Travel: Crested Butte, Colorado

One of my favorite places to spend a few days off is the little town of Crested Butte, Colorado.  Admittedly, I’ve never been during the winter, but we’ve made several summertime trips to this part of the state because the hiking is just amazing!  In this blog, I’ll share with you some of our experiences, both good and bad.  If you’re new to my blog, it’s important to note here that my adventures often include my family, which means my husband and our little guy, so the hikes are often geared towards adventures where I can carry the toddler in/out, he can tolerate the distance and I can handle the difficulty/safety factors given that he’s on my back quite a bit.  That said, I did have an epic girls-trip adventure when I hiked from Crested Butte, CO to Aspen, CO via West Maroon Pass last year! (For more information about that hike, click here!) To see photos of all of our family adventures in Crested Butte, grab yourself a coffee and keep scrolling! Enjoy!

In this blog, you’ll find info about our experiences with:

• Lodging (Insights)
• Hiking
  • Trail 403
  • Trail 401
  • Judd Falls
  • Brush Creek
  • Beaver Ponds
  • Crested Butte to Aspen, CO
• Other Events/Restaurants/Things to Do
  • Take a Drive to Gothic (Don’t miss this!)
  • Run the Gothic to Crested Butte 1/3 Marathon
  • Visit the Crested Butte Farmer’s Market
  • Grab Some Third Bowl Homemade Ice Cream
  • Chow Down Some Pizza at The Secret Stash

Driving into Crested Butte, you can feel the magic of the town before you arrive.  After passing through Gunnison, CO, and taking Highway 135, the Elk Mountains will come into view and you’ll start to imagine all the fun and amazing things you will be doing soon, not to mention all of the jaw-dropping photos that you’ll go home with!  The first time that we drove to Crested Butte, my husband said, “why don’t we live here?” Ha! It’s a magical place, but we prefer to just visit because it’s quite expensive and often very crowded during peak seasons.

Lodging Insights: We have stayed at hotels, Airbnb’s, and private residences on our trips to Crested Butte.  Be prepared to pay quite a bit for lodging if you plan to visit in the summer.  Lodging in Crested Butte can be very expensive, especially during the peak season when the demand is high.  The most inexpensive option is usually a hotel, but we don’t stay at hotels in Crested Butte anymore.  We actually opt to stay at Airbnb’s.  Why? 1) The hotels that we have stayed at in Crested Butte do not have air conditioning.  2) The Airbnb kitchens are much larger.  3) You don’t usually have to pay extra for parking at an Airbnb. 

So why are these things important to me?  Keep in mind … we live in Colorado in a home with NO air conditioning, so we are used to just opening the windows and living off the breeze during the hot months, but no air conditioning in a hotel feels much more brutal.  Just my opinion. 

Also, eating out and/or grocery shopping in Crested Butte is expensive.  Guys, I’m all about supporting the local towns where we visit, but the reality is that my budget cannot afford the lodging, the restaurants, and the grocery stores in Crested Butte, so we have to be somewhat frugal.  After several visits, we have a routine.  We book an Airbnb and we stop at a grocery store in Gunnison and stock up before we hit the last stretch of road to Crested Butte.  To be honest, we rarely visit the Crested Butte restaurants or grocery stores during our entire visit.  We pack our lunches and eat breakfast and dinner in our rental.

Just to drop an additional note here: There are tons of places to camp in Crested Butte and it’s a very popular option.  We have not opted to camp here yet, but you cannot pick a bad view when camping in this part of the state!

Hiking: Honestly, IMO you can’t really have a bad hike anywhere in Crested Butte!  It’s absolutely amazing scenery in every direction.  It’s worth noting here (again) that most of my hiking is with my husband and our toddler, meaning that the distant/strenuousness of the hike have to be suitable to our family, but I will say that my #1 epic hiking experience in Crested Butte was a one-day hike from Crested Butte to Aspen, CO, ending at the stunning Maroon Bells viewing area.  Wow!  It was amazing, but I definitely won’t be attempting that one with my little guy until he’s much older.  If you want to read more about that hike, click here!  Otherwise, scroll down for our experience and pics on family hikes in Crested Butte!

We typically visit in July or September.  September can be a bit cold on some of these high-altitude hikes, but the colors in the mountains are a worthwhile payoff for the required extra layering of clothes. 

For helpful detailed information on various hikes in the area, I usually visit the Travel Crested Butte site here. 

Hiking Trail 403:  We’ve been up this trail a couple of times and I cannot get enough of the viewing point that’s just under two miles in.  We usually hike in to the viewing point, sit and have a nice lunch while taking in the amazing views, and hike back out.  The road to get there is probably the worst part of this hike.  We have a 4×4 Tundra (stock) and there were times that my husband had to do some careful maneuvering to make sure that we didn’t damage it, but once we got up there, there were several lower clearance vehicles.  I guess just be aware that it’s a bit of a rough road.  The views though…especially during wildflower season…just WOW!  I would call the difficulty of this trail “moderate” but keep in mind, we live at high altitude.  When I have hiked this trail with out-of-state friends, they found it more difficult since I believe that this hike starts around 9,500’ elevation.  We’ve always met other people on the trail and they are usually very nice (keyword: usually… ha!). 

Hiking Trail 401:  I did this trail in July a couple of years back with a girlfriend and her daughter.  It was amazing!  The trail had beautiful views from the time we started until we eventually decided to turn around and head back.  It was full of aspens, columbines, lupines, fireweed, sunflowers, and more!  The trail was easily accessible and I would consider this hike moderately easy, but we did stop a lot to take photos, so we had plenty of breaks.  The day that we hiked trail 401, the trail was mostly empty, but we did move to the side a few times when we heard mountain bikers coming our way.  I would definitely recommend this hike!

Hiking Judd Falls:  We hiked up to Judd Falls based on a recommendation from a friend.  It was a nice, easy hike and our out-of-state friends enjoyed the break since they were still trying to adjust to the altitude. It’s just over two miles round-trip.  I cannot say that I was greatly impressed with the falls on this hike.  Let me explain though… The falls are beautiful, it’s just that I’ve been on so many hikes where you can literally get close enough to feel the water on your face.  If you don’t mind viewing a waterfall from afar, this trail does provide some beautiful views. I have yet to go on a bad hike in Crested Butte…this is just not one of my favorites.

Hiking Brush Creek: We did Brush Creek trail on a whim one day because I had read that the wildflowers were amazing in July.  To be honest, it was probably my least favorite hike of the area (that we have done).  It was out in the open and hot and unfortunately when we went, much of the wildflowers were past peak season even though other (higher elevation and shaded hikes) had stunning wildflowers.  My family found it difficult to tolerate the heat in July on this very open and exposed trail.  It was also a very busy trail and parking was a bit of an issue, but even for our least favorite, it’s worth nothing that it still had beautiful mountain views.  My opinion is that its ease of access and easy-rating for a trail make it a popular trailhead, but for a bit more effort, you can get much more amazing views, wildflowers, and overall experience.

Hiking Beaver Ponds: If you want to be surrounded by aspens, this is the hike!  It was a super easy hike and just about one-mile roundtrip.  Our little guy could hike it on his own! We did meet some grumpy cows on the trail, but no worries…we just kept to ourselves and let them be.  This trail is a little out of town, but worth the trek, especially in the fall! We pretty much had the trail to ourselves, but did pass a couple of hunters while there.  This was one of those hikes where I wish I had packed a blanket and a picnic and we could eat and take a nap!

Hiking Crested Butte to Aspen: I joined a few girlfriends on the hike from Crested Butte, CO to Aspen, CO one summer and it was amazing! If you are interested in reading more about this hike, click here.

Events/Restaurants/Things to Do: Although we spend most of our time in the woods, I couldn’t end this blog without noting a few of our favorite events, eateries, and activities in Crested Butte! Enjoy!

Take a Drive to Gothic: You simply cannot visit Crested Butte without making the drive to Gothic, especially during peak wildflower season! Gothic is a ghost town turned biological laboratory town that houses scientist and students all summer.  We’ve never stopped and toured the actual town, but the drive out there is insanely beautiful with views of the East River, aspen tree groves, columbines and other amazing wildflowers, and of course, the Rocky Mountains!  It’s absolutely worth the 8-mile drive (each way).

Gothic to Crested Butte 1/3 Marathon: My husband has done this race a few times and he ranked it pretty high on his list of his favorite races for scenery.  It’s challenging (think lots of uphill) and often pretty warm (July), but you are rewarded on most of the run with breathtaking views!

Farmer’s Market: Crested Butte is a small town, but this is no small farmer’s market.  Crested Butte goes all out with tons of vendors and products every Sunday during the summer!  They host regional farms and orchards, artisans of jams, jellies and pickles, juices, breads, and more!  Jewelers, crafters, painters, builders, you name it! The town literally shuts down several streets while visitors explore and locals do their Sunday fresh produce shopping.  It’s truly a unique experience!

Third Bowl Homemade Ice Cream:  We love this place!  The ice cream and the ambiance!  We grab our ice cream and head down the stairs and out the back door to sit at the outdoor picnic tables!  Yum!  Don’t miss out on this amazing treat during your visit!

The Secret Stash Pizza:  If you want some absolutely amazing pizza, don’t skip out on this stop!  As mentioned earlier, we don’t spend a lot of money in Crested Butte on eating out, but this is one stop that I would definitely make every time!  Hands-down, the Notorious Fig is the winner in my book, but my friends have tried other pizzas there and all of them have been fantastic!

There you have it! My favorite hikes, eats, adventures, and more while spending time in Crested Butte, Colorado with my family! Drop us a note and tell us what you thought!

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