April Stop: Crested Butte, CO

This quaint and quirky ski town was exactly the switch up from Denver that we were looking for.

We didn’t get to enjoy the Wildflower Capital of Colorado, but we did get to enjoy the snow!

If you drove ten minutes outside of the main town area, past a couple pastures, you would get to our AirBNB in Crested Butte South where we stayed for all of April.

We hit the ground running our first day there by grabbing dinner in the historic downtown section. Dinner at the Public House was a great first start with bustling activity and hearty food.

As our stay progressed, we got to try lots of amazing food from Secret Stash (the world famous pizza joint), IZAKAYA CABIN (mouth watering sushi), Tully’s (our local wing spot), Himalya Food (a cute restaurant inside The Eldo Brewery), and more.

The smaller town with a population of roughly 1600 definitely surprised us with its food and bar scene.

One of the best parts of the trip was getting to share it with one of our best friends. And it got even sweeter when we woke up to fresh powder for our snowboarding Saturday. Crested Butte is an extreme mountain regardless of sun or snow; being over 12,000 ft in elevation, it’s the birthplace of inbound extreme skiing and a mountain biking bucket list item.

On the mountain, we got to experience extreme terrain, whiteout conditions, and end-of-season celebrations. Our lunch break was spent watching the pond skim where people plunged in freezing water in the pursuit to make it safely to the other side of the pond. I have to give them props because I would’ve frozen!

The mountain was an absolute blast though. I’ve never shredded steeper or scarier trails than on Crested Butte, talk about adrenaline rush. I’m so thankful our best friend got to experience it with us, even though he was heckled on the T-Bar. Also, a quick shout out to Paradise Cafe for nursing us back to health the following morning.

Another incredible part of this stay was the stories I was lucky enough to write about.

I started with a profile piece about the Prices and their sweets business, Tin Cup CB. Their story was so fun, and it seemed to tell a common community story of being drawn to Crested Butte for its uniqueness and authenticity. My love for ice cream brought me in their door, but their story got my attention. My article about the Prices is pending publication, so it is mentioned in my “Projects” section of this site. I include an introduction to the story there.

My next piece happened to be right down the road! Roaring Judy State Fish Hatchery was off the main highway, but it was definitely on my radar. If you know about my focus or read my “About” section, you know I try to reduce the communication gap being the agriculture community and the public. A fish hatchery may not seem like an obvious agriculture operation, but they are raising animals that impact the land and economy of the area. I got to meet amazing employees of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife who helped educate me about the hatchery, the environment, and the economic impacts of the angling industry in Colorado.

Two highlights for me were getting to hand feed hundreds of fish and seeing the staff release 3.1 million kokanee salmon into the East River.

This story is in the process of publication as well. I have an introduction to it in the same “Projects” section along with my two other Crested Butte articles.

Speaking of my third article, this one dealt with how ranchers in Gunnison County are adapting to the increase in recreation. I had an amazing time speaking with the ranchers to learn about their stories and struggles. I also spoke with people involved with recreation organizations and other stakeholders. One of the many reasons why Crested Butte is unique is because of the intersection of ranching, recreation, and wildlife on public lands. People have to share this finite resource, and conversations are strained. I will update you all when this story gets published, but feel free to read the small intro in my “Projects” section.

While I worked on my articles, I made sure to find changes of scenery so I could still explore our area. My favorite spot in town was a cute little combination of a book store and coffee shop, each named Townie Books and Rumors Coffee and Tea House.

I went there quite a few times to work on my articles, journal with some coffee, and buy books next door.

Since we are on the topic, another fun local spot was Butte Bagels where specialty bagel sandwiches fill the menu.

I sadly couldn’t try any because they didn’t have a gluten free option, but Connor said they were delicious.

When we chose Crested Butte, we didn’t realize the town shuts down for “mud season” after the mountain resort closes for the winter. Lots of businesses closed after the first weekend of April and wouldn’t reopen until a date in May, and most people in town leave for at least a week if not longer. So, we visited during their off season between the busy winter and summer seasons. It was really interesting to be there when it was like a ghost town because we got to see what life was really like for the locals without the crazy tourism spikes. I haven’t lived anywhere that was so dominated by tourism, so this was super unique for me.

Even though the mountain closed after April 7th, we still hit the slopes a couple weekends later at Monarch Mountain about an hour away.

I absolutely loved this mountain with its super wide runs, fun tree routes, and pretty views. One of the best parts was the lack of other people there, it felt like we had the mountain to ourselves. We had so much fun here too.

Along with the two board trips, we spent our weekends hiking as soon as the trails opened up for summer season. I loved going to Hartman Rocks because there were trails galore and you could find really cool routes through rock formations. If I was a more experienced climber, we could’ve bouldered there all day. The picture below is one of the views!

Another enjoyable hike was Caves Trail only a five minute drive from our spot. This one was short, but very steep, my calves were feeling it. The fun reward at the top is a view of the valley and two funky cave structures in the rock face. The photo for this view is below.

We attempted another trail called the East River Trail which seems to be beautiful in the summer. Our hike was a little more labored since we were wading through snow the whole time, our poor boots were five pounds heavier by the time we finished. I would definitely try this hike again after mud season.

I did absolutely love the snow in Crested Butte though, as long as we weren’t hiking through it. The first week we were there, the snow was deep and the roads were icy, but as April continued, everything thawed out. The rest of the month we would get snow overnight which would melt around noon the next day, it was perfect. I loved my morning walks through our snowy neighborhood.

100/10 I would go back to CB. The views are stunning, the people are welcoming, the town is cute, and there are outdoor activities galore.

I’m hoping to go during summer next time to enjoy the wildflowers and river rafting. Thank you Crested Butte, CO, we had the best time!

For those of you following Princess during this adventure, here is the update: she is doing great! She loved laying in the sun in our AirBNB in CB, the awesome windows let in a ton of light for her.

She still hates the car and gets very car sick, so the mountain roads to and from CB South were taxing for her. But overall, she’s still adorable and attitudey!