My personal list of things to enjoy around Crested Butte (hikes, food, kid activities, and lastly a road trip):
Best Hikes:
by category (Always have a map and know where you are going). One great option is download Avenza Maps App on your phone and buy north side of Gunnison Basin Public Lands Visitor Map (North) - 2014. It is the best Forest Service Map for this area right now.
Convenient: Baxter Gulch Trail - straight across the highway to the west, walk from the house toward CB, turn left at County Road Maintenance Shop 200 yards north on 135, look to left for trailhead. Winds up through Aspens, down to Baxter Creek and back up to saddle between Whetstone and Axtel. Good out and back walk or go big and loop to Green Lake Trail which ends in town. If you do this, scroll down to find a place to relax and have a beer in town afterwards.
Flat: Brush Creek Trail - this excellent for wildflowers. Go south on 135 from house and take second left. Go past the big mountain in your left (Crested Butte) and look for trailhead on your left about 3 miles from 135. Dogs love the deep irrigation ditch by parking area where they can swim in place against the current. You can walk down trail to river in about 2 miles for excellent fly fishing.
Simple and short: Oh Be Joyful Waterfalls, Judd Falls, Lower Loop from town.
Mountain Lakes: Lost Lake 3 Lake Loop Hike is one of the best. Spectacular 40 minute drive to the start. Drive up Kebler Pass Road CR 12 for 14 miles. Turn left at sign to Lost Lake Campground. At lake, go right up to parking area. The large lake you see is Lost Lake Slough, walking counter clockwise you will hit Lost Lake next and then Dollar Lake. It is about a 3 mile loop. Behind Lost Lake are waterfalls but they are not marked, turn right behind lake to find them.
Mountain Lake and Mountain Summit: Green Lake Road to Green Lake and summit Ruby or Owen. Head up Kebler, turn right toward Irwin Campground, pass Lake Irwin and keep going up. When road becomes bad, stop and park. Walk up road. Private land owner named JW has road blocked with a barricade, just walk past and stay on road. You will come to an amazing lake, keep going up and you can summit Mt. Ruby or Owen. This is an arduous hike. You can also get to Scarp Ridge from here.
Very Arduous hike- summit Whetstone from house. That is the large mountain to west of house. Start up from Baxter Gulch Trail and bushwhacked to top. There are various ways to do this and no set trail. It is an amazing hike and you and your group will be alone. It is steep, rough, dangerous, and spectacular. This is a hike for expert and prepared hikers only.
Best Mountain Bike experience: 401 Trail, leave house and go toward CB. Stay on this road past the town of Gothic. Park and ride to Schofield Summit, turn right up trail at summit, get ready for the best downhill ever built. You can also just ride from the house, but it will be a lot of road riding. If you are really hardcore, jump on Deer Creek after 401 and come out Brush Creek Road back to house.
Spectacular Hikes: West Maroon Pass - trailhead is all the way over Schofield Pass. Parking area with bathroom about two miles past Schofield Pass on right.
Best Waterfall: Go over Schofield Pass and park in about 3-4 miles before road becomes rough, there will be warning signs for rough road ahead. Park and walk a short distance down road to a couple amazing deep plunge pool waterfalls. This is a long drive, the closer waterfalls are at Judd Falls, Oh-Be-Joyful Falls and the waterfalls at Poverty Gulch.
Float the Slate: If you look off the deck into the willows, you will see paddlers floating by all day long. This a a really fun and memorable experience. If you are reading this before your trip and have a SUP, bring it! True Value in town rents stand up paddle boards. Best to reserve them to be sure enough are available. This experience takes some logistics- you must take boards to a launch site and another vehicle to where you will take out. Putting in at recreation bridge on north east corner of town and taking out at Skyland bridge south of town is a good 1.5 hour float depending on how fast the river is moving. The river is fairly slow moving and comfortable. Ask the rental place about conditions. Also, they sometimes have a “Fiesta Board” which holds about 6 people comfortably. It is a huge stand up paddle board and is very stable.
For the kids:
Mt. Crested Butte has a kids museum and play area that is fun socialization time for the kids. The base area at Mt. Crested Butte has some trampolines and rock climbing walls and zip lines. Rainbow Park at 300 8th Street is pretty fun for kids.
Town Park is located between 6th street and 7th street from Elk Avenue to Belleview Avenue. Town Park is Crested Butte’s premier park attraction during the summer months. Yelenick Pavilion and the newly renovated (2019) pirate-themed Playground are a great place for a picnic, birthday party, or to just play with the kids. It’s easy to pick up a game of horseshoes or volleyball most any evening throughout the summer. The Town Tennis Courts are free to use on a first come, first served basis except during clinics.
Bike Park- 1005 9th Street. South of the Crested Butte Community School.
Amenities: Pump track, skills zone, jump lines, bike fix-it station, picnic area. Access to year-round restrooms and parking lot across the street at Town Ranch. Trail access to Deli Trail, Upper Loop trail system and Rec Path.
Park Description: Practice your skills, flow on the pump track, and hit smooth jumps at the Crested Butte Bike Park! New to mountain biking? Get your feet wet on single track on the beginner loop that starts at the back of the park near the Start Zone.
Henderson Park- 229 Whiterock Avenue
Amenities: Playground
Park Description: Henderson Park’s playground is a great place for children ages 2-5 to exercise their mind and body.
The Historic Train Depot- 716 Elk Ave.
Amenities: Freight room, Parlor room, kitchen, tables & chairs
Facility Description: Dating back to 1883, this historic building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Depot was located on the eastern edge of town in the day, when the northern section of the building was built for the developing supply and mining town of Crested Butte. It withstood the test of time receiving freight, passengers, and goods on the narrow gauge railroad (along the east yard). It exported coal and lots of it from area coal mines chugging down the East River Valley to Gunnison and beyond. Alas, area coal mines were closed in the 1950’s and narrow gauge rail lines abandoned, leaving this lovely building to stand as a vestige of the once prosperous mining era. The Crested Butte Society of the Arts in the 1970’s repurposed the building to serve a host of celebrations, weddings, meetings, and art events over the decades. It later required more care and the building was gifted to the Town of Crested Butte to engage in rehabilitation work that began in 2012 and completed in 2016. Local funding together with three grants from History Colorado’s State Historical Fund, and a lot of hard work by area contractors made this building ready again to serve and support your special function. The Depot also serves as a home for local non-profits and living quarters for the caretaker. It needs your care and thoughtful treatment to ensure future generations can come and enjoy this special place.
Hours of Use: 9:00am-9:00pm
Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum. Google and call for hours and happenings. They once had a city tour that was really good.
Food and Drinks:
Best Patio: Brick Oven Pizzeria. Huge and unique beer selection with over 30 beers on tap. Pizza by the slice. Daily specials. Maybe the best place in CB to sit after a hike.
Best Cocktail: Dogwood Cocktail Cabin- no kids allowed. Enter from 4pm-6pm for a great happy hour. It takes a long time to get a drink so maybe order your second when first arrives. If you like beets, try the Beetnik and you will not be disappointed. Also, favorites are MojoJojo for some sweet and PocoLoco for some heat and Miso Thirsty for the Asian flair.
Best Street Food: MoMo’s - don’t pass this by if you find it being served. Karma will serve you up a heaping plate of rice and dumplings.
Best breakfast: Butte Bagels- not great for sitting down to eat. Slow service. Long lines. Great food. Maybe try calling ahead. Maybe bring food to go to Rainbow Park and eat there. For a good sit down atmosphere for breakfast try McGills.
Best French Cuisine: Soupćon- expensive and the real deal. Great for special occasions.
Best Italian Food- Marchetelli’s Gourmet Noodle has table clothes, great wine, Lasagna and all the fantastic Italian food you could every want. It is good!
Best Pizza- Secret Stash- Don’t role up at 7pm and expect to be seated. Go early, put name on list, cruise around town (maybe hit the Dogwood), then eat pizza till you are full. So good. Great salad bar. There are even vegan pizza options here.
Best Lunch and Happy Hour: Pitas in Paradise - this is actually good for any meal. Great food, great prices, and great happy hour from 3pm-6pm. Watch sports, enjoy a unique soup bar (try the Hungarian Mushroom), just have fun at this place. The pulled pork bbq pita is great. The rice bowls are awesome vegetarian and vegan options.
Best all around: The Last Steep- great lunch or dinner option, nice outdoor seating, diverse menu. Everything is good here. Also have a Bloody Mary Bar and good kids menu.
Best Asian: Ryce - I love The 14er, but lots of great food here.
Have you heard how the the new glass caskets are working out? Remains to be seen.
Best Mexican: Dinner Meal will be Bonez, Lunch is definitely Teocalli Tamale. Bonez is run by owner of Secret Stash and has similar decor. They have lots of tequila and an evolving menu. Teocalli Tamale is just great food with limited seating. They offer discounts for having a gap tooth between your two front teeth (not joking). The double decker tacos are not on the menu, but ask for it. It has a soft taco shell with guacamole spread on it with a hard taco shell inside and then all the fixing. You can order Al Le Carte.
Best Family Style Meal: Slogars- This is an experience. The restaurant is old and has character. Get a reservation. No real menu. You just eat Fried Chicken (or steak) and a ton of country sides (all you can eat). Try mixing the tomato chutney with the cottage cheese and spread on buttermilk biscuits.... yea, that is what you do. Not a good vegetarian or vegan restaurant.
Pet Friendly: Crested Butte is generally pet friendly. Dogs must be left outside the fence at most all outdoor restaurants. Everywhere on the National Forest is pet friendly. Some great places to let your dog swim are: Long Lake- park up Washington Gulch by Meridian Lake neighborhood. Walk straight up to a beautiful mountain top lake. This is close and relatively easy but trail is short and steep. Lake Irwin Campground is also a great place for dogs to swim and people too. It is cold and gorgeous. Brush Creek trailhead- just below the trailhead is a deep and wide irrigation ditch. You can drive right to this and my dog always liked swimming in place against the current of the irrigation ditch. Emerald Lake up near Schofield Pass is a nice alpine lake enjoyed by people and pets alike. You can drive to Emerald Lake but road is a little exposed at the end, be careful.
Off the beaten path short and long road trips:
For a change of scenery for food/drinks: try the Avalanche at Mt. Crested Butte, Harmels up Taylor Canyon (take Jacks Cabin Cutoff), Almont Resort in Almont, and Tully’s in CB South. Call before you go for Harmels and see if they are serving food first. You sit right on a deck on the Taylor River.
Best Road Trip (maybe in the whole world): I have traveled to 40 countries and 49 states and this is the best 1 day road trip I have found. This is an all day adventure. You can go either direction, maybe clockwise is best to end with amazing ciders and wine before heading back. The goal here is to visit the largest lake in Colorado, the most spectacular canyon in the world and the vineyards and peaches and self picked vegetable of Paonia and take the 27 mile scenic drive back on Kebler Pass through the largest Aspen stand in the world. For clockwise trip go to Gunnison and turn right on Highway 50, stop anywhere for a swim or to walk by the lake if you would like, turn right over dam onto highway 92. Side note- below dam is a place called Pine Creek, Curecanti has guided boat tours here that are reasonably price, very scenic, and memorable. Call ahead to plan this, it is worth it. Once on Highway 92, stop at overlooks (there are many) and hike around wherever you want and choose your own adventure. Continue on 92 - you are looking for a left turn to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison north rim. This is no joke comparable the Grand Canyon and should not be missed. It is 11 miles or so from the turn off to the rim. Check out Painted Wall if you can find it and be careful, this is a no fall zone. Afterwards, backtrack to Crawford where you will pass Joe Cockers old restaurant right in the center of town. Stop if you are a fan or continue on. Continue to Hotchkiss where you may want to swing into Zack’s BBQ. It is pretty amazing. But the goal is to continue on to Paonia. Stop at Big Bs in Paonia- kids can play on the rope swing, pick vegetables, definitely EAT HERE, and try all their ciders. Continue on to the Black Bridge Winery. Picking vegetables here is half the price of Big Bs. Sit by the river and have some wine. Try their oils and basalmics and take some home. Pick some fresh vegetables using a wagon to eat the rest of the week. Head back to CB over Kebler Pass Road (CR 12). Enjoy the amazing views. If you are not completely beat, stop at Lost Lake for another hike before sunset. You are now one of the lucky few who have taken the best one day road trip in the world, congratulations!
Other Paonia Attractions:
Nido, tasty food not sure what their hours are right now so call first.
Azura, wine with a view of the north fork valley.
Stone Cottage, one of the favorite vineyards made out of stone.