Winds captured by the surrounding flat-topped buttes make for prime sailing conditions on Colorado’s largest body of water, popular with anglers, sunbathers and boaters roaming 41,000-plus acres.
The astonishingly steep walls of the canyon rise 2,000 feet from the river, exposing expose 2-billion-year-old black metamorphic rock. Peer across the chasm to Colorado’s tallest cliff, Painted Wall.
Visit the Western State College campus, pop into boutiques or take in the Pioneer Museum’s mineral exhibit and awesome collection of antique cars.
See the southwestern night sky’s twinkling stars. The state’s largest research-quality telescope is open Friday and Saturday nights mid-May through September.
Take the chairlift to a web of mountain-biking trails (Crested Butte is the sport’s self-proclaimed birthplace) or see how you fare at bungee jumping, zip-lining and disc golf at Adventure Park.
Blocks of Victorian-era buildings form one of the country’s most distinctive towns, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Nearly every summer weekend features a fun festival.
