Crested Butte: Flower power deep in the heart of Colorado

by Helen Anders, Austin American-Statesman

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. - Now that the skiers have departed and the snow has melted from the meadows, wildflowers are seizing their day, popping up all over. By midsummer they'll be blanketing this little town tucked into the Rocky Mountains about 250 miles southwest of Denver.

The Colorado Legislature has designated this the state's Wildflower Capital, and Crested Butte has indeed let that go to its head. It fills the summer with festivals dedicated to music, mountain biking and the flowers themselves.

It takes time (five hours from Denver) to drive across the mountains and into Crested Butte, and I've always considered that a good thing.

Whether you arrive on Forest Road 306 from the east across Cottonwood Pass (12,126 feet) , on County Road 12 across 9,980-foot Kebler Pass from the west, up heavily wooded Forest Road 730 from the south or even up the most pedestrian but well-traveled path - Colorado 135 , north from Gunnison - you'll see magical landscapes, with mountains giving way to meadows and lakes. (Last summer we even enjoyed the Cottonwood Pass drive in the rain, rewarded by a double rainbow.)

There's more to Crested Butte than there was a few years ago. It's always been a rather small town (if you don't count the ski village up on the mountain), but the recession hit some of its shops and restaurants hard a couple of years ago. Last summer, things started to rebound, and we found Elk Avenue, the shopping-and-dining district, hopping.

Crested Butte and its more casual cousin, Gunnison (28 miles south) are marketed together as one destination, and that works well. Crested Butte has many nice places to stay, from big ski lodges to little B&Bs - we've especially liked the Inn at Crested Butte over the years - but if you're coming for a festival, you'll find the lower-priced accommodations book up fast.

Little Gunnison, farther from the mountains and without any air of grandeur, has inexpensive motels. We stayed at its Super 8 (very clean with a good free breakfast) last summer when we visited for the Crested Butte Music Festival and didn't mind the half-hour drive up to the fest.

The music festival, July 3-Aug. 14 this year, is one of Crested Butte's prime summer festivals.

This year's program includes everything from tenor Marcello Giordani to the Boston Brass, along with symphony, bluegrass, chamber music and jazz. You'll want to check out the festival's website, crestedbuttemusicfestival.com , to book the genre you like best. Last year, my husband and I caught the Opera Young Artist Program, and for $30 spent a lovely evening listening to arias, a couple delivered in such a sexually charged manner that they drew gasps from the audience. (Sorry; videotaping was forbidden.)

Before the show, we enjoyed fabulous small plates at Django, a restaurant up on the mountain.

Fare such as medjool dates with prosciutto, lamb carpaccio and crispy Brussels sprouts with cider reduction keep the locals driving up here year-round.

This restaurant is nestled into the ski village and fairly hard to find, so call and ask for directions. You can park in a large lot about 100 yards away. Take an umbrella. Afternoon showers are frequent here and add a mystical aura to the scenery.

Other popular summer festivals include the Fat Tire Bike Week (ftbw.com ) mountain biking extravaganza June 23-26 ; the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival (crestedbuttewildflowerfestival.com), with workshops and nature tours July 11-17; and the Crested Butte Arts Festival (crestedbutteartsfestival.com) Aug. 6 and 7.

Gunnison has far fewer and less fancy festivals, but they're fun, too. The biggest is Cattlemen's Days, Colorado's oldest rodeo (cattlemensdays.com), July 8-17. And this month, there's some sort of mountain bike race nearly every weekend.

While you're in Crested Butte, take time to visit the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum, which tells the story of the native Utes and the area's silver, gold and coal mining history.

There's been no mining since 1952, but the downtown area still has that mining-town feel - except that now, the shops have been painted in colors so bright that they'd probably blind any miner who happened along.

In Gunnison, the Pioneer Museum showcases vintage cars and trains. Gunnison doesn't have anywhere close to the restaurant selection of Crested Butte, but we did get some tasty - although a little mild for our Texan taste - Mexican food at the Blue Iguana, about a block from our motel.

The Crested Butte-Gunnison area is a good jumping-off point for hiking, biking, boating, rafting, kayaking, fishing and other outdoor activities. There's information on all of them at gunnisoncrestedbutte.com .

It's worth burning some gas to drive around this area's astounding scenery.

West of Crested Butte, the West Elk Loop takes you through mountains and canyons, pines and aspens.

Plan your route at coloradodot.info . West of Gunnison, you'll see Blue Mesa Reservoir sparkle as you drive by on your way to Black Canyon (see accompanying story). And by all means, don't leave the way you came. There's too much beautiful terrain to explore.

handers@statesman.com; 912-2590

If you go

You can fly into Gunnison-Crested Butte Airport with a connection through Dallas, but it's cheaper to fly into Denver and drive (about five gorgeous hours), and you're going to need a car no matter which airport you fly into.

Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum, 331 Elk Ave., Crested Butte. 970-349-1880, crestedbutteheritagemuseum.info. $3.

Pioneer Museum, 803 E. Tomichi Ave., Gunnison. 970-641-4530, pioneertrainmuseum.org. $7.

Django, 620 Gothic Road, Crested Butte. Reservations 970-349-7674.

Blue Iguana, 303 E Tomichi Ave., Gunnison. No reservations.

Inn at Crested Butte, 510 Whiterock Ave. 877-343-2111, innatcrestedbutte.net. Starts at $115 in spring; higher in summer.

Super 8, 411 E. Tomichi Ave., Gunnison. 970-641-3068 super8.com. Starts at $54.40.