A Day in Crested Butte

It was time to return to a little bit of civilization. We decided to go to church in Crested Butte and spend the day in the little mountain town. We went to this very cool church:

Then we headed off to the main street to see what we could find. They were having a farmers market and a car show. I really like old Mustangs and Mopars and so does my brother Alan. So these pics are for you Al:

A nice 440 Roadrunner:

This one was my favorite. A 65 Dodge Coronet with a 426 Hemi:

A 69 Mustang Boss 302:

A little rough, but one of my all time favorite cars.

My friends Mike and Des recommended a pizza place called the Secret Stash. We had to check it out.

It was very good. We met one of the owners and I could tell he took his Pizza seriously.

From there, we just walked around town and saw some local art and hit the history museum. 

Kim really liked the dragon. 

Crested Butte like many other mountain towns are thriving on tourism in the summer months. Many retirees that want to have a seasonal home have come here to live out their days. It is a beautiful place that has had a nice influx of money in the past few years. A nice place to visit, but now it is time to move on. See where we go next in the next installment of " As the Wheels Turn". Bye for now.

Cement Creek Canyon

I have been a bit behind on posting to this blog. We have found something to do each day that has kept us very busy and having fun. We have also had a few visitors which has been great. If any of you ever want to join us while we are in an area close to you, please feel free.

On Saturday August 16, I took a ride on my motorcycle. The Suzuki DR 650 is not a real dirt bike. I own a real dirt bike. I was wishing I had my real dirt bike on this trip.

I decided to pack my fishing gear on my bike and head over to the upper Taylor river via Cement Creek. It is the long way around, but that is what makes adventure.

The ride up Cement Creek was beautiful.

The road started out as a flat gravel road. That did not last long.

You can tell as I get higher it is starting to get more rocky and off camber. The road became steep and had many creek crossings. The DR was doing fine, but I had to slow down.

There were a few mountain bikes and a few ORV’s up there. I rode past a few waterfalls. It was really pretty.

As I got higher, The road got steeper.

The high alpine meadows were full of color. It was just a beautiful day.

You can click on the pictures and zoom in to get a closer look. They are pretty high resolution.

As I approached the end of the canyon, I noted there was not a way around this mountain. I was going to have to go OVER it! I got on the gas and climbed the last few pitches. I was glad I was not going to have to go down the same road…or was I? I climbed and climbed to an altitude of 12,500. Wow, that was high, but that was as far as I dare go. The small trail on the right of this picture was the only trail I could see from the top.

I was not going to take that one. So, with my street tires, I was going to have to have to go back down that mountain. I put that out of my mind for a while and just enjoyed the views.

Check out the trail across the spine of this ridge. Not this guy on a DR.

The ride down was a bit sketchy. I had to use my best braking skills. The ground was dry and was topped with gravel and did I say steep? I made it back down and all was goo for the ride back to my camp. I found out later that I missed a turn about half way up the last pitch that would have taken me over to the upper Taylor Valley. Oh, Well it was still a fun day.

Next we go spend a day in the town of Crested Butte. Tag along if you want.

Best Site Ever…

You may remember that I called the site in Pitkin the best site we ever had. I loved the laid back environment and quiet along the creek. Well, Kim came back from talking to the Camp host and told me we were moving to another site in Rosy Lane. She had a site for us along the river. Here is a picture of the new site. Site 6.

The view the other way looked like this:

The Rocks above us looked like this:

 

The river and the rocks made this just beautiful. We ate dinner outside every night because this was our view from the table:

It was just beautiful. We left the windows open each night to listen to the river rushing by. We had rafters and kayakers come by on a regular basis. We voted, and this place is now our favorite place. And once again, this had no electric or water in the sites and no dump station. The views just made up for it.

I fished the Taylor river each day. I finally hooked a fish on day 5, but he got away before I was able to get a picture of him.

I did take one day and Kim and I went up to the upper Taylor river (above the lake). This is me doing what I like:

I enjoy fishing small streams and beaver ponds. It was just beautiful up there. We were near Dorchester campground. Here is picture showing my other passion. Some guys riding dirt bikes passing on the bridge.

It was a fun day, but once again no fish caught. I saw a lunker, but I was not good enough to interest him in coming to dinner.

I did take a bunch more pictures of the rocks. This is one of my favorites:

It has been a while since I posted a sunset picture, so here is one looking over the canyon walls.

A big adventure is scheduled for tomorrow. Check back to see what happens.

Rosy Lane Campground

Our tanks were getting full, so we decided to move on from the awesome campground in Pitkin. We decided to move over by the Taylor River to Rosy Lane Campground. it was a move of all of 40 miles. That is perfect.

We pulled into the campground and wow was it pretty. Big rock canyon walls on both sides of the Taylor River. There were no riverside sites available, so we chose site 18 and got on the waiting list for a site right on the river. The camp host is one of those people that has lots of rules and looks to be a bit burned out dealing with the public. I will just leave it at that. Kim has since made nice and all is good. I just avoid them.

Here are some pics of site 18:

I woke up in the middle of the night and saw a bright light outside. It could be an alien, but no it was just the moon. It was very bright and just coming up over the canyon walls. It was beautiful and kind of spooky. This is the best shot I got of it.

The next day, I took a ride up to Taylor Park to take a look around. The ride up the canyon was fun and beautiful. I stopped at the dam and watched some guys fly fishing. Then I took some pictures of the water flowing through the dam.

Here is a picture of the high range on the other side of the dam looking out over Taylor lake.

I rode up beyond the end of the lake and checked out the upper Taylor river. I think it needs to be fished.

The ride was cut short by a rain storm. I got very wet coming back down the canyon. The funny thing is that it quit raining about half a mile from the campground and when I got there it was dry and sunny. That is Colorado mountain weather.

We stayed in site 18 for a couple of days. Check back again to find out what happened next. All I can say is it was exciting.

Ride to the Alpine Tunnel - 2 Up

Kim and I decided to take a ride up to the Alpine Tunnel. I warned her that the road was narrow and steep with a large drop off. She was game so we geared up and headed out. The ride up was really pretty.

Kim had to take some flower pictures:

The alpine tunnel is at about 11,500 ft., we are approaching tree line.

Here is a structure that they built to show the size of the tunnel.

Here are some period buildings that were restored by the Mile High Jeep Club:

The tunnel is closed off, so there is not much to see, but much of the original foundations are there for the engine house and boarding house. the tunnel was built in the 1870's and was the fast way to Buena Vista and on to Denver for Ore and other things. In the early 20 century it was used as a tourist adventure. It took two days to reach Gunnison from Denver. Many times the passengers would have to get out and help clear the tracks from snow or rock slides. The road we were riding was the original rail bed. 

The views were amazing.

After the 25 mile bumpy ride, Kim was done, so I took off on my own adventure to see the area around the Fairview mine. This is the location that some good friends of ours got engaged back in 2002. 

I also had some nice views of the Fossil Ridge Wilderness.

One last flower pic, because I like it:

There is nothing like touring the mountains on a motorcycle. you can cover so much ground and see such amazing vistas. I am glad we decided to bring the DR, so that we could do some riding together. 

After 5 nights at Pitkin we decided to move over to the Almont area. Check back to see how that move went and what we find over there. I am hoping for lots of fish pictures and maybe a fish dinner.

Lazy Saturday and some fish pictures

 

We did not get going very early on Saturday. I was fighting a cold and took it easy most of the morning. We finally decided to a walk to the store in Pitkin. It was about a mile round trip.

 

We decided to go to church in Gunnison, which was about 30 miles. The problem was the truck was still hooked up to the trailer, so we took the bike. Kind of different walking into church with our helmets and gear.

I bought my fishing license. I opted for the annual. It was $66, but I wanted the flexibility of fishing when I wanted. We then went to the park and enjoyed a decent internet connection and read. There were a few chainsaw sculptures in the park and it looks like someone is making many more.

 

Gunnison is a beautiful town.

We got home just before dark.

On Sunday, I got up and went fishing. I had to walk about 30 feet from our awesome site to make my first cast. This water is Quartz creek. I fished in the little holes and worked my way upstream. I was lucky enough to catch 5 of these little Brook Trout.

I may need a little help from the experts, is the second one a Brown Trout?

This is the view Kim had most of the day:

Have I mentioned how much we loved that site? We are now thinking this was our favorite site ever. Quiet, nice view of the creek, bathroom close by. And the interesting part, no water or electric. I think the only reason we moved on was we ran out of water after about 5 days. I don’t think I got the tank full.

You may have noticed, I have been posting a lot the past few days. I will do that when I am on the road. Part of the reason I do this is to act as a travel journal for us. I just hope you are enjoying it also.

On to our next adventure.