Labor Day in Crested Butte

We may have used COVID as an excuse to road trip all over Colorado this year, which also led us our new favorite place in the state, Crested Butte! While we thought Crested Butte would be a great winter destination for skiing, it may even be better in the summer. Our long weekend adventure was over Labor Day weekend, which resulted in crazy traffic getting to Crested Butte and coming home. The 4.5 hour drive became a 6-7 hour slog of sitting on 285 on the way up and I-70 on the way back. We tried two different routes and both were jam packed with cars escaping the heat in Denver.

Despite the terrible drive we truly enjoyed Crested Butte. The town was touristy but still had the old mining feel and the views were incredible. To top it off there are tons of hiking options from easy hikes along rivers to strenuous hikes up mountain peaks. We really liked Ridgway and Ouray from our earlier southwest Colorado road trip but Crested Butte may be our new favorite place in Colorado.

Our Trip to Southwest Colorado

Well 2020 is an interesting year to say the least, but Beth and I had a chance to escape some of the chaos with a road trip to Southwest Colorado. Visiting Ouray, Telluride, Durango, Mesa Verde, and the Black Canyon has been on our bucket list since moving to Colorado over three years ago. While Beth and I usually do some grand trip out of the country in the summer, COVID provided a very valid excuse to stay close to home. It also let us bring our dog, Spruce, on the adventure!

Our ten day trip started in late July as we blasted down I-70 towards Grand Junction. We visited the Colorado National Monument and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Parks on the way to our first stop in Ridgway, Colorado where we stayed for four nights. From Ridgway we did plenty of hiking and explored the surrounding area including Telluride and Ouray. After Ridgway we ventured further south passing through Silverton and Durango to stay close to Vallecito Lake for three nights. The idea here was to relax at the lake and drive to Mesa Verde National Park. Our final stop was in South Fork for two nights to relax along the Rio Grande River and get a final hike in at nearby Creede. The entire trip encompassed over 1,000 miles of driving just in Colorado!

We just spent a nice long weekend in Winter Park, Colorado to enjoy the fall colors, hike, and visit Rocky Mountain National Park to see the Elk rut! There are many great fall activities to enjoy within an hour of Winter Park, here are a few:

• Take the gondola up at the Winter Park Ski Resort, ride down the alpine slide, or take on the mini golf course.
• Grab some delicious food at nearby Winter Park (the town) or Fraser.
• Hike a couple of the nearby trails such as Jim’s Creek, St Louis Creek, or Broome Hut for the fall colors.
• Take a scenic drive to Hot Sulphur springs to see the aspens changing colors, drive through the scenic Byer’s Canyon, and take a dip in the hot springs.
• Stop by Grand Lake for the great views of the water and for some yummy food.
• Drive up to Rocky Mountain National Park to see the dramatic scenery and the Elk rut which happens only in the fall.

For our visit some of our family was also able to join and we all had a wonderful time. We stayed just across the street from the ski resort at a condo with a hot tub and great views. Fall is great time to come to Winter Park as accommodations prices are significantly cheaper than peak season and there are almost no other tourists. However, one thing that is not predictable is what the weather will be like in Colorado in the fall especially in the mountains. We were extremely fortunate to have sunny and 60 degree days the entire time during the beginning of October. To make it even better many of the aspen trees were peaking in color.

As we are relatively new residents to Colorado, we have been trying to take advantage of the easy access to the mountains. Last weekend we decided to hike up James Peak which is just over an hour away from Denver metro. James Peak sits over 13,000 feet above sea level, hence the name a 13er. This was our second highest peak we have ascended in Colorado. We previously did Bierstadt which is over 14,000 feet above sea level.

The easiest access to James Peak is by driving to the St. Mary’s Glacier parking lot. St. Mary’s is an extremely popular spot as it provides quick access to some superb scenery without too much effort. Many tourists stop here to view the beautiful lake and the nearby snow glacier. Despite it’s popularity not many people hike above the glacier which is how you get to James Peak. If you start the James Peak hike from the St. Mary’s area you will need to bring $5 in cash or check as it is a private lot. Do not park along the road as you will get a ticket and block emergency vehicles.

We arrived around 7:30 AM to the St. Mary’s parking lot and there were maybe ten cars in the lot. The hike from the lot to the top of James Peak and back is between eight to ten miles. Unfortunately, our trusty Alltrails app did not accurately track the route but based on our how tired our legs were and other people’s reviews on Alltrails, we can safely say it is over eight miles and nearly 3,000 vertical feet. This was a tough but doable hike. Our dog, Spruce, absolutely loved it and was ready for even more. This was Spruce’s longest hike ever and he was a champ.

The Setup

Our first big trip for 2018 was off to Kauai! This was both Beth’s and I’s first time to anywhere in Hawaii and we had a great time. Now of course with us being frugal and into miles and points we were able to save a significant amount of cash by using miles and points for our flights, hotel, and even on the rental car. To summarize, these are all the options we used to get to Hawaii near free!

• 90,000 United miles for 2 nonstop economy flights from Denver to Lihue, Hawaii
• 360,000 Marriott points that gave us 7 nights at the Marriott Kauai plus 120,000 Southwest and the Southwest Companion Pass (more on this)
• 2,750 Hertz points for a 1 week rental car