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Oklahoma! Not just an amazing musical.

So many cliff dwellings…they must have seen them on Instagram or something.

Ouray or the (Million Dollar) Highway

Okay, so the Black Canyon is really pretty black

Previous trip recaps, so please check them out.

This is the continuation of a trip Louie and I took in May/June through New Mexico and Colorado. My goal for the trip was to visit some places we had never been, or some places we had never been together.

When we left off we were leaving the South Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Now, there are two things I loved about this trip: 1) none of the drives between places were very long and 2) all of the drives were absolutely gorgeous and stunning and awe inspiring.

From the Black Canyon we headed to Gunnison first (yesterday I misspoke and said Gunnison when I meant Montrose: I have corrected that, but I’m clarifying in case you read yesterday) through the National Curecanti Recreation Area. As expected and enjoyed, this was a delightful drive. We did have to sit through some construction, probably about 30 minutes waiting for a one way road to go our way, but it was fine and we continuing listening to a podcast about Shackleton and his adventures in Antarctica. It is important to note that anytime we experienced the slightest amount of hardship such as cold, tiredness, etc, we compared it to Shackleton, exclaiming that we knew exactly how he felt! In any case, we continued on our route.

At the Visitor’s Center in Black Canyon I had picked up a hiking brochure and chosen a short hike along our route called the Neversink Trail in order to get out of the car a bit and also explore this part of the country. It was only about a 1.5 mile hike, so it seemed perfect to stretch our legs.

However, after walking for about 5 or 10 minutes, the trail was flooded out, so we had to turn back. Oh well!

So, we hit the road again. It should be mentioned that we passed some cool places and several campgrounds that would be worth visiting by me or someone else.

Anyway, next we got to the town of Gunnison. It looked pretty cute and we were hungry, so we parked, and wandered over to a place called the Sherpa Cafe for some indian food. It was really tasty! After that it was only about a 30 minute drive up to Crested Butte. Again, this was an absolutely gorgeous drive.

We were only staying in Crested Butte for one night–it was a later addition to my itinerary, and in retrospect I wish we had stayed there longer and skipped the next part but I really did want to see the Royal Gorge Bridge (another day, I’ll tell you later). We checked into the Old Town Inn and got settled and then headed out again.

We thought we would drive around a bit and get our bearings and then find a short hike. We ended up driving up a wonderful gravel road called Gothic Road for several miles and enjoying the amazing views.

Finally we got to a little town, with signs about scientists.

We saw a little visitor’s center and popped in and talked with a friendly woman about the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory and all the things they do there, studying the Rocky Mountains all summer long! It was really cool to learn about. Shortly past there the road ended (for now) as it was too snowy, so we walked up a ways and then decided to head back down to town.

I’d found a nice trail on All Trails called the Woods Walk so we went to do that next. It was a beautiful hike through some aspen forests and then above a river. It ended with a place that was fairly muddy/a bit flooded, so we decided at that point we had gone far enough and turned back.

We really loved Crested Butte. We were very early in the summer season, so a lot of the hikes were still closed, but we enjoyed just walking around, and we enjoyed how NOT crowded it was. I’m sure that changes later!

We got back and cleaned up for dinner and walked into the downtown area–our hotel was on the outskirts of the downtown, so very convenient. We decided to get dinner at a cool looking Mexican place called Bonez. I would highly recommend it! We shared the “stoplight salsa” which had red, yellow (pineapple habanera) and green salsa, and I had mushroom enchiladas and both were absolutely delicious.

After dinner we went and got into the hotel’s hot tub for a bit before going to bed. The hotel was perfectly nice and quiet, and I would recommend it.

The next morning I had found a hike on All Trails that was open, so we checked out and headed there. It was called the Upper Upper Loop on All Trails, and parking was extremely limited–the lot was full at first, so we drove around a bit deciding what to do, and then finally checked back again and there was a space, so we headed out on the hike.

It was a lovely hike, with views of Mount Crested Butte and the town of Crested Butte, along with lots of birds, wildflowers, and chipmunks. We saw quite a few mountain bikers, and several other people hiking.

We decided to turn back after 1.5 or so miles, not because it wasn’t nice, but because we had gotten a later start than planned. We enjoyed hiking back and then decided to do one more short hike in a slightly different area of Crested Butte. All Trails called it the East River Hike, and it was about 3 miles round trip as well.

We made it most of the way before turning back due to some mud. I should say that I was being extra cautious about mud after slipping in it at home before the trip and hurting my knee! My knee was mostly holding up okay: it hurt most after sitting for awhile and trying to stand, so getting out of the car a lot to walk actually seemed to help the most.

The storm clouds looked to be rolling in on this hike and we did pull on our rain gear at one point. It started raining more right at the end and we ran the rest of the way to the car!

After that, we got into the car and headed south. Our next stop was Canon City to see the Royal Gorge, and I’d booked a hotel overnight again.

It was another amazing drive. We went over Monarch Pass near Salida. We got out to take a few pictures and it was freezing!

And then we drove through the Bighorn Canyon ( I swear there are several Bighorn Canyons in the country though) and saw some amazing places to camp (jealous, in retrospect, but also we HAVE camped along a highway before and it can be hard to sleep even in a beautiful setting with truck noises).

Anyway, that’s where I leave you for today. Crested Butte was gorgeous and the downtown was adorable. The ski area looked like all ski areas do, nothing special in my opinion, though if you are a skier you might love it. In any case, I highly recommend visiting!