We have been pretty boring and haven't gone far the last few weekends. But there is a reason: we have been installing a kitchen area into our mini condo up here in Crested Butte. Hopefully it will #1, make life easier for us as we will now have a full kitchen (the fridge has seen full use since we got it!) and 2, help us sell the place so we can travel more and write more in the blog!!!
This weekend we did go out for the day on Sunday though -after we watched Contador win the Tour de France of course!
We headed up the Slate River Road and parked at the Oh-Be-Joyful trail head with the intention of hiking to Blue Lake. Unfortunately we didn't get that far as it looked as if a storm was brewing and heading over the mountains, but we covered about 9 -10 miles altogether we figured at the end. The valley was beautiful and well worth the hike, even if we didn't get to our destination. This photo is heading up the valley once you have passed the Ragged Wilderness boundary marker. As is often the case, the photo just doesn't capture the beauty of the real view...
Towards the top the valley is surrounded by mountains. The trail to Daisy and Oh-Be-Joyful passes goes off to the right, and the trail to Gunsight Pass and Blue Lake veers to the left. I thought this mountain top was a pretty unusual shape.
We stopped to have a light lunch with a view of Gunsight Pass. You can't see the trail on this photo but from our vantage point, you could see it climbing steeply and heading over the ridge just to the right of the domed mountain towards Peeler Lakes - def a future back pack trip (as long as my feet can handle it!!)We didn't realize it at the time, but we were probably about half a mile to a mile from the lake, you just can't see it from below as it is nestled in a basin below Purple Mountain, probably just over the second ridge on this photo.
The wild flowers were absolutely gorgeous. There were yellow daisies everywhere towards the top (hence the name of the pass presumably), and lots of white flowers which contrasted beautifully with the pine trees. We also saw tons of this blue flower, which we think is wolfs bane. The different colours were just gorgeous - we'd love to get out and hike more in the higher elevations to see the wildflowers before they die off.
Here's Nick with a view of the ridges and Purple Mountain (I think) in the background.
And of course, no trip is complete without a little fishing!!! The brookies were jumping out of the water to hit his line...I just sat back in the sunshine and enjoyed the peace and quiet and the sounds of the water rippling over the rocks!
We had seen a sign in the camping area at the trail head that said "The cows are coming". We were still wondering what this "Crested Butte" talk meant when, low and behold, as we were driving away, there was a cattle drive moving up the valley. Guess it meant "The cows are coming"!!! I had to take a photo. I always get excited when I see a real live cowboy for some reason...I think it's something to do with the cowgirl outfit I got for Christmas one year and just loved...
Here's the view as we headed back into town. And yes, I had to ford that river to get to the trail - coming back we didn't even take our boots off - we just got wet! We'll have to start carrying our water shoes with us. These river crossings seem to be ubiquitous on our hikes this year, and they are just my favourite thing!
It just makes me smile every time I look around and see what an absolutely gorgeous place we live in...now back to that kitchen!!!
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