Crested Butte 2024
|
Yesterday
was the end of trails for several of the Early CJ-5 folks. Montana,
Wyoming and I will add one short, easy trail to the trip this morning -
Gunsite Pass. We can't get up to the pass but we can get up to the mine
location. |
| Looks like a VW group is in town |
| Cattle grazing |
| Calm water |
| River crossing to start the trail. |
| Ski runs |
| A fair bit of mining in the area |
| See the cabin on the mountainside? Bright roof in the center of the picture... |
| I wonder what the structure up in the trees is? |
| Not much "tan fan" of mine rock on the mountainside - but there are straight lines that catch my eye. |
| What looks like white water cascading is white coloring on the rocks |
| The main mine buildings area |
| Panorama Click for a larger size |
| The collapsed mine entrance - rails coming out from the mountainside. |
| Someone's out hiking |
| The white colored rocks |
| A fair bit of roads |
| The end of the road sign, circled in green. |
| Panorama Click for a larger size |
| Panorama Click for a larger size |
| Panorama Click for a larger size |
| A cyclist passed us - he's headed over and down the other side. |
| Looking
down from above the thought became - is that a thermal pool? With the
clarity, coloring, and a dark area in the middle the question was made.
We stopped to dip a finger into the water - warm or cold. |
| Cold |
| Hmmm - straight lines in nature - often a "mark of man". This horizontal line is a mine path. No longer open to Jeeps. |
| End of the trails with the Early CJ-5 group... |
| Panorama Click for a larger size I'm putting air in my tires as the other two (Montana and Wyoming) Early CJ-5 folks are talking. When my tires are aired up we'll part ways. |
| I'm
headed west from Crested Butte, over Kebler Pass, to the town of
Marble. I want to see the town of Marble and the short mile of trail to
the Lost Trail Road intersection we traveled on the first day of this
trip. From there I'll decide upon the route to home. |
| Over Kebler Pass we're sliding down the west side to CO-133 |
| There are many Aspen trees on this route |
| Out from Kebler Pass, we're heading north on CO-133 looking up the valley from where we just came. |
| The dam for Paonia Reservoir |
| Water level looks low. |
| There was roadside rockfall work happening. |
| McClure Pass up there to the right |
| Heading
down from McClure Pass, I'm following a pickup towing a camper. HOT
BRAKES was the smell. We're looking up the valley for the town of
Marble - that's where we're heading. |
| A
map in the town of Marble. On the first day of the jeep trip we came in
on the yellow Schofield Pass trail (bottom right corner) and did a
counter-clockwise red Lead King Loop trail. Today I'm looking to visit
the small bit of trail from the town of Marble to the left/western edge
of the loop (Plus get some BBQ). |
| A fun CJ-5 picking up a passenger at the BBQ joint. |
| I'm seated
at an outside bar overlooking the parking lot and a new customer
(lady and a kid) walked up for a seat. They were seated next to me and
I heard her say to the hostess, "We are out of gas". I know of no gas station in Marble. While someone in town (the fire station perhaps) likely has some gas, finding it could be a task. I have a green jerry can on the jeep with 5 gallons in it. I said to her "I have gas for you". That took a problem off of her plate and she said - "I'll buy your dinner". Deal. I enjoyed some good food, handed my bill to her, and walked out to fill her white car that was parked nearby. With her car filled, good leftovers in my fridge, I left to travel the short mile of trail. |
| Her car - I'll walk over to fully close the gas door. |
| Beaver Lake Headed east for that one mile of trail... Nice summer late afternoon sun. |
| An
SUV filled with four guys looking for one of the good campsites on Lead
King Basin - I told them I passed a few great sites a few days prior -
they are looking forward to good camping. |
| The
intersection I was at a few days prior. We came in from the left edge,
turned left, and exited straight ahead - towards the Crystal Mill. |
| The Spicy / Very Spicy sign catches my eye. |
| Earlier
in the day, at the Crested Butte gas station, there was a rollback with
a buggy on it. The driver commented that the Devil's Punchbowl is
closed with a Range Rover on its side. We weren't headed that way so
not of much concern for our day up Gunsight Pass. On this short section of trail out of Marble I passed this Rover and asked if there was anything I could help with. Both folks (guy & lady) seemed a bit dejected but didn't ask for help. I continued on to the desired intersection and turned back. Coming back to the Rover I stopped and talked. The passenger side tires were flat (sidewall slices). The spare was already sliced flat. They were working at putting the RF wheel onto the Rover. I found out they were the folks that flopped on the trail earlier in the day. The Rover was running but needed two tires. Their screw scissor jack was NOT lifting the vehicle. Their bottle jack lost its fluid and seemed to have air in the hydraulic circuit. I had some brake fluid and we filled the jack but for the life of me / us, we could not bleed the simple hydraulic circuit of air. I pulled out the Hi-Lift and he chose a spot behind the RF wheel. He jacked a couple jacks and could not jack any more. I gave it a try and HOLY COW I could not operate the handle. I hung my full body weight off of the end of the end of the handle and the vehicle would not jack up. How heavy is that vehicle??? We toyed and tried a few options and ended up with enough space to put a flat tire/sacrificial wheel onto the hub. I followed as they drove, slowly, to the BBQ parking lot. There is no cell coverage in town and the BBQ joint did not advertise wifi so I turned on my internet and they started calling for tires. WalMart tires was closed (Friday evening). There were other tire shops around Glenwood Springs and over to Rifle. I decided to stay the night and called the nearby campground. No reply so I drove over. Chatting with one customer at the campground he offered for me to stay at his site. I went back to the BBQ place, where the Rover folks had ordered dinner, to chat with them on plans. I said I'll stay the night and will drive to get them tires in the morning. We'll need a jack to remove the wheels and what type of jack would they want. The campground customer came to the BBQ place (quite nice of him) to offer any of us to stay at his spot and to use the shower/bathroom facility. He, and another guy in a side-by-side, were quite willing to help - well appreciated. In the end, I left and told the Rover folks I would be back to the parking lot at 7am. I drove to Glenwood Springs, purchased a jack, found a hotel and called it a night. |
