Finding Beauty with Imperfection

Category: Wildflowers

Crested Butte, CO

Sunday morning we were up early and packed up by 9am. We wanted to hike the Snodgrass Trail in Crested Butte. George and Juliana hiked this trail two summers ago and highly recommended it. Their directions to find it left us doubting we would. “Drive through town and follow the road until you see a parking lot with a port-a-potty.” Sounds sparse, right? Actually, they were spot on! we spotted the potty, found the trail we wanted to take and set off!

After reading AllTrails, the hike was 5.8 miles. We packed water and snacks and set out. Ironically, the AllTrails map took us to the top of Snodgrass Mountain. The trail Sadira is pointing to in the picture above is what we walked for about a mile before realizing we weren’t on the trail. Our 5.8 mile hike turned out to be 8 miles! The views were amazing! Wildflowers and Aspen and of course Crested Butte.

Sierra larkspur & Crested Butte
Aspen
Aspen and ferns
Flower Friends
Arrowleaf Balsamroot & Crested Butte
Lichen

Once we realized we weren’t on the summit trail, we turned around and started up the mountain. Everyone knows the reason you hike a mountain is for the panoramic view at the top. Hopefully. We hiked up about 1.2 miles in what seemed like straight and steep uphill. In the sun. Only to find the top was covered with pine trees that obstructed the view.

The view at the top
Taking a breathe break at the summit

Regardless, it was a great hike and a quick walk down. More Aspen, butterflies, and flowers.

Crested Butte on your head!
Callippe fritillary
Wood betony & Aspen
Crested Butte

After the hike, we hopped in the car and started the drive over to Redstone Campground. It was about a 2.5 hour drive. We had to go up & over the mountains using Keebler Pass. Little did we know the drive was mostly (40 miles) on a curvy gravel road. It was awful. Sadira was car sick by the time we got over it. We stopped at a little campground and had a snack while watching the hummingbirds until she was feeling better. Whew! What a drive!

Saturday was the only night we’re stayed at a KOA. Camping life in a KOA campground is much different than camping life in a National Forest. The perks of a KOA include showers, laundry and flushing toilets. Oh! And a dishwashing sink that ONLY has hot water. To enjoy those perks you pass up seclusion, privacy, and incredible views. Sunday night we were in Redstone Campground. It was appropriately named – there were red stones all around us! We had privacy, scenery and clean pit toilets!

I forgot to snap a picture of our meal. Sadira made us pimento grilled cheese and tomato soup. It was delicious. We took a dip in the creek and then had a solar shower… our last one, actually… more on that tomorrow-

Cheers!

Double Hike Thursday

This morning we hiked up to the top of Bald Mountain using the Sliver Lake Trail. This trail was steeper than yesterday’s and a little shorter. It wrapped around the mountain and gave incredible views of Sliver Lake.

Glimpses of the lake
Appropriately named Silver Lake
Aspens

One area we hiked through looked like there had been an avalanche at some point. Many trees were down and cut up to help clear the trail.

Downed trees

Along the way, I was able to spot a few more wildflowers to add to my collection. Please enjoy the pictures!

Creeping Yellowcress
Jacob’s Ladder
Aspen Fleabane
Stream bank Wild Holyhock
Star Chickweed
Red Baneberry
Common Yarrow
Hawk’s Beard
Parsnipflower Buckwheat
Sulfur Flower
Orange Agoseris – Mountain Dandelion
Fireweed
Tall fringed Bluebells
Yellow Salsify
Wavyleaf Thistle
Black eyed Susan
At the top!

We were to the top by 9:45. The chair lift didn’t open until 10. So, we sat for a spell and enjoyed the view. That’s what is nice about this part of the vacation. We don’t have to be on a schedule.

Top of Bald Mountain

Confession- open chairlifts stress me out. Don’t look down! Especially, at the start.

Heading down on the chairlift

We enjoyed lunch at the resort. In the afternoon we hiked the Sultan Out and Back. It was actually a loop. It’s a trail that’s available to hikers and horseback riding. It should have been named Horse Poop Trail. There were Horse Pies everywhere. I didn’t take pictures of the poo – you just have to trust me on that one. The trail stayed low on the mountain and had several nice views.

Silver Lake
The turnaround point put us on a road uphill.

We saw these new wildflowers on our afternoon hike.

Elder
Houndstongue
Yellow Salsify – going to seed

And these butterflies were EVERYWHERE! Several would fly along with us as week hiked. I used an app called PictureInsect to identify it.

Mormon Fritillary

It was a beautiful day. We finished with dinner at the resort with a former shipmate of Dave’s. The dinner and company were excellent.

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