Lower Loop Trail

Peanut Lake perfectly still this morning with a beautiful reflection of Gothic mountain

Calm reflection

Butter and Eggs

a new flower for me found hiding under a bush, literally (Bottle Gentian, Mountain Gentian, Parry's Gentian, one and the same)

hallie spotted this hawk high up in the top of a tree

and off he goes

took a little side trip off the trail down to the Slate River

new trail map posted

my favorite view of Paradise Valley and the Slate River

Hallie was intrigued by the water pattern across these rocks

beaver dam

beaver dam on the Slate

kookie little shack on the trail. kind of a landmark now.

Travis flew in yesterday and spent the night to take Ben and Ashley back home to Huntsville on his plane. We had planned to have breakfast at Izzy's this morning to say goodbye to them. Danny wasn't feeling well so he stayed home while we went into town. Everyone got a good breakfast and we said goodbye. Hallie and I decided to walk the Lower Loop trail this morning and it was a beautiful day to do it.

Silver Queen and Washington Gulch

Riding the Silver Queen

view of Crested Butte from the Overlook

View of the resort from the Overlook

Watched a Paraglider jump off the mountain

Ashley fell in love with this little guy. Hallie brought birdseed just in case we saw some.

We were really missing Noah for this picture

our view at lunch up Washington Gulch

Gothic Mountain, Snodgrass, Crested Butte and then Round Mountain

a cross nailed up in one of the trees

Ashley saw cows run for the first time ever. These guys made quite a traffic jam.

view from Gothic Road back toward Crested Butte

Ben and Ashley arrived yesterday along with Danny. This is Ashley's first time to be here and Ben has never been here in the summer. Because they won't have much time to acclimate, we decided to take it easy on this trip and give them an idea of what CB has to offer in the summer. We rode the Silver Queen up to the top of the mountain which was really a neat thing for Ben since he has skied the mountain before. Ashley had never ridden a ski lift and was a little nervous but decided that she could really spend all day riding up and down if they would let her. After spending some time at the Overlook, we went home and packed a picnic lunch for a drive out to Washington Gulch. The view was spectacular and we watched a storm gather around the mountain but it didn't come our way. After lunch we drove down Gothic road to see a different valley view and then called it a day for touring. Ben and Ashley rode the bus into town to spend some time checking out the shops. It was a great day!

Silver Queen lift and Overlook

up the Silver Queen lift

view of the town of Crested Butte from the Overlook

view of the Town of Mt. Crested Butte from the Overlook

Dark Eyed Junco (grey-headed race)

view as we climb the Peak trail

These guys aren't on a trail to the Peak, they are actually climbing the side of the mountain attached to each other

the fattest things you've ever seen

they will run right up your pants legs if they think you have some food

a Pika in the rocks where they make their home.

This was our destination, but I wanted to climb just a little bit further.

Hallie waited below while I went on up

another cutie

couldn't believe this Pika got so close to me. They look like rabbits with mice ears and no tails. They only eat grasses, so they don't beg for our food like the chipmunks

this was what I wanted to see by climbing higher

and a quick peek to the other side as these folks head on up to the Peak

the Silver Queen lift

riding the lift back down

Another favorite bus...the Aspen bus

Hallie and I went up the Silver Queen lift which is one of our most favorite things to do. We had initially planned to only go to the overlook, but we had so much energy, we decided to walk further up the trail toward the peak. We had no intention to climb to the peak, but we knew where to stop so we could see all the little chipmunks and hopefully catch sight of a Pika and Marmot. We saw the Pikas, but no Marmots. There were some kids from the Adaptive Sports program that we coming down from climbing to the peak and were so proud of themselves. We enjoyed speaking to them and encouraging them.