Nick and I have made an effort to get out to Crested Butte for winter, the summer wildflower festival, and fall. Unfortunately, in 2022, we were way too early for the fall colors, even though we tried to base our stay on a previous year. For example, here is Beaver Ponds on September 24, 2022.
It’s hard to do a day trip to Crested Butte, being 4 hours from Denver, so advanced planning is required. You could camp, but it is very cold, potentially below freezing, and I was actually 11 weeks pregnant at this point, so my camping days were done for now. Luck would have it that my Canadian friends Irene and Rob wanted to come visit Colorado in October, so we planned a Crested Butte trip from October 6-8, hoping to catch closer to peak fall colors this time. I had not seen Irene in many years, so it was so much fun to catch up. Irene is a seasoned traveler like me.
It’s always a beautiful drive out there, but we caught a nice amount of fall colors when we set out October 6. This was Fairplay:
And Cottonwood Pass:
Cottonwood Pass definitely had some nice colors from the Buena Vista side up, as well.
After stopping in town for Bonez, which is a delicious Mexican restaurant, we headed to drive some of the famous Kebler Pass. It was really spectacular as we caught the timing for colors really well.
One of the most exciting things was seeing the red aspen, which are so vibrant against the golds.
It worked out because I was 11 weeks pregnant at this point, and our guests were from lower elevation, so we all needed some easier, lightweight hiking. We pulled in to Lost Lake, which we knew was beautiful from the previous year’s trip, and did a short hike to one of the lakes. You can do a longer loop if you want, but being late afternoon, the jaunt to the lake was perfect.
Crested Butte is one of the most picturesque mountain towns, with its colorful Victorian buildings. We had dinner at favorite, Secret Stash pizza.
Crested Butte is not undiscovered in its beauty and very pricey, so we usually stay at the Wanderlust Hostel in Gunnison, a favorite spot. We got the large private room, and four adults is definitely pushing it for the bed and futon; we would have gotten another private room if it wasn’t booked. Even though it’s small, it’s very cozy.
Since we had to drive from Gunnison to Crested Butte anyways, we took the scenic route over Ohio Pass. We thought Kebler Pass could not be beat, but this drive had many places where you were compelled to pull over, each more beautiful than the last.
We knew Beaver Ponds was an easy hike with lots of aspens from our experience the previous year, and caught it at its golden peak this time.
The difference between the 2022 photo and this one amazed me. We caught peak gold this time.
We decided to take some photos for our baby announcement with all the beautiful colors and scenery.
As we carried on with our scenic drive, photographers were stopped all over the road. This beautiful scene of the “castles” rock formations and golden, pink, orange, and red aspen was like a painting.
We decided to do some of the Dark Canyon trail, stopping before it got too steep. It is hard to portray the beauty of the hike in photos; the aspen glowed in the sun, and we were both surrounded and had epic views out of the scenery.
Butte Bagels back in town is a must, no matter how long the lines are. We waited in line and did some shopping in town.
It’s really hard to leave Crested Butte every time we go, but in fall, the weather was perfect and sunny. We came just in time to beat the snow, and leaves were falling in town. It was very dreamy.
It was a perfect chance to catch up with our friends and get some adventure in as we prepared to publicly announce our pregnancy. Crested Butte is one of our favorite towns in every season, and to get to share this with others was very special. We will definitely be back in future years!