Polar Opposites

For our second day in Crested Butte, I got it in my head that we should head down to Gunnison to check out the Hartman Rocks trails.  The story was that the trails were buff, technical, and fun.  The flip side to riding in Gunnison was that we were in more of a desert setting.  There would be no hills with wildflowers on this day.  I should've known that things would be interesting when we couldn't get a straight answer about how well the trails were marked.......Kelly found a map online that outlined The Growler race that took place on the trails a few weeks ago.  We also stopped at the forest service office to pick up an additional map.  It took all of five minutes to get completely lost and to throw out any hope of 'riding the Growler route.' 

The trailhead started right from the gravel parking lot.  We could see a couple people riding above us on what seemed to be singletrack--surely we could find it too.  Oh, how wrong we were.  We wound up making the climb up the side of the hill  that you see from the parking lot.  Unfortunately, we then continued on gravel road and missed many of the fun trails hiding in the hills.  Did I mention that it was a very hot day?  Yes, it was a VERY hot day!  Thankfully, a lady had pity on us and led us to the Josho trail which would then link us up to the Rattlesnake trail.  Kelly was in favor of that decision...the Rattlesnake trail was the technical one that he was hoping to see.  Me, I just hoped that when the technical stuff came, and I was walking down the rocks, that I wouldn't fall!




Lunch break on Josho Trail


Needless to say, the end of the ride was much better than the beginning.  We ended by traversing down the Notch trail and then swooping down Collarbone Alley (nice name for a mtb trail!). 




I could take this picture, because I walked it!


Kelly spent the second half of the day riding the Upper Trail in Crested Butte--he again got to see some beautiful wildflowers. 

Monday was our last full day in Crested Butte.  While we were there, we had beautiful weather and awesome rides.  We also got the chance to meet some very nice people.  One of the best things about staying at a hostel is the people.  The entire experience is what you make it.  We were lucky enough to meet a man that also loves Crested Butte and mountain biking as much as we do.  And wouldn't you know, he is the owner of the chain lubricat that Kelly swears by, Squirt Lube.  We had a really nice time talking with Dewet at the Crested Butte hostel and even convinced him to stay at the Durango Hostel with us for the next couple days.