Two Nights of Camping Near Crested Butte
After living in Colorado for nearly six years, it’s getting harder to find places that we haven’t been. With summer in overdrive, Anna and I decided to check a new city off our list by driving way up into the mountains in the middle of the state.
First of all, I must mention how beautiful the drive really is. We took CO-285 all the way to Buena Vista, the head east alongside Taylor Park Reservoir, which just happened to contain some of the happiest cows I’ve ever seen. They were walking around near the reservoir, walking down roads (including our road, blocking us for a few minutes), and being generally curious from all the summer traffic through the mountains. Adorable.
The views of mountains and trees adjacent to CR-742 were stunning, ending with the CR-813 shortcut that brought us to Roaring Judy Ranch. We didn’t stop at the ranch, but I do love the name. From there, we traveled north on CO-135 to our first campsite up Cement Creek.
We stayed past the official Cement Creek Campground, a few miles down the road in the heart of the Gunnison National Forest. The area that we set up camp was an obvious playground for ATV enthusiasts and mountain bikers, as we saw at least one person every 15 minutes or so pedaling or driving on the road just below us. However, the campsite that we stayed at was placed in a fairly private spot at the end of an overlook, and nobody else was around us. It was a very nice spot. I happened to bring my mountain bike with me, so I did a little bit of riding around while we were there. (Video may or may not exist.)
After the first night camping, we went into town and strolled (safely) around Crested Butte’s downtown for a while, getting some breakfast. I highly recommend Butte Bagels, though be warned that there maybe a wait to get your food because the bagel sandwiches they make are in high demand. Overall, Crested Butte seemed overall more well-prepared for COVID safety than most, having a lot of outdoor restaurant seating and other precautionary measures in place. I absolutely want to go spend more time there sometime.
After our jaunt through town, we decided to head out to Lost Lake on the off chance that we might have been able to find a campsite for our second night. After driving down well-maintained dirt roads for what seemed like hours (it probably wasn’t), we arrived at a vacant campsite right down the road (about 1/8 mile) from the Lost Lake Campground. I’m not sure if we were just lucky or if COVID contributed, but we were surprised to find such a great campsite.
The area around Lost Lake is densely forested with lots of streams and trails. Also mosquitos, so plan appropriately. I rode my bike up a very difficult trail and back without killing myself, so that was another win. Across the road from our campsite was a hidden trail that lead to a breathtaking view of a prairie facing the mountains, covered in wildflowers. I think that place immediately became my “happy place.”
10/10 stars, would do this trip again.
