A Rite of Adventure: Final Leg

Crested Butte is a small town that sits within a saddle of mountains that act as a barrier to a quick drive from Denver. Those mountains provide some great skiing, among other alpine sports, so if you're willing to travel a bit further than Aspen or Breckenridge, a hidden treat awaits you.

Perhaps its most extraordinary feature is the Center for the Arts - a size and scope you’d expect to find in a small city. The town had 1500 people in the 2010 census, and you could probably fit them all in its arts centre. At a squeeze.

The design of local homes employs natural materials, like cedar and stone, with smallish yards and welcoming sidewalks, all within a short walk of its Main Street. People amble down the streets. As far as I can tell, it only lacks bluebirds chirping and Andy Griffiths patrolling its streets.

Above the town is the mountain, and in the summer they’ve cleverly re-jigged the slopes for mountain biking. The downhill treks are segmented into difficulty level, from blue beginners to double-black diamonds, just like skiing. Except with mountain biking, with its lack of soft snow landings, the double-blacks look truly insane. So we donned our safety gear, and gave it a go.

We were both surprised how demanding a downhill bike ride can be; after each run we were feeling it all over! But also loving it - Charlotte got better and faster with every run.

That evening, we were treated to a light show. A huge storm rolled over the mountains, and about three in the morning we were woken by the crack of thunder. We peered out the window, and were rewarded with nature’s own disco. Like a massive strobe light, the lightening brightened the mountain silhouettes with eerie regularity. Crack, boom, ahhhh. It was easy to imagine why people once thought such storms were the product of gods fighting one another.

The next day we headed for more white water rafting, this time down the Royal Gorge. These were more Class 4 rapids than we’d done previously, and it was such a successful trip we decided to try kayaking. For beginners, they rent ‘duckies’ – inflatable kayaks which are easier to keep afloat than classic kayaks. Charlotte was a natural, and ended up going for a swim even less than me!

We both so thoroughly enjoyed the kayaking that we went back for another day of it. Great fun.

Our final 14er would be Mount Huron. In many ways, this would have been the easiest mountain we’d climbed. It was a simple hike, with only 3500 feet of elevation gain, and about 5 miles to the top, on a trail that was easy to follow. After the sublime joy of the Mount Sneffels sunrise summit, Charlotte and I decided to go for another, so we started climbing early. This time, the weather was a factor. It was cold.

By the time we got to the ridge of the summit, just before 6am, the winds were blowing about 50mph, with a wind chill below freezing. We hadn’t expected this. Charlotte didn’t even have gloves, and we both lacked the right clothing. I gave Charlotte my gloves, and we plodded along to the summit.

The last ¼ mile probably took us 45 minutes, with each step feeling like a little achievement. Just pressing against the wind was its own task; advancing against it cost extra. By the time we got to the summit, we were spent. We found a bit of rock to act as a shield, lay in each others arms for warmth, and just fell asleep.

I've just woken up. Uggh..

When we woke up we’d missed the official sunrise, but didn’t care. We scurried down the mountain, just eager to warm up. Oddly, we both agreed later it was one of our favourite experiences, just because getting to the top had been such a challenge – perhaps the toughest one. Rewarding, yes; sublime, no.

That was our final day in the wild, so we returned to Denver with a couple of days to explore the city. We stayed at the 11th Avenue Hotel and Hostel, which was celebrating its 111th birthday. This place is a bargain. About $50/night for a clean hotel in the centre of a major city - who can complain about that? Its only downside is communal bathrooms, but you have privacy once inside, and we spent most of the day out and about anyway. I wish hostels were more common.

Denver has heaps to do. We loved the 16th Street Mall - it's like an American version of Las Ramblas in Barcelona, except without all the birds. We really enjoyed Denver - it's meant to be one of the fastest growing cities in America, and always ranks as one of the happiest places to live, and we could see why.

To keep active, we hit the batting cages where Charlotte was, you guessed it, a natural. Within an hour she was hitting like a champ.