Overview

The summer of 2011 marked a small but rich Big Butt excursion to two fourteen thousand foot peaks in the Rocky Mountains. After, the crew descended on Gunnison where we bounced quarters across bar tops against cowboys. And on the last day, we basked in mountain lakes and drained the most delicious strawberry Franzia we could find. 

Location

Redcloud Peak - 37.9408° N, 107.4220° W                               Sunshine Peak -  37.9228° N, 107.4256° W                     Gunnison, CO - 38.5458° N, 106.9253° W                         Taylor Park Reservoir - 38.8183° N, 106.6057° W

Crew

Matt Jack, Aaron Christman, Brian Kinsella, Jon Bathgate, Raffy Hammett, Mac Stephens

Story

Aaron asked me to play "Africa" just as I was pressing my greasy thumb into the play button on my ipod for the same song.

Being called a music Nazi is not new to me. Neither is sitting behind bars, staring at my ipod. After finally hiking up to a fourteener using a normal route, after finally finishing a climb before the sun is setting, the Big Butt crew found themselves baking in the mountain sunshine, enjoying ice cold coors lights and serenading hikers as they found there way off of Redcloud and Sunshine peaks. Later that evening, several quarter bounces and shots later, the initially Texan friendly bartender let me DJ. What a day.

Unlike other areas in the Rockies, Gunnison and Lake City seem more western. I almost got the San Antonio feeling as we cruised through town, the rodeo being held down the street. That night after the climb Jon and I got to celebrate Kins' "birthday" by singing Wagon Wheel on stage at a little Mexican restaurant. We finally could play it with a capo. There were enough cowboy hats in the bar later to merit a certain Texan sensation, indeed.

The following morning, still feeling the previous nights' effects, we purchased more than enough camping gear at the worst Wal-Mart ever and shot north to Taylor Reservoir, a beautiful little mountain lake about ten miles west of the collegiate group. We spent all afternoon cruising around in luxury on our pontoon boat, waiting for the sun to break the clouds, and it did. Harley, the yellow lab was unstoppable, and Aaron's backflips, even better.

The campsite, about two miles from the reservoir was awesome, as is the camo hat that I purchased from the general store. Kins, per usual, sat and drank the night away until conversations between him and Raffy were almost unintelligible. No Kins, you can't sleep in the Tahoe.