Gunnison, Salida or ???
 

DH and I are trying to choose a quiet, restful location, somewhere on the southern route from Ouray to Denver with clean mountain air and easy, not-too-remote day hikes or walks for enjoying the mountain views. We will stay two nights mid September. Would Gunnison best fit the bill, or Salida, or is there somewhere along route 24 north or 285 north that would work? We have stayed in Colorado Springs, previously, and probably won't want to go that far from Ouray in a day anyway. We love mountain views, so hope readers can please help us choose? Thanks.

If you are looking at Gunnison, go north a bit and try Crested Butte. Lots of hiking and cute town. In July they have a wildflower festival but September the aspen will be lovely with fall color.

Great idea, livetoroam. I would recommend staying in town. A few miles west of town is Lake Irwin, in a beautiful setting. Hiking, fishing, picnicking. Give CB Visitor Bureau a call to check road conditions depending on the car you are driving. Of course the ski area above town is lovely, too, but we like staying in towns to wander. Between CB and Gunnison the Taylor River has cute looking cabin-type places. Maybe someone from one of those towns could tell you more.
Enjoy.

Definitely Crested Butte!

I don't want to hijack this thread, but maybe it will help meggies too. Every summer I want to go to CB for the wildflower festival, but something interferes. If I finally make it this year can anyone recommend lodging?

How is the driving on route 135 from Gunnison to Crested Butte? Are there steep drop-offs, hairpin turns, etc. or is it pretty easy driving? We like looking at mountains from below, or hiring jeep tours to get up into the mountains, but are not fond of driving mountain roads ourselves. If we stay in Crested Butte, we'd probably prefer to stay in town. I see mostly mountain resort places listed on Tripadvisor. Like the previous poster, we would be interested in lodging recommendations, particularly in the town, please. We'd also appreciate a recommendation for a jeep tour company that could take us into the more scenic areas in the mountains.

Drive from gunnison to crested butte is super easy, no hair pin turns, no drop offs and really a short 30 minutes. Can't help with places to stay in town as we have a house but try the crested butte visitors center. There are lots of b&bs in town but no huge hotels in town though there is a motel or two. If you want to stay on the mountain, there is a free shuttle bus that goes between the two.

Any thoughts or advice on Salida as a base?