HE’S COMING OUT HERE!
day 16…7.30
Today would be my first ‘zero hike’ day since arriving in CB a couple of weeks ago. Danny’s flight landed & I swooped him up & we took off to Snooze for breakfast. I think this is such a fun place to eat & the food is really yummy…he’s never been here before & I wanted him to experience it. After a full big breakfast, we took off through the endless suburbs of Denver & headed toward Crested Butte by way of South Park…a place I think is so very, very, beautiful. It seemed like it took forever to get there, but we finally made it around 2pm. We went to camp first thing to see if all was good & happily it was. We moved the tent to a different spot, then Danny went to work making the inside his home for the next week. I’d bought him a new camping mattress again this year …..actually, it was one of those Bali Beach couches. So, that was the first thing he tried out. It looked comfy & like it was going to work great…finally, he’d be comfortable sleeping in the tent.
He’d been up since 3:30am & was pretty tired. It seems he’s been pretty exhausted all summer, but as the evening wore on he was starting to feel the effects of the altitude too. We decided just to stay in camp for the evening. I made red pepper & black bean quesadillas, then we built a fire & made s’mores. (Not being the s’more expert that I am, he was making a mess with his marshmallow!)
By late in the evening we were both ready to turn in…I had only gotten about three hours sleep last night too. He was seeming to feel worse as the evening went on, but we’d both hoped he’d be ready to embrace all that’s Colorado tomorrow. One thing was for sure, we were both happy to be together! (Although the verdict on the new mattress was still out….I could hear him wrestling it inside the tent. From then on I referred to it as the Red Monster.)
day 17…7.31
Danny usually hits the trail right off the bat when he gets here; altitude has never really been a problem. But, he wasn’t feeling that great this morning. We decided we’d take an easy hike…it’s about 3 miles, but mostly flat with a beautiful view of the East River Valley. Most of the trail is an old jeep road, so we could walk side by side & visit. The skies grew dark at one point, but they stayed dry & storm free as we strolled along the path. It was a perfect first hike.
We drove into town & to the Brick to split a burger & see what good beer they had. I’ve told all my friends in town Danny was coming today. Some already know him & some don’t, so he met some new people & greeted some he’d met before. While we were just finishing up, a friend of mine from Bike & Beer Wednesday in Lawrence, Jeff, who comes to CB to mountain bike, popped up & said “I knew I’d find you here!” (Funny, since I was sitting here at the Brick’s bar one day last June, when Jeff & friend popped in!) We’d been in touch earlier in the week, so I knew he was coming at some point. He was trying to decide if he was going to camp or stay at the hostel. He followed us out to camp so I could show him where the dispersed camping was, & the three of us shared a beer & chatted. Then it started to rain & rain. It didn’t take Jeff too long to decide on a warm, dry place over setting up his tent in the went chilly campsite. We said good bye & he took off to someplace drier!
(PS: the label of the beer says, “Pairs well with cloud watching”….I thought so too!)
(PSS: The Red Monster deflated last night. After more attempts to get additional air in it, one chamber seemed to be leaking faster than the other. We took his last year’s mattress out of the 4Runner & folded up the Red Monster (hopefully to return) & replaced it with the camping mattress! Awwww….I wished it had worked!)
day 18…8.1
Danny was feeling good this morning! Yeah! So, we took off on an exploratory hike. Danny gets to do these a lot. Since, I am too chicken to go off-trail & bushwhack by myself (& he really doesn’t want me doing this either), I wait until he gets out here & we go together. However, these usually end up as fairly hard hikes. I was on the search for Virginia Basin. I’d seen photographs of it before & had found it on a map & even asked a few people about it. But the info was sketchy at best, but we decided that would be our hike for today. We started on the lower part of the 401 & took it through the trees & gradually up & over the big wash. The we took a side trail that headed up the mountain, however by this point we were on the wrong side Avery mountain. We decided we’d just keep exploring & eventually found an old cabin or structure & also the end of the trail. I guess I didn’t take too many photos…we had this great view of Gothic mountain across the valley...
And we also found these three large holes dug recently by a bear…YIKES…the claw marks!
But, we never found Virginia Basin ( I kept saying, “Virginia, where are you? There was no answer.) Danny was still feeling great, so we took off for another hike…one of his favorites, the No Name trail. I’d been up here earlier this trip to hike both this & the 403, but I love it too, so was happy to hike it again with Danny.
I found these flowers here I’ve never seen before…they were just growing in this one spot…no where else that we could see on the mountain.
The he decided we’d go ahead & hike the top of the 403 as long as we were up here. I’d seriously not planned to do a ton of hard hiking today, but he was up for it, so we did. He’s a happy hiker too!
Virginia Basin is over there somewhere to the right of Avery Mountain (the big red one)….someday I’ll find it!
The Memorial Bench…always a great photo op!
We were definitely done hiking for the day. The free concert in the park was tonight, & we had just enough time to go buy ice, & head to the park. The skies were looking iffy, but it turned out to be a gorgeous night & the music was really good!
Just a little light shines on Mt. Crested Butte.
We finished off the evening with a slice of pizza & beer at the Brick, then headed back to camp for a good nights sleep.