Day 27 – Gunnison, Co -> Tulluride, CO -> Moab, UT

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

After a semi comfortable, semi uncomfortable sleep in my car due to the thunderstorms that came through the night before, I woke up parked directly across the street from the Gunnison County Sherrif's house. The first thing I did was to check my front windshield for a ticket. Luckily there wasn’t one so I quickly repositioned everything in my car and hit the road.

Shortly after leaving Gunnison, the scenery changed from large mountains and tall trees to smaller hills and short, stubby trees, bushes and grasses. This region had a desert like feel to it. I drove along the Blue Mesa Reservoir, Colorado’s largest body of water and the largest Kokanee Salmon fishery in the United States. If I had known that at the time I might have stopped and dropped in a line?

From within about 2 hours from Telluride, I saw the outline of the San Juan mountain range. Beautiful, tall, jagged, snow covered peaks could be seen from the distance. I drove through the town of Montrose, still 1.5 hours from Telluride but it was the most populated (~15,000) town I’ve come across since leaving Colorado Springs and the Denver area. Montrose has very affordable housing, decent conveniences and from the look of it, an ok jobs outlook. But, it’s still 1.5 hours from Telluride.

The views of the San Juan Mountains just got better and better the closer I got to Telluride. There is not much around Telluride for miles and miles. From the moment I arrived, I knew this is the type of place that would be my ultimate destination. The quaint town of Telluride is nestled down in a valley with tall, nearly vertical mountains surrounding it. This is what I think of when I picture the perfect ski town in my head. I walked around town for a few hours to get a feel for the layout. Its Main Street was lined bars and restaurants, recreational outfitters, clothing stores and the typical resort souvenir shop. People were out and about even though there was a light drizzle from above. Although there was some snow on some of the peaks, there was no snow to report on the ski hills. The gondola was running in the background, likely taking bikers to the top for some downhill action. I would classify the entire town, a ski in/ski out town. Affordability in Telluride is another story. Intrigued at how one might manage to make a living in here, I stopped in to one of the mountaineering stores and started a conversation with a guy behind the counter. He said that it basically takes 3 jobs just to get by. Jobs are hard to find and it’s usually a hotel job or something in the food and beverage industry. However, even though you have to sacrifice the means needed to make a living; this would be living at its finest! If my bank account had an additional one or two zero’s tacked on at the end, I would have already started the process of changing my address. I would have stayed in town a little longer but there was another thunderstorm on its way so I grabbed two local newspapers and headed for my car.

I set the GPS for Moab, Utah and started driving. Most of the way there, the landscape was desolate but soon I was in the middle of some large canyons. I don’t think I saw more than 20 cars in the 3-4 hours that it took, and lucky for me, I had a full gas tank because there were no gas stations either. The drive was nice and I was treated to some very energetic lightning storms. I arrived in Moab, UT around 9:30pm. Immediately I was back in civilization and I liked it. It had started raining again, so I found a quiet, dark street, rearranged my car and went to sleep.

Day 26 - Aspen to Crested Butte, CO

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

I woke up around 8:30 and started thinking about where I was going to go today. I went downstairs; Chris was already up after checking on his 3 month old daughter. Had some coffee and cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then Chris pulled out his paper maps and laptop and started planning the next few legs of my trip. After Crested Butte, he suggested going to Telluride in the San Juan mountain range, about 2-3 hours southwest of Crested Butte. From there, he had a bunch of places for me to check out in Utah. But first I wanted to head back towards Aspen to see the Maroon Bells peaks.

My annual National Parks pass got me through the entrance without having to pay a fee. The drive up to the Bells was on and off drizzling but it remained sunny. Each mile I got closer to the peaks, the more impressive they became. They almost looked like they could have been shaped by human hands. I was lucky enough to snap off a few pictures because within 10 minutes clouds suddenly swept across the mountains, almost completely making them disappear.

Crystal Lake is a lake formed by glaciers and sits close to the parking lot. There were a few people there taking pictures of the ducks and the Bells in the background. There was another glacial lake up ahead named Crater Lake. Signs pointed to the direction so I started walking. By now it started raining but at least I was wearing a rain jacket. After about 15 minutes, I stopped some passerby’s coming from the opposite direction and asked how far Crater Lake was. I still had an hour’s hike in front of me and due to the now heavy rain and slippery rocks I decided to head back to the parking and save this hike for another time. Back at the parking lot I met someone who had hiked about 10 miles from Crested Butte and was waiting for some friends to pick him up. Crested Butte was where I was headed to next.

Unfortunately, driving to Crested Butte would take 3-4 hours by car and would’ve been faster if I was walking. The only way to get there was to back track through Basalt and Carbondale and then head south from there. I’m not complaining because this drive was one of the most scenic drives of my trip so far. I took Kebler’s Pass which connects Paonia State Park with Crested Butte. Kebler’s pass is almost 30 miles of unpaved road that offered fantastic views of the surrounding West Elk Mountains. The road snaked its way up and around the entire way. Looking downward you could see gorgeous valleys of greens, reds, oranges and yellows. I also passed through amazing deep corridors of dense Aspen trees.

I finally arrived in Crested Butte which I had been anxiously awaiting because I’ve heard so many good things about it. Crested Butte is a small ski town. A lot of the houses were built in the 1800’s. Many of them were well kept but others looked like they were about to fall over. There was, for the most part, one “Main Street” which had a pizza shop, a few bars, an art gallery, a fly fishing shop and a few other stores. Main Street had a really neat vibe; people were out walking around, riding a bike or having a few beers at an outside table. It seems to be very dog friendly and is also small enough that you are bound to know everyone after a while of living there. The parallel streets surrounding Main Street were just houses, none were extravagant but many were tiny and run down. The ski resort is about 5 minutes up the hill by car. The town also had a video store, two gas stations and a small grocery store. Even the run down houses were expensive but there didn’t seem like there was any way to make a living there. I would say the average age of Crested Butte is somewhere in the mid thirties. My friend Chris called the people living there “trustafarians”, kids living off of their parents trust funds. I think that pretty much sums it up. I would also bet that 20% of the inhabitants could quote verbatim, every word to “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”.

It would probably be a fun place to live if you didn’t have to worry about making a rent or mortgage payment. Even though I heard so much good stuff about Crested Butte, I don’t’ think it was the place for me.

One cool thing that happened as I was leaving Crested Butte; I happened upon my first wild elk herd. It was a large herd too, almost 30 elk!

Since I didn’t have any plans to stay in Crested Butte, I proceeded to Gunnison, CO to get me a little closer to Telluride for the next day. I could see dark storm clouds in the distance and once I arrived in Gunnison it started to rain, lightly at first and then it poured, and with it lots of thunder and lightning. I wasn’t going to look for a place to pitch a tent tonight. Instead, I rearranged my car, putting everything I could behind the driver’s seat to leave me some room to stretch out. My space was about six inches too short and the same too narrow to really get comfortable, but it would have to do.

Day 25 - Denver to Aspen, CO

Tuesday, October 5th, 2010

By the time I finally got my car packed and ready to go it was already 12:30pm, later than I wanted to be on the road. Today’s agenda was to drive west into the mountains to check out some ski towns expecting to end the day somewhere between Aspen and Crested Butte. I spent most of the day in the car. It's been difficult staying current with this blog because most of the time spent driving through the mountains I have very little cell signal, let alone an internet connection.

Out of the Denver area I took SR-470 until it connected with I-70W and headed in the direction of Grand Junction. I didn’t realize that there were as many ski resorts on I-70 as there were. I passed signs for Eldora, Winter Park, A-Basin, Loveland, Keystone, Copper, Breckenridge, Vail and Beaver Creek. I didn’t really stop to look around at any of them because they are really all in the middle of nowhere on I-70, and I'm not that interested in a 2-3 hour drive to get to them. However, there were two towns that I passed on I-70 that I might like to do some research on. Dillon and Frisco appeared to be moderate sized towns with the possibility of jobs and they're not too far from the resorts.

The highlight of the time spent on I-70 was my first sighting of snowy peaks; I believe it was near Georgetown. The small amount of snow wasn’t enough to ski on, nor was it even on a ski resort but it was a small sign that we won’t have to wait too much longer. You have to find happiness in the little things.

From I-70W I headed south on SR-82 through Glenwood Springs which looks like a nice little town. I pulled out the Zillow app on my phone to check out some real estate prices. After a few clicks, the results said “move on”. So I did. I drove through Carbondale and Basalt, also nice towns. Shortly after I reached the mountains of Snowmass, Buttermilk, Aspen Highlands and Aspen. Sad to report there was no snow visible anywhere. It’s not too surprising because the weather has been so warm that I still haven’t put on a pair of long pants since I left NJ. This part of Colorado is very scenic; tall mountains, white aspen trunks with bright yellow leaves and dark pines and evergreens in the background. Most of the roads seem to run alongside streams and rivers as fly fisherman wade up to their knees testing their skills. I walked around downtown Aspen for a little while and got a bite to eat. It’s the same as I remembered it, and I remember I liked it a lot!

It was starting to get dark so it was time to think about finding a spot to set up camp. Before I left Denver, I researched some campgrounds beforehand to give me a head start on the process. I followed SR-82 out of Aspen to Difficult Campground, part of the White River National Forest. It was a beautiful drive, nature at its finest. I knew this was going to be a nice place to stay. Upon arriving, I saw these big gates blocking the entrance to the tent sites. Closed for the season. Just my luck. There happened to be a park ranger nearby observing a photo shoot of some kind so I went over and asked if he knew of anywhere I could set up a tent. To the best of his knowledge, everything was closed. He even called into the ranger station but the response still came back with nothing.

I had three choices. 1) Sleep in my car. 2) Continue on to Crested Butte. 3) Call a friend who lives in Basalt, not too far from Aspen.

Option #3 sounded the best so I called an old friend from the summers living at Long Beach Island. I tried calling a few times but only got his answering machine. Crested Butte was a good 3-4 hours away and I didn’t want to start that drive, plus I wanted to see the Maroon Bells Peaks in the morning, which was only a few minutes from Aspen. It was looking like I was going to spend the night in my car so I started driving around to look for a quiet place to pull over that wouldn’t draw too much attention. It wasn’t looking good and then I got a call from my friend Chris in Basalt. I had a place to stay! Within 20 minutes, I was hanging out with Chris, his wife Sibby and dog Haden, enjoying a few Fat Tire Amber Ales and catching up on the past 15 or so years.

Thank god for friends!

Day 18, 19, 20 – Denver, Colorado

Not a whole lot to report the past few days. I’ve been staying with my father's cousin Howard and his wife Theresa in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, a little south of Denver. It’s been another nice break from traveling in a car and having to find a new place to set up every night.

The first day, I took the light rail, Littleton-Mineral to 16^th Street into downtown Denver. I was told that when I got there, the Wynkoop Brewery would be a good place to have lunch. I walked down the pedestrian only 16^th street which was mainly shopping and restaurants. Like any city, it was crowded but not overly so.

I arrived at Wynkoop within 10 minutes of stepping off the light rail. Wynkoop Brewery is Denver’s oldest brewery and produced 1,602 barrels of beer in the first half of 2010, a pittance compared to the almost 4.5M barrels produced at Budweiser at Fort Collins. After a quick lunch I would be off to see the downtown. I ordered a buffalo burger and a Mile HI.P.A. To make a long story short, I proceeded to work my way through the beer list, leaving only two for another time. About five hours later, it was time for me to catch the light rail back in time for dinner. I can’t say I saw much of the downtown but I had a great time meeting some cool people and trying some great beer. Top recommendation: Mile HI.P.A.

The following day, yesterday, was rather low key. I had my car in the shop for most of the afternoon for an oil change after only 2 ½ weeks and almost 3,000 miles, and a radiator flush. It feels good to have the Subaru ready for action again.

This morning, Howard, his friend Elliot and I played 18 holes at the Fox Hollow golf course in Lakewood. It was a perfect day for golf, about 80 degrees and very little wind. I was very happy with my 91, especially considering I haven’t played in four months and was using borrowed clubs. The sun is strong in the mile high city, even with sun block I got a little bit of a sun burn. And yes, the ball does fly considerably farther at higher elevations.

Tomorrow I think I’m going to check out Colorado Springs and Pike’s Peak.

Day 17 - Boulder, Colorado

I was lucky to find the camping area at Longs Peak last night. It sure beat sleeping in the car. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a lot of sleep. I was woken up around 3am by some pretty high winds that came through Rocky Mountain National Park. Of course, this was the night that I didn’t think I needed to put in the tent spikes to hold down my fort. The only thing holding my tent from blowing away was me inside trying to sleep. It was the wind and the movement of my tent that woke me up, but once awake I could hear some rustling with what sounded like a metal box. I wondered why someone would be up at 3am and making noise by banging on a metal container? The blowing wind kept me up the rest of the night.

I laid awake until about 7am when I decided that I might as well pack up the tent and head on to Boulder to check out the town. As I exited my tent, I noticed directly behind it (paced at 12 yards), a brown metal container. Apparently, this was a bear-proof, food containment box. People put food items in these to keep bears from coming into their tents or breaking into their cars. Since I set up my tent in the dark, I didn’t noticed how close I was to one of these. I don’t know for sure, who or what, was trying to get into this food container behind my tent at 3am, but if I had my guess, it was probably big, black, furry and cuddly looking.

I followed US-7 south from Longs Peak and arrived in Boulder by 8:30. Boulder lies right at the foot of the eastern section of the Rockies coined the “The Flatirons”, named from the five rock formations that represent the shape of flat, metal clothing irons.

I had formed my first impression within about 5 minutes upon entering Boulder, loved it! It seemed like a very active town with lots of bicyclists and pedestrians out and about. I drove down Broadway Street which was lined with beautiful, well maintained houses and modern shops that eventually led to the University of Colorado at Boulder. I stopped to get a bite to eat and then took advantage of Border’s book store’s free WiFi to finish the blog from the day before. Border’s was tucked into an outdoor shopping mall lined with some upper end retail shops and lots of restaurants and eateries. It was a perfectly sunny day but already into the upper 80s. I pulled my mountain bike down from the roof of my car and decided to explore the hippie, granola (insert any tree hugger reference here) town on two wheels instead of four. After about 3 hours of riding around, I think I covered most of the main areas. For having a population close to 100k, Boulder has a small town feel and just about everything that I am looking for.

I realize that I am going to have to work on some sort of a rating system in order to rank possible relocation areas based on the criteria that are most important to me. Since I don’t have a system in place, a simple pros/cons list will have to suffice for now.

Pros

· Active, outdoor community

· Pedestrian, bicycle and animal friendly

· Proximity to hiking, biking, fishing, rock climbing and skiing

· All conveniences of a large town with small town feel

· Pedestrian only historical area (shopping, cafes, breweries)

· Qdoba

· Public transportation

· Weather (300+ days of sunshine)

Cons

· Cost of living, expensive housing

· Proximity to skiing. Close by NJ standards (1-2 hours) but I would prefer to be closer

· Weather – Hot summers and mild winters. Average snowfall in town is only 83”. Most snow melts away within a day or two.

Boulder summary: I like it, a lot! I still have plenty of locations on my list to check out, but Boulder will be high on the consideration list.

After spending the day in Boulder, I decided a warm bed would be a nice change so I headed to Highland’s Ranch, just outside of Denver where my father’s cousin and wife (Howard and Theresa) have opened their doors to me.

Mileage update: 2,849.9