It was cloudy and cool when we set out this morning, with temps in the 50s. We had breakfast at the hotel and spoke with some bikers, including 2 really nice guys from the Asheville, NC area.
Man! it's dry, dry, dry here. My sinuses and skin are dealing with it.
The town of Crested Butte is very touristy, with tons of what I call "shoppees" (not shops, but shoppes.) We decided to hike a loop trail that is reputed to be loaded with wildflowers. It did not disappoint. OMG!!
Fields of purple and yellow, dotted with white, blue, and red, with the mountains as the backdrop made this hike take much longer than it might otherwise. We both had to stop frequently to take pictures, or just enjoy the spectacular views. A couple of hours into the hike, a thunderstorm rolled through. The rain only lasted for 15 minutes or so. But the flowers were amazing. At the end of the trail, we sat and had our apples and granola bars feasting on the views there.
After lunch, we stopped at the Visitor Center, where we learned that there was a cool back road, Route 12, that would take us up to Gothic and another beautiful wildflower area. This road was such a treat. Coupled with the fact that almost no one else was on it, the views were peaceful beauty. We also had been advised that we could return to Gunnison, where we were staying, via another dirt road cutoff from Route 12, Route 730. Unfortunately, we missed the turn off and kept driving. About 8 miles past the point where we should have turned, we had to stop. There was a large flock of sheep scattered all over: in the meadows on
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| Large rocks in the road ahead |
our sides and on the road ahead. The bleating of the sheep was deafening! It was a very cool interlude in our day, though. We turned around at that point and ultimately did find our cutoff to return to Gunnison. That road was interesting as well--branches jutting into the road, basketball-size rocks in the road, ruts...
Photos of that day: https://photos.app.goo.gl/46CMzjR1498qGA8T6
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