Tony and I had an epic summer 6-week road trip planned to the Canadian Rockies including to many of the National Parks in British Columbia and Alberta. After weeks of planning, making reservations and packing, the day to pick up the van from storage arrived and we abruptly canceled the entire trip. The summer heat wave of July had descended on Canada and the temperature at our first stop in Kelowna, British Columbia was forecasted to be 108 degrees. The 10-day forecast for that area was much of the same and the thought of trying to “vacation” inside a van in 100+ degree temperatures was more than either of us could fathom so we canceled the reservations and unpacked with a collective sigh and cranky attitude (Tracey). The heat continued to be oppressive in Southern Arizona where daytime temperatures were almost always over 100 degrees, usually 108+ degrees and nighttime temperatures didn’t fall below 80 degrees. We began to brainstorm where we could go that had predictably cooler temperatures and immediately Crested Butte, CO became our new destination. Great weather and an easy drive for us, too! This wouldn’t be the epic 6-week trip we had planned, just a quick 2-week trip, but at least it would get us out of the heat for a bit.

Three weeks after our initial departure date from our canceled trip, we departed for Crested Butte, CO via Mesa Verde National Park. Even though this park is at elevation, the daytime temperatures were still a bit too warm for vanlife, but we made do the best we could by seeking out every bit of shade we could find. Tony went solo on a ranger guided hike to the Balcony House as I had what I thought was a migraine only to realize later on it was actually an altitude headache as the park is at 8400 feet. Tony said the Balcony House hike involved crawling up primitive ladders and crawling on his hands and knees through tunnels to reach the archeological site but that it was a great tour and way to see the cliff dwellings of the ancient Puebloan people up close and personal. This park is always one of our favorites for not only the natural beauty, but also for the ability to explore the cliff dwellings which are incredibly well preserved.

We were not able to take our normal direct driving route to Crested Butte due to road closure, so we detoured on a rural scenic route adding 1.5 hours to our trip. A portion of this drive on Scenic Byway Route 114 through Cochetopa Creek Canyon was spectacular as it took us for 20 miles winding back and forth along the canyon floor in between steep canyon walls on both sides.  We stopped for some provisioning in Gunnison, CO including at the new Natural Grocer and also for a quick “stretch our legs” walk which we are now calling the Lord of Flies hike as we were mauled by horse flies, bees and mosquitos the entire route. I didn’t think my body could move that fast anymore, but we almost light jogged this trail. 😊

Crested Butte is one of our favorite places however finding 2 weeks of legal and easy to access camping spots is not the easiest of feats in this area, so we booked an expensive (for us!) in-town campground at $90/night. It ended up working out OK as the location was perfect, we had access to showers, electrical and water connections (which we didn’t need or use) and the campground itself was quiet and peaceful. Although campgrounds aren’t usually our “thing” in this case it worked out well and we would go back again in the future just for the sheer convenience of it.

I have said this before if Telluride, CO and Leadville, CO had a baby, it would be Crested Butte. There are still all the (uber) rich folk like there are in Telluride but in Crested Butte everyone seems to be outdoor oriented like they are in Leadville. People, in general, are much more laid back and less “look at me” like in many of the other mountain towns. Almost every vehicle has a rack on it loaded with mountain bikes or dirt bikes. Crested Butte is much more geared towards the Patagonia brand crowd than the Prada crowd, but don’t get me wrong even the most average looking houses cost millions of dollars and there are lots of G-wagons lining the streets. The weather was absolutely perfect and exactly what we were looking for with daytime highs around 78 degrees and overnight temperatures down to the mid-40 degrees. It was heavenly! It is also very easy to drive and park in Crested Butte with lots of cute stores and restaurants. We had pizza at Secret Stash which had a delicious vegan (and gluten-free) pizza option for us. There were lots of wildlife sightings including pronghorns, quite a few snakes, chipmunkers and Magpies (Tony’s favorite). We were moose adjacent which we were told is a rare thing in Crested Butte but we couldn’t actually get a solid view of the mama moose and her babies due to the tall grass. Crested Butte is the wildflower capital of Colorado but we never seem to time it quite right for peak blooms. Last year we were too early and this year we were a couple of weeks too late. The colors were still present, but the flowers themselves were past their peak. Another aspect we love about Crested Butte is all of the dogs. We were one of only a few people without a dog, so fortunately we got to pet and play with quite a few during our time there. Let’s just say this crowd likes their poodles and doodles. Lastly, Crested Butte feels pretty safe to us. The number of $5000-$10,000 bikes and e-bikes we saw parked in the downtown area without any type of lock or theft deterrent was mind boggling.

Our days in Crested Butte were spent walking, hiking and biking, but on this visit we spent considerably more time on Mount Crested Butte as the temperatures were just a few degrees cooler due to the extra elevation. We hiked the Woods Walk to see the (fading) wildflowers, the East River trail were we could see the whole valley below us, the very popular Snodgrass Trail which was a butt burner due to the elevation gain, the Crested Butte Meadows trail which took us in a giant loop around the town itself and lastly the Grant’s Lake trail which I think was “technically” partly a private trail, but nobody we met along the way seemed to care we were on it. We did a bunch of new hikes on this trip and explored some different areas we had not previously been to before. Most mornings, we would walk along the lovely multi-use path in Mount Crested Butte including getting a short work-out in on the free outdoor gym. Tony was in biking heaven and he was able to get a bike ride in every day with his favorite being along Washington Gulch Road. He said that drivers were very respectful of sharing the road and giving him wide berth when passing, probably because most of the drivers were also bikers.

In addition to our outdoor activities, we also had a picnic dinner at an outdoor music concert hosted by  Center for the Arts Crested Butte, took an outdoor yoga class which included a “sound bath” from large crystal bowls and also visited the downtown Crested Butte Arts Festival including meeting a photographer (www.glennlewisphotography.com) who was selling photos from his recent Antarctica trip which included many similar (but better) shots of penguins then I had taken this past February on my trip.

The only negative of our trip to Crested Butte was our #@%$& heater stopped working AGAIN. Tony worked hard to get the heater working, literally trying to start it at least 100 times plus taking it partially apart, manually priming the gas line with a syringe and inspecting the filters but it never worked even once on this entire trip. This is the only piece of equipment we had professionally installed in our DIY van and it is the only thing that does not consistently and reliably work. We have already had the burner, fuel pump and glow plug replaced last year at a certified dealer when it was previously not working, so there are not many more parts left to replace as it is a fairly simple piece of equipment. It worked fairly well after the last repair including on our recent April trip, but this trip we just suffered the cold mornings without heat. We have spent more money on repairs than the entire unit costs new and we are quite frustrated with it. Our Truma heater in our new European van works flawlessly, so that just compounds our feelings towards this PoC Webasto heater. We haven’t decided what to do with it at this point whether we replace the few remaining parts, replace the whole thing or just do without supplemental heat but that is a saga for another day.

After leaving Crested Butte we made a detour to spend a few days in Taos and Santa Fe, NM. We have driven through this area and spent a few hours there before, but never fully explored this area. We stopped and walked across the Rio Grande Gorge Suspension Bridge, saw many cool Earthships, parked up in downtown Taos and walked around the cute shops and discovered the best chocolate we have ever eaten. Chokalite had artisanal single origin bars from Bolivia which produced the creamiest and fruitiest dark chocolate we have ever experienced all for the price of $15 for a very small bar…but so worth it! Naturally 65% cocoa butter and the bar has no added cocoa butter as most dark chocolate does making for truly amazing chocolate! We drove the High Road to Taos, stopping at several of the Mission Churches along the way. We also stopped at Santuario de Chimayo which is hard to explain but part Catholic church, part healing center and part Tewa Indian sacred site. We came 30 minutes before closing and we had the property almost all to ourselves which is good as over 300,000 people visit this location every year. In Santa Fe, we got up early and hiked the Dale Ball Trail which is a very popular local hike just outside the city. We took a self-guided GPS walking tour of the historic Santa Fe downtown area, visited the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (I loved, loved, loved this museum and Georgia was an amazing artist and pioneer!), explored the Railyard area of Santa Fe and Tony got in a bike ride. We stayed for a few nights at a lovely and peaceful Boondockers Welcome spot in Galiesto, NM. The owners were vanlifers themselves who previously shipped their DIY van to Europe so we had a lot to talk about.

The temperatures were already climbing while in New Mexico and continued to do so as we pushed further south with Southern Arizona in our sights.  We made a quick stop in Hatch, NM for some yummy spices before continuing home where the temperature was 113 degrees upon our arrival. Ugh! We did a quick unpack and Tony got up early the following morning to clean the inside and wash the outside of the van while I tackled the laundry. Tofu was safely back in bougie storage by 10 AM the morning after our arrival. We don’t know when our next trip in Tofu will be, but we are thinking about Sedona this Fall?

Overall, it was a great trip and exactly what we needed to get a break from the scorching summer temperatures of Arizona. We are flying back to Europe in early September to tour in our new van, Chickpea, and further explore France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany where there will hopefully be cooler temperatures.

Onwards!

Miles driven on this trip: 1926 miles

Sightings: Cybertrucks (Tracey = 4, Tony = 2), Tiger (Tracey = 1), Earthroamer (Tony = 1)