Most summers, letters to the editor seem to show up in the local paper, decrying the number of users in the national forests surrounding Crested Butte. The message is usually focused on the number of motorized users on public lands, often citing noise, trail impacts, dust and sometimes even a lack of common courtesy. The letter usually ends with the upset author threatening that he or she will never return to the Crested Butte area and will tell all of his or her family and friends to avoid us like the plague. Experiences like these are blamed on multiple use (it's motorized now, but the mountain bikers in the know see that their turn is coming, too). What the bad guys and girls don't want you to understand is that education, not restriction, is the solution.

With the Gunnison being so large and diverse in terms of use opportunities, users expecting a homogenous Forest, especially one that provides a wilderness setting, will be surprised at the variety of use found here. Different areas receive different use--that's a fact--anyone who doesn't think the National Forest can accommodate a variety of uses is a probably a little short on perspective. Prepare users in terms of what to expect in any given area and they can better choose which areas they want to recreate in. Here are some brief suggestions for users in a few of the larger user groups. Jim Dawson head ranger for the Gunnison National Forest has encouraged his office to encourage use in certain places-you might check their offices in Gunnison for similar information.

This hiker has to be psyched with all the exceptional wildernes areas in the Gunnison Natinal Forest, to say nothing of the expanses of wilderness in adjoining Forests.

A hiker looking to avoid contact with mechanized users can access the Gunnison Forest's 400,000-plus acres of wilderness (with several tens of thousands more just north in the White River National Forest) at a number of different trailheads. If you want to access it from the town of Crested Butte, head out the non-motorized Lower Loop and hike to the Raggeds Wilderness-talk about the convenience of having it in your back yard! The West Elk Wilderness is mammoth chunk of the Gunnison National Forest and can accessed from many locations along Ohio Creek Road. The Mill Castle Trail is a popular starting point . . . head off of that trail in any direction for 30 minutes and the peace and quiet of the woods will be all yours. If you're looking for wilderness that you can access without having to leave the pavement, head for the Fossil Ridge Wilderness and the Summerville Trail. Typical weekends see one or two cars in the parking lot at the Summerville Trailhead, all day long. You'll have this tree museum all to yourself! If you're looking for something closer to Crested Butte, but a little ways from town, head out the Gothic corridor for the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness. You can access this from a number of trailheads, including those at Judd Falls, Schofield Pass, and Schofield Park. What a great way to hike to Aspen! If you're still feeling that you're down on Wilderness options in the Gunnison, head for the north end of Taylor Park. You'll have to interact with vast variety of users in Taylor Park to get to the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness, but there are huge, nonmechanized areas out there just waiting for you.

These mountain bikers are enjoying #401, one of the many great non-motorized single tracks within easy access of Crested Butte.

A mountain biker looking to avoid motorized users can take advantage of a number of non-motorized single track options at the north end of the East River Valley. #403, #401 and Deer Creek and the Dyke Trail are epic routes (we don't use "epic" loosely-it's truly amazing stuff) that will provide a couple days of riding for all but the marathon bike riders. Add to those the Upper Loop, Upper Upper Loop, the Lower Loop, the well-maintained single track at the ski area, the Snodgrass trail system and a few odd "secret" trails punched in by locals, crossing private land, and you have ridden for days without being on a motorized single track. If you're willing to put up with some motorized company and have the legs for some longer rides, your options will increase ten-fold. But keep in mind that you're heading onto multi-use trails where folks like to ride their motorized toys as hard as you like to push your ride through the swinging single track that makes the Gunnison Basin so special. Pedaling these routes is a blast and the majority of motorized users you meet are pleasant and glad to share the trails with you.

Motorized users share multi-use trails with all users, but will probably find more of what they are looking for in the Taylor Park, Spring Creek, Sargents and Lost Canyon areas. There are many excellent staging areas to access these great trails-if you have questions about where to start from and what to connect, become a CBTRA member and we'll get you pointed in the right direction.

There is plenty of great recreating to be had on the Gunnison National Forest for ALL users. Shutting down trails just concentrates use and increases impacts in other areas for the affected user group. You may not hear about the opportunities for some forms of recreation, like hiking, for instance. The greener folks would evidently rather have you go somewhere motorized, get upset and complain about the lack of a wilderness-quality experience in a multi-use area. Help yourself and your user group to one of the many areas that have the qualities that you or they are looking for and we can all have a wonderful time enjoying the Gunnison National Forest.

These two CBTRA members are grinning because they're about solutions for the Gunnison. And probably because they were having a great day checking out the roads and trails in the Fossil Ridge Recreaction Management Area.