Gunnison, Colorado

Hartman Rocks

Last time we were in Gunnison was 2002 when we passed through on our way to Brianhead, Utah for a 100 mile race. At the time, we spent a couple days riding in Crested Butte, but never any of the closer trails in Gunnison.
Last week we fixed that. We rode three days in the Hartman Rocks trail network. It’s a pretty big network encompassing 14,600 acres of mostly BLM land with 45 miles of singletrack and 45 miles of roads. One day we did a few hour loop on the front side with my favorite trail being Rattlesnake. Another day we did a really fun loop called Aberdeen Loop and then added on some more trails. Aberdeen was a more remote experience and we climbed a lot that day. On the third day I put together a loop with yet even more trails and doubled back on Rattlesnake and a couple other trails again because they were so fun. 

Off the bike we visited High Alpine Brewing Company and had an excellent expresso stout, hazy IPA and IPA. The brewery is right downtown on Main Street and the beers were very good. We sat next to the head chef who was enjoying a post shift beer and chatted with him for a long time. Very cool place.

Dillon Pinnacles

We also spent time paddle boarding in Blue Mesa Reservoir and we hiked to the Dillon Pinnacles. It was an easy hike Along the lake shore and up to the pinnacles. The pinnacles were caused by erosion of softer rock and were cool to see up close.