The Historic Town of Crested Butte, Part Two

My husband and I were away for a week on Long Island, New York, celebrating our anniversary and a special milestone anniversary of my oldest brother and sister-in-law. It was hot and humid while we were in New York and there were just the beginnings of autumn color. When we returned to Colorado autumn was happily still in full bloom and today we even added a little snow to the mix! I am continuing on this post with our early autumn trip to Crested Butte, Colorado. You can see its famous 12,168-foot (3,709 m) mountain, for which it is named, in the photo above.  (All photos and photo collages will enlarge if clicked on)

There was lots of beautiful autumn color and signs directing us as we approached the historic district in the town of Crested Butte. The park bench we passed in town made me smile--this indeed, was the place!

The East River Valley, where Crested Butte is located, was once used as a summer residence by the Ute people. However, they were quickly displaced when European-Americans first entered the area. The first white people to explore the valley were beaver trappers, shortly followed by surveyors. Captain John Gunnison, after whom Gunnison County is named, was one of the early explorers to enter the area. In the 1860s and 1870s coal and silver mines began to open in the surrounding area, and many little mining towns formed. However, when silver mining began to decline, many of these towns failed. Crested Butte, however, was in a better position to survive because it served as a supply town to the surrounding area. There were proposals in the early 1970's to open molybdenum mines on Mount Emmons (also known as the "Red Lady") near Crested Butte, but the town opted to continue to develop its ski industry instead. 

Crested Butte's Mountain Resort began in the 1960's and its popularity grew.  Hotels and resorts opened on Crested Butte Mountian. The annual snowfall average in the area is 198.4 inches (504 cm) with January recording the highest average snowfall at 40 inches (100 cm), so skiing and snowboarding are full winter activities.

The ski area base is at 9,375 feet (2,858 m). 14 lifts serve 1,058 acres (4.28 km2) of terrain. 448 acres (1.81 km2) of the terrain are double black diamond runs. A large amount of extreme skiing terrain at Crested Butte has attracted the US Extreme Skiing Championships. The longest run on Mount Crested Butte is 2.6 miles (4.2 km). The town of Crested Butte has a Nordic Center which has an ice skating rink as well as many miles of groomed cross-country skiing trails. Recently, Vail Resorts purchased Crested Butte Resorts.  I hope they will retain their nickname as "The Last Great Ski Town" even as part of this resort conglomerate!

When we visited Crested Butte on the first day of autumn, we were surprised and excited to see an annual "Vinotok Festival" in the town.  If you did not read my Crested Butte--Part One blog post--click here-- you may want to see what this fun bohemian Autumn Festival is all about!

The town of Crested Butte is a charming place.  Who wouldn't want to live in this cute little purple house seen in town?

I enjoyed walking around the town taking photos of the historical buildings. The town boasts fabulous restaurants, galleries, and shops

The Victorian era homes and businesses were colorful and well kept.

Real estate has become expensive as Crested Butte's popularity has grown. I was quite surprised at the prices of small houses such as these!

Crested Butte also has the nickname as "The Wildflower Capital of Colorado" as its surrounding mountains are filled with wildflowers in the late spring and summer, and there is an annual Wildflower Festival in July. It also hosts an annual Arts Festival. Film Festival and Music Festival.

Bicycling, camping, hiking, backpacking, rock climbing, whitewater rafting and kayaking, four wheeling, disc golf, horeseback riding and fishing are all popular summer activities.

The Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum, located at 331 Elk Ave is worth a visit to learn about the history of the town and area. It is housed in what was once a blacksmith's shop and then went on to be a hardware shop that had the first gasoline pump in town.

Ranching has also been a major industry in the surrounding Crested Butte area. We passed many a scenic ranch on our drives.

We also saw such amazing autumn foliage! 

One of the drives we made in the area was on the West Elk Loop Scenic Byway, over Kebler Pass, where there were the largest and highest aspen trees I ever saw and wonderful wilderness!  More about that on my next post.

To read part one of the Crested Butte, Vinotok Autumn Festival click here.

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