Paonia, Colorado

[mrladewig]

The last time that I visited the Crystal mill (mid 90's) one could get from Marble to Crystal without a four wheel drive vehicle provided one drove carefully and with a good ground clearance vehicle. A pickup truck would have absolutely no difficulty. I never used 4WD, even though I had it available, in my wanderings in the area. Now when you past Crystal towards Lead King Basin or up over the pass to Crested Butte a 4WD might come in handy. Lead King Basin in wild flower season is a real treat...

McClure pass has some outstanding aspen stands.

The road from Marble to Crystal had some serious deterioration in the last couple years, but ground clearance is indeed the biggest issue. And cars and trucks today seem to have more fragile plastic bits hanging off them. The road is much worse than it was in the 90s. This is a problem with many of the 4WD roads in Colorado. Some have gotten better, most have gotten worse. That said, I understand that they were building a new bridge on the route between Marble and Crystal last year and I would guess that they may have improved the road after that.

[Donald Miller]

The road from Marble to Crystal had some serious deterioration in the last couple years, but ground clearance is indeed the biggest issue. And cars and trucks today seem to have more fragile plastic bits hanging off them. The road is much worse than it was in the 90s. This is a problem with many of the 4WD roads in Colorado. Some have gotten better, most have gotten worse. That said, I understand that they were building a new bridge on the route between Marble and Crystal last year and I would guess that they may have improved the road after that.

That is good to know. I hope to return one of these days.

[Keith Pitman]

I understand that they were building a new bridge on the route between Marble and Crystal last year and I would guess that they may have improved the road after that.

I was there last summer and I don't remember any construction. Maybe it was already completed. The road was rough, but very passable; of course, I was in a Jeep! It was worth the trip--especially seeing the bear cross the road on the way up.

[mrladewig]

Sorry, I think the bridge construction was in 2007.

link

[747sp]

Thanks all for theinput. The way it is working out, i may have up to three days or so there after my biz ends...never having put the gaer together for a long haul flight i now have to figure out how to get the 8x10 Field camera, two lense panels and all the rest of the kit safely to the states and back. I have already lost one ground glass by not packing my reducion back correctly, so i am spending a lot of time on the Pelican site at the moment....