Telluride & Crested Butte, Colorado

During our short 2 hour drive to Telluride we learned that there was a mushroom festival in town and of course all of the campgrounds were booked. Just as we were losing hope, a magical castle appeared in the distance. Ok, really it was just a nice, rustic hotel, but at the time, it sure seemed like a castle. The Angler Inn was just outside of Telluride and truly was a dream. They were pet friendly, had a delicious restaurant, continental breakfast, corn hole, an outdoor patio and an insanely comfortable bed — all for $110. With our stomachs full, we got a great night of sleep before our next 2 nights in the wilderness with Erica’s brother, Pierce. If you are ever looking for a place to stay around Telluride, we highly recommend it!

We took off the next morning and were instructed to put “Last Dollar Road” into our GPS. More than half way through our trip, the name felt very fitting. We hit the dirt road and drove the Last Dollar up the mountains to an incredible view point, where we’d be meeting up with Erica’s brother. Mountain bikers, jeeps and ATVs seemed to have a similar idea and also confirmed our suspicion, that this was the best view in the Telluride. In true form, Pierce arrived in his lifted Jeep with a trunk full of groceries and cold Colorado beers. He asked if we liked the view and when we said yes, he said well that’s great because this is our home for the night! We found the perfect spot nestled in the woods and set up camp. This was clearly not Pierce’s first camping rodeo. He made tarp hanging seem like an art form, his cooler looked like a stop n shop and man were his beers cold. We still have lots to learn.

We headed in to Telluride to check out the town and of course the mushroom festival. First up was the mansion on Bridal Veil Falls. No one’s exactly sure how you get there…or how it got there, but the house on top of the falls is one heck of a sight. Wanting some mountain top views of our own, we headed up the free and pet friendly tram to the top of the ski mountain. Covered in wild flowers and rays of sun, we were definitely a little bit closer to heaven.

Next up was the mushroom festival and we rolled in just in time for the parade. It’s still unclear if the festival was for psychedelic or regular mushrooms, but one thing was clear….everyone was on something. From hand made costumes to unicycles, the short 10 block parade did not disappoint. As the saying goes, if you can’t beat em join em, so we too started chanting “WE LOVE MUSHROOMS” and joined the parade. Obviously hungry after thinking about mushrooms, we headed to Oak for some BBQ and a night cap. We made it back to our camp in the woods just in time for bed.

We woke up the next day to fresh chocolate pancakes and maple bacon on the griddle. If anyone doesn’t know the secret to getting Erica out of bed, it’s the fresh scent of bacon. Ready to start the day, we broke down our camp and headed to Lost Lake campground in Crested Butte. We stopped in the a one horse town to grab lunch from a tiny farm to table restaurant…there’s a good chance we were also on the farm and pet the one horse. If we thought the wild flowers were crazy in Telluride, then Crested Butte took things to a whole new level. We picked a prime camping spot on the lake, in a field of flowers and said hello to our neighbors in their Vanawagon (mostly we were extremely jealous). We learned that they travel in their VW to different festivals and parties to do face painting and glitter. In their spare time, they are bird watchers. That’s it, forget Apple…..we’re going to trade it all in to join their circus…if it gets us a Vanawagon. We spent the afternoon debating our career choices, attempting to fish, enjoying the calm setting and of course picking wild flowers for the dinner table. Pierce had dinner all dialed in. We dined on morrocan chicken, veggies and cous cous. We added in some brussel sprouts and a salad and ate like royalty. The sky was incredibly clear so for desert we had smores made with Reece's and a view of the milky way.

Saying goodnight, we settled in our tent as Pierce folded down his seats and rolled out his 5” mattress to sleep on a Queen size bed in his car. Just as we soon as we fell asleep, we were awake and in the middle of a thunder and lightening storm. It was crazy to think how clear the sky had been a few hours ago and how terrifying it was now! Roux crept into our sleeping bags and passed out while we contemplated our safety. Not only did Pierce have a bed, he had rubber tires….wasn’t that a thing….we were on the ground with a piece of nylon between us and bolts of sheer energy. Why didn’t the bear spray mention what to do in a lightening storm? There were no seconds between lightening and thunder and were 100% sure there is a massive tree in the woods next to us that’s no longer alive. We laid awake, watching the sky light up above us for an hour and as the storm calmed, so did we.

It’s as if Pierce new we needed a power breakfast after a night dodging lightening bolts. He whipped u some fresh cinnamon and sugar donuts, of course with a side of bacon. 4 dozen donuts later, we laughed about the storm and Pierce informed us he was up half the night and made sure we were ok. If it had been that bad, he would have shared his queen bed. We headed into the town of Crested Butte for lunch and a dose of reality. The town is actually really cool and what we imagined Breckenridge or Vail to have been years ago, before it became a tourist attraction. The streets were lined with old victorian homes, there were tons of restaurants and bars with patios and of course lots of dogs. We switched up the cuisine and had thai food for lunch, which seems to be a ski town favorite. Ready for our final stretch in Colorado, we hopped in the car and headed towards Salida. The small town was our last top before New Mexico and hot temperatures. We said goodbye to Pierce and thanked him for a solid 2 days of Colorado camping along with a lot of key learnings. Tarp hanging is tricky but once you get the hang of it, it’s a camping life saver. Sleeping on a mattress in your car has serious benefits. And when in doubt, make donuts for breakfast.

Angler: another word for fisherman
Donut Secret: Pillsbury Biscuits