Starting from the Denver suburbs, we drove about 7 hours to the town of Telluride. We planned to camp for two nights at Matterhorn Campground (about a 20-minute drive south of town with good reviews). Initially, we considered trying to find a bed and breakfast or rental in town, but nothing appeared to be worth the money. When we arrived at the campground, we were surprised to find that the campground had closed that day for the season. A minor setback, but after some quick googling, we found a “dispersed” campground about two minutes away at Priest Lake open year-round, as long as the dirt road is accessible. I put dispersed in quotations because there was a vault toilet and nine designated camp sites with picnic tables, just no water source. We had come prepared with plenty of water though, so no problem. The other benefit about the dispersed campground is it’s free to stay! We snagged the last spot (and worst spot) available when we arrived at 4:30 pm. I can’t say enough good things about this campground – it sits right on a small lake and we were able to switch campsites the second night to get a lake view from the tent.
First night campsite 
Second night campsite – lake view
We spent a lot of our two days in Telluride just enjoying the town and wonderful fall views. We grabbed coffees at Coffee Cowboy and ate lunch one day outside at High Pie Pizzeria. Our dinners were cooked at the campsite to try to minimize trip spending (and the campground was a beautiful spot itself).
We also enjoyed a short hike from the town of Telluride – Bear Creek Trail. It’s about 2.5 miles up and back, with approximately 1,000 feet of elevation gain. It took us about two hours in total. The trail is well maintained, easily accessible from the town park/fields parking lot (and near public restrooms), and wasn’t too crowded on a Wednesday morning. We hiked up to the waterfall for amazing views down the valley.
Our next stop on our trip was the town of Ouray – about an hour’s drive from Telluride. Here we found the China Clipper Inn, a cute bed and breakfast right in town. We stayed in the “First Mate’s Quarters” the first night and the “Sea Witch” the second night. The breakfast each morning was fantastic; one morning was French toast with sausage potato scramble and the second was three-cheese quiche with potatoes and sausage links. It was a true bed and breakfast experience. The owners bought the place two years ago after they sold their dairy farm in Missouri. It was built in the 1990s as an inn and is in great condition. We loved our time there!
We really only had one full day in Ouray to explore, so we made the best of it with a great 7 mile hike – Cascade & Portland Trail Loop. The total elevation gain was well over 2,000 feet and it took us about four hours to complete. If you do the loop clockwise, you start with a steep climb (about all 2,000 feet in the first 1.5-2 miles) up to a waterfall and old mine/mine bunk-house. But the end views and mine are well worth the challenge. The second half of the loop is much flatter and winds through the forest.
Views up to the waterfall 
Top of the waterfall 
Mine bunk-house 
Mine bunk-house 
View of town from the mine 
Mine bunk-house 
Second half of the loop in the forest
Another popular option in Ouray is a stop at the Box Canyon Park (water supply for Ouray). There’s a $5/person fee to walk up to the falls. Since we had already picked our hike for the day, we decided to pass on this, but looked good for families!
For our two nights in Ouray, we decided to splurge on some dinners out. The first night we ate at Brickhouse 737 – we both had steaks, so the bill was a bit expensive, but delicious. The second night we ate at Bon Ton (Italian), which was much cheaper, and still good.
We loved our time in Ouray and even tried to extend our stay, but the China Clipper Inn was all booked up for the weekend, so we decided to move on to Crested Butte. Our 2.5-hour drive took us right near Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, so of course we had to swing by. We only drove through and walked out to several of the viewpoints, so no real hiking, but still worth the stop. We did see some rock climbers belaying down into the canyon at one of the viewpoints. Something to look into for the future is hiking down to the Gunnison River and spending a night in the canyon.
We arrived in Crested Butte late in the afternoon. Since it was the weekend, there wasn’t much hotel availability, so we decided to camp at Oh Be Joyful campground. It’s about 15-minutes west of town and was not very crowded this late in the season. We secured campsite #25, which sits right along the river. There are several other river-front campsites to choose from as well. Apparently the Oh Be Joyful hike is a great one, but we did not have time to do it on this short trip because we wanted to explore the town a bit. We got coffee at Camp 4 Coffee the next morning and lunch at the Secret Stash. Our stay in Crested Butte was short, but we absolutely loved it here (and have already been back to ski).
Site #25 
For our last night, we wanted to stop in Breckenridge and stay at the Fireside Inn. I have a dream of owning a bed and breakfast one day, and this inn had been on the market less than a year earlier and had caught my eye. Patrick’s cousin joined us for the night in Breckenridge and we stayed in a 3-bed tiny bunk room for about $60/person. A cheap way to stay in town! The drive from Crested Butte to Breckenridge is a pretty, 3.5-hour drive over Cottonwood Pass (worth pulling over to take in the views).
For dinner and beers, we went to Breckenridge Brewery. The next morning, we a nice short hike to the Sawmill Reservoir, which only took about an hour. And then it being Sunday, we decided to stick around for some football games at the Irish Pub. By the time we left, a snowstorm had rolled in. Can never complain about snow, but it did extend the drive home to Denver by about an hour. I have a bias for Breckenridge, but it was definitely the most crowded stop on our trip (to be expected due to its proximity to Denver).
