Crested Butte Vacation Travel Blog

The Center for the Arts offers free Monday night concerts out in the park from now until August 10th. Concerts start at 5:30pm and everyone brings out their blankets and wine. This week was the Dynamites offering some Funk and Soul music to enjoy. These events generate a great turn and a good time for all ages. For a good list of a lot of events happening in the Crested Butte area visit our "Events Calendar". For a good list of a lot of events happening in the Crested Butte area visit our "Events Calendar". For list of all the acts coming to Alpenglow visit the Center for the Arts webpage.

Well sometimes this is the Wild West out here in Crested Butte. Because of some current land disputes Strand Hill Trail has had to be re-routed. The new entrance to the Trail is by taking the Canal Trail which is a half mile further up Brush Creek Road than the old entrance. You then jump on Strand Hill Bonus Trail to make your way up to the road that leads you to the top of the famous Strand Hill downhill. The trail off of Brush Creek is now a 7.5 mile adventure. I went out to ride this "new" trail the other day for the first time and I am now starting to wonder why I have not been riding it this way from the start. It was great! The climb is now .8 miles longer and on single track instead of jeep road. The extra length in the climb also means that it is not as steep. And on top of it all, it is looking like the Brush Creek area will be hitting its wildflower peak around the first of July this year.

For more information on Crested Butte Trails click here.

There is a lot of Yoga going on here in Crested Butte and Yoga For The Peaceful tends to be in the center of it all. Whether you are really into it or just after a great stretching session you can find a class to fit your needs. Recently I have been attending "Yoga for Athletes" to help keep myself loose and my injuries at a minimum. Not having done yoga in a couple years I found the atmosphere to be relaxed, comfortable and welcoming. My class is taught my the owner, Monica Mesa, who offers a very well rounded one hour session that is the perfect ending to a day of biking or hiking for me. Check out our "Specials" page a where they are offering guests of the Purple Mountain B&B a 20% Discount on all their classes and retail items. For those of you looking for a holistic retreat here in Crested Butte, this is the perfect combination.

Teo's, as the locals call it, is a well established cornerstone here in Crested Butte. It was started in 1997 as a simple burrito/ taco counter and has become a staple in most Crestedbuttian's diet. Visitors have compared it to Chipotle but "a million times better!" A quick and inexpensive place to grab a bite to eat which can be enjoyed at one of the restaurants four tables or for take out. My favorites include the Mahi fish tacos, chicken burrito, hot tamales, and the corn salsa.

For more on local Crested Butte Restaurants visit our Crested Butte Restaurant Directory.

This was a wonderful ride! The Doctor's Park is best accessed by Taylor River Road. This trail offers a long 8 mile uphill hike or can be used as a 20 Mountain Bike loop with 12 miles of climbing 2,750 feet and an incredible 8 mile downhill. To do the loop you first start out riding up Spring Creek Road and continue this gradual climb even after it has become a dirt road. This road winds its way up Spring Creek offering great scenery and some great fishing holes for you fly fishermen out there. There is then an almost knee deep river crossing (this crossing becomes shallow later in the season) before a more challenging jeep road climb. At the top with climb mellows out as you make your way through the thick pine forest. Then you come to the single track downhill... This rollercoaster of a ride offers both smooth banking high speed sections and technical rocky sections. Because of this, I see this as an intermediate to expert trail. The trail ends with a sandy technical switchback decent back to Taylor River Road. By the end of this ride my legs were worn out from climbing, my forearms were worked from holding on to the brakes during the decent and my cheeks were sore from the permanent smile that had affixed itself to my face as I enjoyed this incredible downhill thrill ride.

For more information on Crested Butte Trails click here.

This unique place to eat is located on the corner of 4th and Elk Ave in the garden next to the Tibetan shop Mabuhay. Open for it's second summer, this food stand has quickly become a local favorite. It offers yet another wonderful addition to the foods offered here in Crested Butte. The menu is simple and the food is served from a cart located in a small rock garden with natural wood benches and tables to eat at. For a low price, one can have a unique meal in a peaceful setting. Their signs read as follows:

The Momo
Open Monday – Saturday

Menu

The Momo Plate
-6 steamed spiced ground beef dumplings served with a dipping sauce (Hot or Mild) $7.50 or $1.25 each

The Combo Plate
-Curried lentils and curried beef served over rice with 2 piece Momo $7.50

Dhal Bhat with Curried Beef
-Curried lentils and beef curried served over Basmati Rice $7.50

Dhal Bhat
-Mild curried lentils served over Basmati Rice. A simple pure vegetarian meal $6.00

Tea (Chai)
-A homemade brew of Assam tea and spices made each day, not too sweet, not too spicy And a perfect balance $1.50/cup

All Sodas and Water
-$1.00 each

For more on local Crested Butte Restaurants visit our Crested Butte Restaurant Directory.

"If I am coming to Crested Butte to mountain bike, what do I need to know?"

Crested Butte is an incredible place to ride. Your trail options are only limited to your ability and there are plenty of rides for all abilities. The season tends to start around Memorial Day and goes until the November snows. Early season has a lot of our higher trials closed, but most of the popular ones around town tend to open quickly.

Besides that there is not a lot you have to know. I am always happy to direct people out to appropriate trails for them, as are any of the bike shops in town. We even have free maps with trail descriptions and locations that are easy to follow. However, if you are like me and enjoy researching the best trails before you arrive I recommend the following:

Book- "Mountain Bike Crested Butte, Gunnison & Salida Single Track" by local rider Holly Annala

Map- Latitude 40 maps "Crested Butte Taylor Park"

(Both of which I have here as a frequently used reference source for guests.)

Often times I get guest in who choose to Demo Mountain Bikes either because they are looking into a new bike or would prefer to travel without their bikes. In this case fell free to contact me to find out which shop rents out the kind of bike you are interested in. Because Crested Butte is such a biking town, there are a lot of bikes to choose from.

As far as specific trails go, take a look through this Blog site to see information on the trails I am riding and feel free to write me with any questions. (Click on the "Add a Comment" below to do so.)

Crested Butte is wildflower heaven as best as I have ever experienced! It is know as the Wildflower Capital of Colorado and we do throw a great Wildflower Festival. However, there are a few good things to know about when you come out here in search of endless fields of flowers.

1.) It is the first of June and wildflowers are already out and growing.

2.) The Wildflower Festival is a great kick off to the biggest part of the wildflower season offering great classes, hikes and more. However, the wildflowers continue to improve throughout July. There is still plenty to see in August. Last year, with all our snow, the greatest sights I experienced where on July 30th up on the West Maroon Trail (Above Photo)(More photos are on my website under the "Summer Photos" Tab to the left hand side of the page.)

3.) We have some great naturalists here in Crested Butte that offers guided hikes and even some 4x4 tours. Take a look at Crested Butte Mountain Guides on our "Specials" Tab on the top of our website.

Feel free to ask me any questions and I will be happy to respond. (Just click on the "Add a Comment" below)

I wanted to get out and stretch my legs on some dirt roads, so I rode my bike up past Mount Crested butte out Gothic Road. This well maintained dirt road leads you up through the town site of Gothic to Schofield Pass. A good portion of this road is so well maintained that any car can drive it. After passing through the town site (currently swarming with biologists here for the summer to study the wildflowers) I road past where they are currently re-grading the road in preparation for all those who would like to drive up there this summer. No one was up there, so I decided to park my bike and hike up Trail 403. Before the high alpine snows blocked me from following the trail to the other side of the mountain, I got up to some great views and came across some good wildlife. Ruffed Grouse flew up from the trail to a tree twice as I was hiking up. I missed a good picture of one of the many Colorado Blue Birds flying around this time of year, but did get a good shot of a Red Fox on my way back home.

Only having a little bit of time and wanting to get outside for a few, I headed up to the Judd Falls Trail just north of the Town site of Gothic today. Gothic is an old mining town that is now used as a botanical research center to study the incredible diversity of wildflowers found around Crested Butte. The trail itself is a 2 to 3 mile round trip adventure that offers some great views and an enjoyable waterfall. You can extend the length of this hike by following the creek further up above the waterfall. On this particular day we were able to come across two groups of deer grazing on the hillsides.

For more information on Crested Butte Trails click here.

Marchitelli’s Gourmet Noodle has been my go to place for good Italian meals since I first started vacationing here in the mid-90’s. They offer a good variety of pastas and specials accompanied by northern Italian sauces (thicker sauces). In my experience I have always found them to offer consistently good service and consistently good food. On this particular night, they were offering a variety pasta bowl dish that allowed me to choose a couple of different pastas along with my favorite sauces. I like variety when I eat and this made for the perfect dinner.

For more on local Crested Butte Restaurants visit our Crested Butte Restaurant Directory.