United States
Crested Butte
So many wildflowers in July that the entire valley floor turns electric purple.
In July the valley beneath Crested Butte turns electric with lupin, paintbrush and columbine so dense the trails vanish into colour. The air at nearly nine thousand feet is thin and sweet with pine resin, and Elk Avenue's painted Victorian storefronts stand bright against the dark wall of mountains behind.
Crested Butte wears the title of Wildflower Capital of Colorado, with blooms peaking in July and a festival of guided walks and botanist-led hikes to match. The town dug coal until the early 1950s, and when the mine closed the miners' cottages and false-fronted stores survived intact, which is why Elk Avenue still looks like itself. The skiing that replaced the coal runs to the extreme end of the sport, steep rocky lines other resorts would rope off, and in summer the single-track riding from the town's edge includes some of the most celebrated trails in America. Around fifteen hundred people live here year-round, up a road that goes nowhere else.
Couple
Walk meadows that look arranged for the occasion, then split a bottle from the town's own high-altitude rum distillery as the light leaves the peaks.
Friends
Trade challenges between the extreme ski lines in winter and the famous single-track in summer; the town is small enough that the group never loses itself.
Family
The wildflower festival's guided walks suit small legs, the beginner trails start at the edge of town and hot chocolate arrives from a shack clad in licence plates.
- The blooms that earn Crested Butte its Wildflower Capital title peak in July and last all summer across the surrounding valleys.
- Coal mining ended in the early 1950s and left Elk Avenue's Victorian storefronts and miners' cottages intact.
- Celebrated single-track mountain bike trails begin at the residential street ends, no car required.
- Summer nights at this altitude stay cold enough to keep the crowds thinner than Colorado's lower resort towns.
Coffee hand-roasted in small batches at a shack clad in licence plates, a local landmark in its own right.
High-altitude rum from the town distillery's tasting room, an unlikely speciality at nearly nine thousand feet.
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