The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Not a bad place to pitch a tent
By Aimee Eaton
The town of Mt. Crested Butte completed its experiment in free camping this week, and deemed it largely a success.
In an effort to alleviate pressure on the area backcountry, the town granted public access to the North Village Campground from June 30 to July 10.
The campground, which is tent-only, features 26 sites, a communal fire pit, portable toilets and a trash receptacle. The campground is located on Gothic Road just south of the stables.
“The North Village Campground experiment was a success with no complaints,” said town manager Joe Fitzpatrick. “The only downside was that ‘the World’ took advantage of the dumpster.”
The peak day for camping was July 4, when 15 of 26 sites were occupied. In the ten days of operation, the low was two sites occupied.
According to Fitzpatrick, one person said, “Thank you, thank you. We will be back next year.”
The Mt. Crested Butte Town Council will discuss the campground during its 2018 budget meetings, and will be considering opening it again in 2018, perhaps for a longer period of time.
