Gunnison and Crested Butte

Yesterday, I drove over 300 miles on an exploratory trip over three passes to decide on my route for taking the bus to Gunnison for my niece's wedding in Crested Butte.  I invited my neighbor Darvin to join me as he had not seen these areas either and we headed out just before 9:30 -- returned to the campground around 6:30 p.m.  I drove east first to Del Norte and then north and northeast to join up to 285 going north to Saguache where we headed northwest on route 114 over North Pass and crossed the Continental Divide there.  Some 46 miles after crossing the pass we arrived in Gunnison via route 50 (on it for some 5 or 6 miles).  We looked for a Walmart store that seemingly should have been on route 50 or just off of it but, since we didn't see one, I continued on through Gunnison to check out Mesa RV Park just a few miles west of town (right on the banks of the Gunnison River).

When we drove through the town of Gunnison, I noticed route 135 in the middle of town -- the road to Crested Butte where the wedding is scheduled in late June (the 22nd).  Also, noticed the airport just on the other side of the river and just south of the town -- where my daughter will be flying into on the 19th of June.  I drove through the RV park and stopped at the office to reconfirm whether I needed to make a reservation for the time period I am looking for in June and also got directions to the Walmart store (on route 135 it turns out).  So, we headed back to route 135 and then north toward Crested Butte where we found along the way the Walmart store (really dinky) and a better food market just next door (City Market).  Darvin and I both did some shopping and put some things in a cooler and we headed north again on route 135 -- might as well see Crested Butte since we were this close.  First time either of us had been in Crested Butte and it certainly looked like snow country and most of the houses on the south side of the streets still had dirty snow piled in front of them.

During the whole trip up from South Fork and to Crested Butte, we didn't see any wildlife even though the countryside looked excellent for some and the little creek running along the winding road down from North Pass looked like it certainly should have attracted some.  After arriving in the historic section of Crested Butte, we both needed some lunch and we found a nice little bar and grill to get a hamburger (and a small draft beer for me).  Darvin had a good stiff cup of coffee.

After a satisfying lunch, I drove through a little more of the older section of town before we headed back down route 135 where I planned to head west on route 50 and connect up to route 149 at Blue Mesa Reservoir for the return through Lake City and Creede.  The reservoir looked to be way lower than I had last seen a few years ago when I was travelling with my pop-up camper but, the way the Gunnison river looked to be flowing, it should fill up some before I come back in mid June.  We'll see if that happens or not.

The scenery on route 149, proved to be quite a bit more appealling to me but, the steepness of Slumgullion Pass convinced me that this would not be the route to take with my diesel pusher.  The view of San Cristobal Lake (to the left) was beautiful and the San Juan Mountains in the distance marked the Continental Divide (western side) and we would have to cross it again as we went over the next pass (Spring Creek Pass).  As we passed the next summit, we had another spectacular view of the Brown Lakes in the valley to the south (picture below).

 

Farther on, per Darvin's direction, we took a short detour of a half mile to view some falls which were really pretty spectacular and well hidden from the road.  The nasty weather and some cold winds had us scurrying back to the Jeep rather quickly to stay ahead of what appeared to rain/snow or sleet.  We did see one healthy rock Marmot while viewing the falls -- first wildlife we had seen during the trip.  Shortly thereafter, Darvin spotted something off the road to our left and I pulled into a Forest Service dirt road where we grabbed our binoculars and watched more than a dozen Mule deer move along a hillside there.

 

Soon we were back on the road and before long, we were on a familiar section we had travelled on Thursday when we went to Regan Lake (where I caught those nice Brookies).  As we continued down the road next to the Rio Grande, we recalled the two herd of Elk we had seen on Thursday morning but, didn't spot them in the same area.  However, a little farther on, we (really Darvin again) spotted what appeared to be the same two small herds of Elk on the far side of the meadows so I pulled over to the side of the road and we grabbed our binoculars again.  This time, there appeared to be a moose also moving through the willows just beyond the Elk and soon some bigger Elk (possibly some Bull Elk) came out on the hillside above the other animals.  May need to get a stronger, spotting telescope for the distant viewing of these two herds and their companions.

 

 Won't need that for the next group of animals that we saw -- just past the cliffs known to have Bighorn Sheep, there were about a dozen of the rams right down beside the fence on the opposite side of the road.  Pretty amazing to see them that close.

 

So, after unpacking the Jeep and laying down for a few minutes, I got a pot of rice cooked up (with peppers, onions, tomatoes) and enjoyed a late dinner (one of those tasty Brookies).  I did share it with Tiger and Molly, of course.