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Wildflower Cruise: Crested Butte

Yarn Cruiser

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2020
Messages
607
The inaugural Wildflower Cruise was a huge success. We had an amazing group, fantastic camp spot and the flowers were popping!

Wednesday night @DomOfTheDead and I met our friend, Sam from Stay The Trail in Buena Vista for the night. He was manning a booth at All 4 Fun and let us crash on the patio of his rental. We had an early start Thursday morning, Sam was heading a cleaning up run for Tin Cup Pass with Colorado 4x4 Girls and we headed towards Cottonwood Pass to Crested Butte. Cottonwood was a beauftiful drive with an early start we had very little traffic as our 80 slowly made it to summit. We arrived in CB around 10 and set up our spot with @Ann, @hitchhiker and Claire. We spent the rest of the day just poking around CB and spun yarn at lake Irwin.

That evening around the fire @fyffer @Canonyero and @SteveT and his wife Laura met up with us. Dom welded some flowers for attendees modeled after spring beauties the week before to hand out. I had made a photo scavenger hunt that was handed out as well.

Friday morning we left on time from camp! (A challenge for me) 😆😆. We met up with @Roborado and his wife Suzie and made our way to Gothic and the Rocky Mountian Biological Laboratory, via Paradise Divide. I was on a mission for a wildflower guide by a local author, which I found, with a few other books. A small fortune was spent. We decided to check out Judd Falls for a quick hike, the weather was perfect for this, slightly overcast and not to hot. After the hike we dipped our feet at Emerald Lake where we feasted for lunch. We finished Paradise Divide with a couple photos stops, from the scenery to the wildflowers the camera received a lot of action. On the way back to camp we stopped at Bonez where we gorged on queso, guac, yucca fries and those of us not driving, tequila.

That evening around the fire was spent analyzing said financial investment to identify some of the wildflowers we had found that day. The Hamilton's were extremely generous in supplying smores for the group every night, complete with recess peanut butter cups.

Saturday morning started with some decent rain that made me a little anxious for the notorious Devil's Punch Bowl via Schofield trail. The group made the vote to check out the trail and see how the day went, the clouds cleared as we arrived at the turn off from Paradise Divide to Schofield. A couple fun water crossings with waterfalls and the temptations of wildflowers photos led us to the start of the hard section. After walking down a little to check for traffic and a couple areas of concern on this section, we decided to go for it. Dom volunteered to spot and takes photos for the group with the help of Ann and Jake. Which left me to drive the offroadacado.

I am not a fan of heights, though I have gotten a lot better about it over the years with Dom's help. Shelf roads still make me tense. This was a big challenge for me with a big dose of type 2 fun. Sometimes, you need to be pushed outside your comfort zone. Shortly after we started the descent a group of SxS appeared behind us. Talk about pressure, they were up my ass the whole way down to the punch bowl. They didn't even have the courtesy to pull my hair. Dom provided some much appreciated spotting that gave me focus and much needed boost of confidence.

Once we made it to the punch bowl, Ann and I took a quick, frigid dip in the bowl that was well earned. We had to coordinate with a couple other groups of SxS we made it to Crystal Mill and Marble. We had hoped for BBQ but we were already pretty late into the afternoon. We took the scenic Kebler pass back to CB for the evening with a quick stop as Lost Lake before camp.

Sunday morning was bittersweet as normal. The call for a shower was strong at this point but leaving a lovely camp spot with great friends is always hard. We are almost home, stuck in traffic near Fairplay as I type this out. Already excited for the next Wildflower Cruise!

As normal, we will follow up with pictures and reports from other attendees!
:risingsun
 
Last edited:

Yarn Cruiser

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2020
Messages
607
Some of my favorite wildflower shots from Friday. Still need to identify some of the flowers but I know Indian paintbrush red and magenta, columbine, monkshood, elephant head, Gunnison mariposa lilly.
 

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hitchhiker

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2019
Messages
103
Location
Broomfield CO
Still need to sift through the pictures on my big camera but here’s the few I got on my phone! Was a awesome time thanks to the efforts of @Ann @Yarn Cruiser and @DomOfTheDead
IMG_5491.jpeg
IMG_5483.jpeg
 

Roborado

Rock Stacker
Joined
Jul 2, 2024
Messages
27
So much fun. I hope everyone is home safe and sound. Thank you all for all of the work that went into planning this event. Thanks for all of the spotting on the way down to the punch bowl. Can't wait to do this again!
 

Canonyero

Rock Stacker
Joined
Jun 16, 2020
Messages
29
Thanks to everyone who made this trip happen. A few shots I grabbed.
 

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Canonyero

Rock Stacker
Joined
Jun 16, 2020
Messages
29
Some of my favorite wildflower shots from Friday. Still need to identify some of the flowers but I know Indian paintbrush red and magenta, columbine, monkshood, elephant head, Gunnison mariposa lilly.
These are awesome. Thanks for all your work to make this trip happen!
 

Canonyero

Rock Stacker
Joined
Jun 16, 2020
Messages
29
The first inaugural Wildflower Cruise was a huge success. We had an amazing group, fantastic camp spot and the flowers were popping!

Wednesday night @DomOfTheDead and I met our friend, Sam from Stay The Trail in Buena Vista for the night. He was manning a booth at All 4 Fun and let us crash on the patio of his rental. We had an early start Thursday morning, Sam was heading a cleaning up run for Tin Cup Pass with Colorado 4x4 Girls and we headed towards Cottonwood Pass to Crested Butte. Cottonwood was a beauftiful drive with an early start we had very little traffic as our 80 slowly made it to summit. We arrived in CB around 10 and set up our spot with @Ann, @hitchhiker and Claire. We spent the rest of the day just poking around CB and spun yarn at lake Irwin.

That evening around the fire @fyffer @Canonyero and @SteveT and his wife Laura met up with us. Dom welded some flowers for attendees modeled after spring beauties the week before to hand out. I had made a photo scavenger hunt that was handed out as well.

Friday morning we left on time from camp! (A challenge for me) 😆😆. We met up with @Roborado and his wife Suzie and made our way to Gothic and the Rocky Mountian Biological Laboratory, via Paradise Divide. I was on a mission for a wildflower guide by a local author, which I found, with a few other books. A small fortune was spent. We decided to check out Judd Falls for a quick hike, the weather was perfect for this, slightly overcast and not to hot. After the hike we dipped our feet at Emerald Lake where we feasted for lunch. We finished Paradise Divide with a couple photos stops, from the scenery to the wildflowers the camera received a lot of action. On the way back to camp we stopped at Bonez where we gorged on queso, guac, yucca fries and those of us not driving, tequila.

That evening around the fire was spent analyzing said financial investment to identify some of the wildflowers we had found that day. The Hamilton's were extremely generous in supplying smores for the group every night, complete with recess peanut butter cups.

Saturday morning started with some decent rain that made me a little anxious for the notorious Devil's Punch Bowl via Schofield trail. The group made the vote to check out the trail and see how the day went, the clouds cleared as we arrived at the turn off from Paradise Divide to Schofield. A couple fun water crossings with waterfalls and the temptations of wildflowers photos led us to the start of the hard section. After walking down a little to check for traffic and a couple areas of concern on this section, we decided to go for it. Dom volunteered to spot and takes photos for the group with the help of Ann and Jake. Which left me to drive the offroadacado.

I am not a fan of heights, though I have gotten a lot better about it over the years with Dom's help. Shelf roads still make me tense. This was a big challenge for me with a big dose of type 2 fun. Sometimes, you need to be pushed outside your comfort zone. Shortly after we started the descent a group of SxS appeared behind us. Talk about pressure, they were up my ass the whole way down to the punch bowl. They didn't even have the courtesy to pull my hair. Dom provided some much appreciated spotting that gave me focus and much needed boost of confidence.

Once we made it to the punch bowl, Ann and I took a quick, frigid dip in the bowl that was well earned. We had to coordinate with a couple other groups of SxS we made it to Crystal Mill and Marble. We had hoped for BBQ but we were already pretty late into the afternoon. We took the scenic Kebler pass back to CB for the evening with a quick stop as Lost Lake before camp.

Sunday morning was bittersweet as normal. The call for a shower was strong at this point but leaving a lovely camp spot with great friends is always hard. We are almost home, stuck in traffic near Fairplay as I type this out. Already excited for the next Wildflower Cruise!

As normal, we will follow up with pictures and reports from other attendees!
:risingsun
@hitchhiker @DomOfTheDead @fyffer thanks for the spots and coaching!
 

Cruisertrash

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2020
Messages
2,465
Location
Denver
I think I just missed the inaugural year of what’s going to become a really cool annual event. Sad. Definitely going to look into getting my wheeling season prep work done before the end of July next year so I can get out more and maybe put this one on the list!
 

dan1554

RS Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Messages
682
Location
Chaffee County
I think I saw some of you on my way home to the BV area (in my mini van). That traffic was awful, hope nobody's still stuck in it. Looks like it was a great run.
 

Yarn Cruiser

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2020
Messages
607
These are awesome. Thanks for all your work to make this trip happen!
Thank you and everyone else for coming! These things always end up being a group effort, everyone adds something and helps in some way. @Ann and @hitchhiker for doing some impressive recon beforehand and secuering our camp spot. A huge thanks to everyone for the wildflower/scenery photo stops, figuring out the flowers and just being rad. It was a so fun watching people get excited about the little things.
 

Yarn Cruiser

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2020
Messages
607
I think I just missed the inaugural year of what’s going to become a really cool annual event. Sad. Definitely going to look into getting my wheeling season prep work done before the end of July next year so I can get out more and maybe put this one on the list!
You guys will have to come next time! We already started thinking about the next one. The goal is yearly to every other year and change up the locations.
 

Cruisertrash

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2020
Messages
2,465
Location
Denver
You guys will have to come next time! We already started thinking about the next one. The goal is yearly to every other year and change up the locations.
I have unsolicited input and ideas for you on that. I’ll PM as not to clog up this thread.
 

fyffer

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2019
Messages
525
Location
Trinidad, CO
Well a few, someone always get in the way.
 

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fyffer

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2019
Messages
525
Location
Trinidad, CO
Wild life, animals, on our run.
 

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