Camping In Crested Butte

My girlfriend and I went to Crested Butte this weekend and it was probably the most eventful 24 hours I have ever spent camping. After arriving at the campground we decided to ride our bikes around and find the best spot. Five minutes later, she’s lying in the middle of the river with all her clothes. She just kind of fell over in slow motion, it was really funny to watch. After some good laughs we started the 100 yard trip back to the car only to witness another fall up a small hill. We were off to a rough start but our sprits were high.

Later that night, we decided to ride into town and go to my favorite pizza joint, the Secret Stash. We stopped for a few drinks and it took way longer than we planned. By the time we finished it was completely dark and raining like crazy. And it wasn’t normal rain, it was more like freezing rain and it must have only been 35-40 degrees. We attempted to ride back to the campsite but only made it a few blocks before we realized there was no way we could make it.

The nearest shelter was the Crested Butte Hostel and we knocked on the door until someone let us in. $20 and 20 minutes later we had a ride back to the camp ground from two opera singers. Opera man sung us a little tune on the way out and told us that it was the second time this week he’s had to rescue someone.

Of course once we got back to the tent, soaking wet and freezing, we realized the rain fly was left open and half the tent was wet. We stayed warm the only way we knew how but didn’t sleep much. Like I said, half the tent, including the blankets, were soaking wet. We basically shared a tiny Thermarest and half of a blanket all night.

In the morning, we packed up our stuff and put on our wet clothes to go get some coffee. There, we ran into some friends and they told us about a really cool lake we could hike to and swim. After a short hike to the lake we decided to go off the rope swing. I went first and landed in about two feet of water. Not cool, but I was ok. My second attempt was much better because I ran faster and made it to the deeper water. We were both having a blast until I felt my pocket and realized that her new camera was in it. WOW, major bummer. I think she may have briefly hated me but it didn’t last long.

By now it was time to go home and back to reality. Besides a huge traffic jam on hwy 70 that must have been 50 miles long, everything went smooth. It’s hard to believe we were only gone for 24 hours, it feels like we were gone for much longer. I have a feeling we’ll be laughing about this trip for a long time.