We had thrown most of our crap in the SUV except for our tents and sleeping gear. We planned on eating breakfast in Crested Butte so it didn’t take but about 15 minutes to break camp to be ready to drive down to town. I heard a shuttle in the lot and I was trying to get Pam and Brad to hurry up so I could follow the shuttle down past Emerald Lake. I couldn’t get them to go any faster or get the shuttle to wait for me to follow him. To say I was nervous misses the mark.
Finally, I got them into the car at the late hour of 7:15. Another way to look at it might be that we got the earliest start of the entire trip, but that’s an optimistic outlook and I try to avoid being too positive. I told Pam she would have to walk ahead of us and stop traffic from coming up since she was the last one ready to go. When we got to the pass, we could see all the way down to the turn and there weren’t any cars. I decided to press on. Worst case, I’d drive off the cliff into the lake. Water landings can’t be too bad—hadn’t a plane landed in the Hudson River a few years ago with everyone surviving.
Imagine the relief of finally going to the bathroom after being constipated for a week and that will give a small glimpse of my comfort level of not passing a car coming down. The drive into town was a breeze. I don’t know why Pam and Brad got so wound up. We made it to the hostel a few minutes before 8a, bought our showers, and experienced pure bliss. Nothing compares to modern comforts after a few days in the back country.
Empty digestive tracts, clean clothes, fragrant bodies, and an absence of flies; we were ready for our return to mainstream civilization. We parked downtown and walked to the Sunflower for breakfast. It was perfect weather which prevented us from going inside. We waited for one of the 3 outside tables to open up. After breakfast, I was on a mission to find the pizza place we had eaten at a few years ago, but when we went to the location I remembered, it was now a coffee shop. Brad and I stayed for coffee while Pam went souvenir shopping for her kids. I talked to one of the girls behind the counter and she told me where the Secret Stash had moved to—right where Pam told me, but I’ve lived in MO for too long; I had to see it for myself.
Even though it had only been a few hours, we had to have a pizza before leaving town. Heavenly! Even Brad got a few ideas for future za’s. Brad is a closet chef and pretty good the few items that he’s actually shared with me. At least he knows the talk.
We took a different route out of the valley; over Monarch Pass and drove on down to Dillon for the night. We found a Best Western that had a couple rooms left. We walked over to Pug Ryan for supper which Brad generously bought for us. A steak for him, salmon for Pam, and shoe leather for me (people often complain about the way I like my steaks cooked). After a bottle of wine, we walked down to the lake to listen to a sunset concert until the chilling temperatures drove us to bed.
On Saturday morning, we went back to Frisco for breakfast then Brad and I camped out at another coffee shop while Pam did more souvenir shopping. We still had time for a leisurely drive to Denver with a stop for pizza along the way in Idaho Springs. We even had time to visit REI before heading to the airport.
We had a pretty successful trip. We didn’t push ourselves too hard on the loop, but that’s not our goal. We averaged between 6 & 7 miles a day which is a comfortable rate for us, especially when you factor in that we live at sea level (more or less) and spent the entire loop above 10,000’. I do think the diamox helped us to acclimatize. I feel too many people underestimate the effects of altitude. I can no longer call Brad prissy. This is the toughest short loop we have done to this point but amazing vistas and wildflowers make it well worth the effort. From now on, I will only refer to Brad as having a few prissy tendencies (please draw me a sponge bath).