Campsite II Crested Butte

July 8, 2022 - We had decided to move from our pretty mountain camp in search of different species of wildflowers. By moving to a lower elevation we would be in a slightly different zone and therefore be among different flowers. We also consulted Gaiagps.com. This website shows off-road trails and public land that we can camp on free of charge.

In the morning, we packed up camp. On the previous day we had driven our Jeep on a different road out of camp without the trailer. That road was very “shelfy” and narrow with erosion along the edges. We decided to take the road we had come in on. The road we were taking started by going uphill with a steep, sharp switchback near our camp. With the trailer on the Jeep, we headed up hill and around the switchback. To our surprise, the Jeep pulled the trailer up the switchback with no drama at all.

As we bumped along the trail, all the campsites we had seen on our way in were full. We should have expected that with a wildflower festival going on. We would need to go with our second option. We headed toward the area we had found on Gaia to the southeast of Crested Butte. To reach this area we traveled through Town and entered a pretty green valley. It appeared that even Kepler was enjoying the view. He rarely seems to notice much outside the car unless it is a dog.

We hadn’t traveled far into the valley when we saw a car stopped in the road. We pulled up behind them and stopped too. Everyone got out of their vehicle. We would be here a while.

The private property in the valley was a cattle ranch and the cows were being moved to another pasture. We were behind a modern-day cattle drive. It was a bit like what you see on TV except the cows walk down the road with a fence on both sides so it was very organized. The cattle can only move along the road but they still found ways to cause trouble. They bellow, a lot. They stop to have a snack of grass in the ditch. They hide behind cars along the road. And of course they relieve themselves in the road and unfortunately on each other. Yes, we both let out a startled cry when one cow urinated on another cow’s face. Gross! Never walk too close behind a cow. The thing that I had not considered about cattle drives is cows and calves get separated in the confusion. That would account for all the bellowing. It also means the end of the cattle drive is mostly calves that are alone for the long walk.

As the cattle moved along the road we got back in our vehicles and followed. Now the Jeep needs to be washed!

Turning up a few trails we encountered “private property” and “no trespassing” signs. We would have to move on. This time heading toward Gunnison. At a much lower elevation, we turned off the highway and into a small community expecting to find more signs but only found cattle guards. We had made it on to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. The landscape was dry and mostly treeless. We only needed to find a place we liked to pull off the trail to camp.

We bumped along the road until we found a narrow trail that looked like it had not been used since last summer. The trail went up a steep hill and into some trees. If we went up the trial and there was no room to turn around we would have to back down the hill. We could continue down the main trail but at the top of the hill there were trees!

With the portable ham radio in hand, I got out of the Jeep and started walking uphill. It was a hot, long, steep walk. At the top of the hill I found a broken up fire ring. Other people had camped here. The trees would provide us with shade and there was plenty of room to turn the trailer around. But the area was sloped and I was not sure we could level the trailer. I called on the radio and said come up the hill. Then I noticed the view. That morning we had left a pretty mountain camp where we could only see the valley beside our camp. Now we were 1,400 ft lower but had a 14 mile view to the north. It was the best camp site we’ve seen. We easily leveled the trailer by parking the downhill wheel on our jack’s base and adjusted the air bags. Spreading a blanket on the ground under a tree, we sat for hours looking at the view, pointing out features to each other and watching the occasional vehicle roll by, far below us.

We had intended to move to a spot that had a different mix of wildflowers. As we ventured into the trees, we found some of the flowers we had driven by earlier in the day.

White Columbine, Aquilegia coerulea

Tomorrow we would have to go home but for now life could not be better.