Crested Butte info needed please

[JeffreyJim]

Off topic... but any fly fishing beta you guys can provide? I really would like to catch dinner one night and am totally new to fishing this area...

[squirrelmurphy]

I don't know shit about fishing, but there are always a ton of fishermen just under the dam on the taylor reservoir.

[smmokan]

There was an article in one of the magazines I read when I was in town last week, and it said that the East, the Taylor, and the Slate are all "gold-medal" caliber rivers, but they just haven't tried to get the recognition. Like SM said above, the Taylor just below the dam is one spot that's known to be great- but there are a few places closer to town, I'm sure. Stop in at Dragonfly Anglers on Elk Ave and they'll hook you up.

[Tech Tonics]

thanks to everyone for all the great info. really looking forward to riding some alpine singletrack.

I'll post when we're in town and see who is available to ride.

[Z]

JJ, hit me up!

[goldenboy]

nice work frank, the trailside grass was WAY higher when i was there 2 weeks ago, that or the perspective is different cause the camera is higher up.

I think it's the camera being up high, that video was shot on the 17th.

[gunniride]

Deer Creek

Description: One of my least favorite rides anywhere, cross country types might actually like this ride, since it completely lacks a worthwhile downhill. The views are nice at least. I think I haven’t ridden Deer Creek in 7 years, a streak I hope to continue. Equally sucky the opposite direction.

Well put. The one and only time I rode Deer Creek was the first ride on my first full suspension bike. I went from a ti hardtail to a 33 lb dually- rode teo ridge to deer creek to upper/upper-upper back to the car. Thought I'd made a bad decision, but ten years and 3 bikes later I still prefer a solid 6" bike- but no more deer creek!

If time allows any trip to CB for riding would be wise to include a monarch ride on the way to or from.

[gh444]

I may get shot for this but I'll post my fav spots for either a post ride dip or lazydrunk(TM) afternoon. Long Lake. Really short hike. Used to have a rope swing, not sure if its still there. Ladies from the cross country team at western run around it all summer. Good shade and sun if you want it. Also, definitely walk up OBJ and daisy to watch some good kayaking. Walk down the east to stupid falls for one of the biggest waterfalls around.


I'm absolutely no help on the biking though.


Oh and Poor boy special at Kia's (sp) pizza joint at the end of Elk. Five dollar burger and beer at the last bar on the right on Elk (name escapes me but the girl from The Hills parents own it, stupid fact).

[JeffreyJim]

Thanks for the tour SM and Z. Sorry I didn't get to ride with you all more (especially you DSide...next time)

It was a fun trip, my legs are fried right now!!!

[Tech Tonics]

sorry i didn't hook up with anyone. wasn't doing too much interneting and after capt pow left I was sorta digging doing my own thing.

I rode four days, three in CB.

day one was Monarch Crest-Silver Ck-Rainbow. some tgr dude was on the shuttle with his gf. not sure who it was.

day two was 403-401-snodgrass (back to Wash Gulch). nice trail with absolutely in-your-face views. saw an old friend/coworker on top of 401. We got lost on 403 (wtf?) for a while. for some reason i thought my map told me that the trail turned L at the little saddle and went right at that peak there (Baldy?). Needless to say i was wrong.

day three was Reno-Flag-Bear-Deadmans. Super fun ride. made me love motos for the berms. was out solo and had a pretty intense lightning/hail storm just barely miss me.

day four was green lake in the AM then I drove home. swam in green lake and it was actually warmer than I had anticiapted. nice to spend some time at a subalpine lake with no one else around. I started that ride from Izzy's and that was pretty cool to just roll right from downtown. If I lived in downtown CB I'd ride that once a week.

was a great trip other than a bear fucking up our camp on night 1 in CB. camped in Washington Gulch and he kept us up for a few hours. I also had a camp in Cement Ck (before I rode Reno-Flag-Bear-Deadmans). but the last nights were the best camped in Slate. 6 miles from downtown, great views of mountains and right on the creek.

I'll be back with the family doing the hiking/car camping thing in a week or two, probably bringing my oldest daughter's trail-a-bike for around town and the bike path.

thanks to all cb locs for all the great beta!

it's nice to be back home and know that in Santa Fe we may not have all the big-Alpine views or mega-uber-classics but we have hundreds of miles of perfect loamy singletrack. I went on a ride today that reminds me how good I have it. maybe not Green Lake-from-downtown-good but pretty fucking good anyhow.

[steadieflow]

Great info in this thread; heading down this Friday for 5 days. We have biked in CB a good amount now, but goldenboy you have some great info on your blog.

Thanks!!! Looking forward to some full days of riding.

[Hugh Jass]

Heading to CB Thursday night. Riding Friday and Saturday, time for a shorty Sunday morning.

I'm thinking:
Friday: Bear Creek to Doctors Park (from Frank's guide)
Saturday: Teo ridge
Sunday am: Green Lake OR Reno/flag/bear/deadmans

Seem reasonable? Should I bail on Teo for something else? I've never ridden CB, so I'll have fun either way...

[Crinkle]

Don't miss reno/deadman's. It wasn't that short of a ride for us, but we weren't in a rush

[Hugh Jass]

^I would never miss anything described as "TITS".

[squirrelmurphy]

Yep thats a solid schedule right there.

Teo is shortish depending on how you do it, but totally worth it. Just about 2 hrs round trip if you park at brush creek. You can also easily throw in Strand/Ferris/402 to make it longer. I'd probably try to meet up and ride that on Sat. If you wanted more miles and more variety, you could ride an early teo and go do green lake in the afternoon.

RFBD is longish for sure, definitely a long 18 miles. 3-4 hrs probably. Bear creek and deadmans downhills are so titties its not even fair.

[Z]

Heading to CB Thursday night. Riding Friday and Saturday, time for a shorty Sunday morning.

I'm thinking:
Friday: Bear Creek to Doctors Park (from Frank's guide)
Saturday: Teo ridge
Sunday am: Green Lake OR Reno/flag/bear/deadmans

Seem reasonable? Should I bail on Teo for something else? I've never ridden CB, so I'll have fun either way...

In my opinion it doesn't get much better than teo on an XC bike. Steeptechydropsfastsick. If you're more into smooth mellowish downhills skip it.

That schedule is damn good. If you can, try not to miss the deadmans downhill, thems some good switchbacks. Make yer 6in rotors hurt.

have fun. shoot a PM if you wanna ride.

[Tech Tonics]

just got back from a second butte trip in three weeks. didn't do any riding, aside from with my 4 year old in a trail-a-bike, but did some great hiking (Scarp ridge, West Maroon/Schofield trail, and off trail near Baldy/403) and did family time. camped in Slate. Best car camping ever. Saw an albino elk (srsly?!) and a few bears.

you guys in cb have it made. I'd move there in a fucking heartbeat if I could afford it. From a family-man standpoint I couldn't imagine a nicer town to raise kids in.

also, every local we talked to was insanely friendly. like almost aggresively nice. that was super refreshing.

[goldenboy]

Sounds like a good itinerary, but rather than do Bear and Doctor's, then Bear again with Reno/F/B/Deadman's, I'd get a bit more variety and do something else. 409 and a half or green lake (shorter) or 403/401. Just my take...

[Hugh Jass]

Sweet. Thanks for the validation. PMs with digits on the way.......

[LIP]

Heading to CB Thursday night. Riding Friday and Saturday, time for a shorty Sunday morning.

I'm thinking:
Friday: Bear Creek to Doctors Park (from Frank's guide)
Saturday: Teo ridge
Sunday am: Green Lake OR Reno/flag/bear/deadmans

Seem reasonable? Should I bail on Teo for something else? I've never ridden CB, so I'll have fun either way...

Try the Star Pass ride if you can get Goldenboy to show it to ya.

[goldenboy]

Try the Star Pass ride if you can get Goldenboy to show it to ya.

Good call. Haven't done that one all year, and it pretty much rules. I'm in.

[Hugh Jass]

Wow. Pretty sweet weekend. Thanks again for beta/recs. Frank - I was already long gone and missed your PM - next time for sure. Hooked up with squirrel though for a Saturday ride. Might have seen Z from afar in town on Sat night (jeezus - are you still growing?).

Friday: Reno/Flag/Bear/Deadmans. Bear downhill is ridiculous. Deadmans climb is bootiful. Deadmans switchbacks as advertised.

Saturday: Teocallis to Canal and Strand loop. Epic. Chased Squirrel, who was kind enough to guide. Tailgate beers transitioned to patio at Brick. Good times.

Sunday: Buttcrack of dawn wake up. Banged out Doctors Park before 9. Brettf's helmetcam footage does not lie. So fast. So smoove. Until the end. But incredible ride. Blazed back to Golden in 3:30, despite the RV shitshow on 285.

Ridiculous trails. Great peeps. Can't wait to go back.

[funkendrenchman]

Coming to the Butte for the next two days. Who wants to ride/shuttle?

[Hugh Jass]

Will be in CB August 9-22 with wife/kids/bikes. Planning to ride in some capacity every day.

Tom - still have your # if you still have your VT area code.

Anyone else available and want to show me around? Happy to get on after work rides or weekend epics.

[squirrelmurphy]

Yeah dude, still same number. Definitely hit me up, hopefully we can get another ride in. Green lake after work maybe, and something bigger on a weekend.

Just got back from Teo. It were good .