Redstone is a quaint little town with a lot of history, nestled in the Crystal River valley of west central Colorado. Marble is an even smaller town just a few miles south with a pretty rich history of its own.

After leaving Colorado National Monument, RC and I managed to arrive at Big B’s at lunch time. It was our second time there, with the first being after a backpacking trip in the West Elk Wilderness 3 years ago. It’s a great stop, even if you have to go a little out of your way. TC & PDC met us there, coming from various adventures in Utah to join us for the rest of the trip.

The 4 of us camped at Redstone Campground just a couple miles north of town and were able to spend about 2.5 days in the area with a mix of sightseeing and short hikes. Redstone is small enough you can see pretty much the whole thing just by walking around for an hour. A general store, museum, wine shop, pizza place, park & playground, hotel/resort, and more. I don’t know how I managed to leave there with only one photograph. Across the highway are remnants of the coke ovens, where coal mined a few miles west was “baked” for use in making steel.

Our first hike in this area was up the Avalanche Creek trail. The trail head is about 7350′ and the grade is pretty gentle so it seemed like it would be a good warmup. We only hiked in about 2 miles (7800′), crossing into the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness after 0.5 mile. There was a lot of autumn color but no knock-the-socks-off scenery in that short bit. If one were to continue they would eventually reach Snowmass Mountain and the Maroon Bells (though probably not in one day).

The town of Marble happened because of a quarry in a hill about 3.5 miles south of town – the source of what is said to be some of the finest marble in the world. One of the most notable aspects of Marble is that so much stuff is made of marble and there are pieces of it strewn everywhere. Even some otherwise non-descript sheds are made of marble, though probably scraps. The Marble Mill Site Park is a must-see. It is the site of the former mill where marble was cut and finished. The roof and walls are gone but the support columns (made of marble blocks, naturally) for the overhead crane remain. The “debris” left behind includes pieces of a column that were intended for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.

Our bigger hike in this area was to Anthracite Pass (10240′) from the Yule Pass trail head (9000′), which is about 3 miles up county road 3C (toward the quarry). There was no trail head sign but there was off-road parking for 6-7 cars. It’s a long drop for anyone that goes off the other side of the road while backing out. Anthracite Pass is just 1 mile and +1200′ away.

The trail starts out very rocky and deeply-eroded through some heavy brush – an old burn site or clear cut? After a short distance it gets into proper forest and the trail improves. At 0.1 mile is a junction – left continues on the Yule Pass trail; we turned right onto the Anthracite Pass trail. There are occasional breaks in the trees where one can get a good view to the north or east. About half-way to the pass, the trail crosses into the Raggeds Wilderness though there was no sign. At the pass we spied an interesting mountainside to the west. We went off-trail looking for a better view of it when we instead found a great view of the valley below it (where North Anthracite trail [#832] goes) and decided we’d found the perfect place for a leisurely lunch. After hiking out and a quick trip to see the quarry we decided we had earned a cold beverage and an early dinner at Slow Groovin BBQ in Marble.

We took the long way home – through Aspen and over Independence Pass, then a stop in Leadville for a tour of the mining museum, lunch at the Golden Burro Cafe, and more sightseeing before hitting I-70 and heading east.