Marble, CO into Gunnison National Forest

​July 24, 2022

Yes it was truly a magic night. I parked so close to the water I could hear it lull me to sleep, and not a single person came by to disturb me on any level. There were two campers several hundred feet away behind me, but who knew. I decided to head further down the road, out of curiosity, to see where everyone was headed, and yes, there was a trail head and a mountain bike trail next-door to a private property. I decided not to stay or hike, but headed back into the town of Redstone. I really wanted another one of those crunchy granola bars that the barista made from scratch. It was made with brown rice sugar, along with sunflower seeds and raisins. It was quite delicious. I have to ask people now if it has any corn related product, including high fructose corn syrup, which sets off my allergic reactions. They also had local produce, so I got a squash.


The town of Marble was just a few miles down the road into a pretty canyon valley, that lead to a mix of homes. I got there just in time for the local art gallery to open up. I don’t know anything about the sculptor artist, but I could hear the sounds of the workshop below. This person carves figurative and animal sculptures into white marble rock. Apparently this area is very well known for its pure white marble. Who knew that you could find these interesting anomalies in the middle of nowhere? Of course there was no cell service, but I asked about getting Wi-Fi from someplace in town and they directed me to “the hub.” Apparently it’s the Internet café with some sweets and coffee. JoJo broke the ice with his bad boy coyote vest, as I saw plenty of people with large dogs including one loose one roaming around. I asked about the road to Crested Butte, and was told it was a very good dirt road , though 30 miles long. I also asked about the closest gas station and this man was quite knowledgeable with providing details. I must have bashed Verizon in front of him, and he told me about a service called starlink. I’ll be checking into that, as it is apparently satellite-based Internet and phone service. I am rather tired of being unconnected while traveling on these remote roads. I noticed the main restaurant in town was a smoked barbecue place. It was the Slow Groovin BBQ. When I drove past at 10 AM the smokers were definitely smoking but the restaurant did not open until 11. I made a point of being there shortly there after and decided to take my beef brisket to go, complete with baked beans, coleslaw and Texas toast. I didn’t feed JoJo even though they had outdoor seating, and he was already restless with the idea of eating. I had a quick bite in the RV before I hit the road and decided to stop about an hour from the town of Crested Butte, in the Gunnison National Forest.  Surprisingly, this dirt road is well travelled. But there was a turn, which I took, however I stopped at the first available pull out, since looking ahead there are major potholes, that I don’t want to deal with. So far only two trucks of passed me and it’s  quite lush and green. Not so much pine forest, but deciduous plants such as Aspen and Willow. I believe that Marcellina Mountain is directly to my left. A beautiful clifflike mountain. It has been getting cloudy all day, and by 3 PM we were getting a steady downpour. I’m not too worried about being swamped over here or affected by the weather. The clouds are low and the fog is rolled in so I’m not seeing much of the mountain. I’m hoping the rain lets up so I can maneuver my vehicle around to admire this mountain a little bit later on today. 






























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