Morning on Mike’s Mile

A Path into Paradise

In the middle of a maze of Nordic trails in the Slate River Valley, it’s a stretch to even imagine the sound of Tuesday morning commuter traffic on I-25. But I try, for some contrast. It’s hard to hear anything out there. Apart from the sound of skis sliding on hard-packed snow, the a.m. hours in the valley are nearly void of sound. Even the sound of skis is my own.

The throngs of skiers who take to the trails in late morning are absent, which is one reason it’s so quiet. Falling out of earshot of my guide, Crested Butte Nordic Center director Keith Bauer, is the other reason. It seems fish scales don’t glide like skate skis as he takes me on a tour of Mike’s Mile, the newest addition to the more than 30 miles of trails maintained by the Nordic Center.
But no matter what kind of skis you slide on, the 13-foot wide swath of Nordic skiing Nirvana that follows an old railroad grade for more than a mile to a turn around near the Gunsight Pass bridge is easy going.
For Skip Berkshire, who, as a member of the Nordic Center board of directors, was instrumental in making Mike’s Mile a reality, the trail is hard to beat. “I think it’s already a favorite because as you ski out to the bridge you have these beautiful views of Paradise Divide. On the way back you can focus on the Slate [River] and how it meanders through the valley.”
The grade the trail follows is level, by local standards, passing through meadows and stands of conifers and right by the Magic Meadows Yurt, which Bauer calls a “Mongolian trophy home.” And it is, with places to sit and put sore feet next to a fire inside a roomy canvas escape capsule. He points to the side of the yurt opposite the entry, where a chef’s kitchen had recently been installed. “It’s pretty posh,” he says.
Like the trail, the yurt is open to anyone with a Nordic trail pass and a need to get away from it all, if briefly. And Mike’s Mile, as an extension of Pooches’ Paradise, is also open to dogs.
Berkshire says the trail suits the gamut of Nordic skiers, with or without their dogs, because “It’s nice to have an amazing stretch like that from time to time that’s not too much effort.”
Getting the trail to the condition it’s in now has taken several years and a coordinated effort between the Nordic Center, the Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association, the Gunnison County Trails Commission, the town of Crested Butte and the Crested Butte Land Trust, as well as the Bureau of Land Management. The Land Trust and the BLM both manage property the trail crosses.
And it wasn’t cheap. The first stage of the trail’s development cost the groups $5,000 that was raised through $500 donations from each of the five local groups and a $2,500 contribution from the Mike Martin Community Fund, which was set up by Cathy Martin in honor of her son. She got to watch as a ribbon marking the trail named in Mike’s honor was cut on Wednesday, December 29.
Mike Martin was a long-time resident of the East River Valley who owned the Pioneer Guest Cabins on Cement Creek Road and, for a time, owned the Alpineer, which was a Titanium Sponsor of the Nordic Center. He also had a hand in founding the Grand Traverse and took to a mountain bike when the snow had gone away.