A kid friendly guide to Crested Butte and Gunnison, Colorado

Gunnison/Crested Butte Colorado Family Activity Guide
Winter 2007
Just for Teens:
What I Do in Gunnison

The following essays are written by teens for teens. What's it like as a teenager living in Gunnison County? If you're a teen living someplace else, we're sure you'll find similarities, and differences.

From Antranik:

Living in the Gunnison Valley can be hard at times growing up here as a teenager. So, I have come up with some ways to pass the time to make being a "local" better. Five days out of the week I can be

found working to make money. I use the money for stuff I like to do. When I'm not at work, it is a whole different story because when I have my free time I'm my own mechanic, body man, musician and fisherman. Sometimes I play my guitar and learn songs from my favorite bands such as Nirvana and In Flames. My brother and I like to jam sometimes, playing some Rage.

Other times I'm out by some creek or river bed, even maybe by a lake shore, fly fishing or spin casting, whipping a fly back and forth or flicking a lure into the water and retrieving it.

My biggest pastime is restoring my project car, a 1969 Dodge Charger. Most nights I will be in some weird position lying on the concrete under my Dodge trying to fix or undo some part, bolt, clip or spring. I put a lot of work into my classic muscle car so I can hopefully reap the rewards of my labor. I plan to get it drivable by next year's Gunnison Car Show 2008.
When I am not doing any of those other activities, you can find me hanging with my friends, just laying back and doing nothing, but talking about cars, music and other miscellaneous topics that we think about.

From Ian:

As a teenager living in Gunnison, there's not a lot for me to do. I spend the majority of my time skateboarding. It has become sort of a passion of mine. Going to the skate park or the bowl to skate always seems to be a good idea. I just started last year because some of my good friends suggested I try. So, I figured I had nothing to lose and that I might as well give it a try. After a few days of falling and learning, I got the hang of it. With the guidance of Abe, Dan, and Pete, I slowly acquired the basic tricks.

The Ollie, 50-50, 5-0,. these are the kinds of tricks that got me started. I also had to learn how to roll in and drop in, riding is probably the hardest part to learn when it comes to the basics. Over time I was able to try harder tricks like the Casper flip, Primo flip, Truckstand, and rails. Now a year later I have found that skating is a way for me to get away, to relieve stress. It gets me into my own little world where I have no problems. It's just me, the board, and the park.

I have also fallen into long boarding as well. I figured out that a skateboard isn't the best way to travel around. It's tiring and slow. The only way to make it fast is to exhaust yourself. So, I got into long boarding. Long boarding gets you around fast, while not taking up all your energy. You also get to have fun zig-zagging around as you go.

It takes a lot of effort to learn how to long or skateboard, but anyone can do it. I had no balance or coordination, but with enough practice, I did it. Age isn't even a factor. My friend and I taught a 6-year-old to skateboard with no problem. Even if you don't have anyone to teach you, Dave White at the Colorado Boarder gives lessons.

Boarding, in general, is my life. One of the best things about this hobby is that everyone should know is this: Anyone can do it. Time, effort, and dedication are the keys to success.

From TJ:

As a teenager living in the Gunnison Valley, there isn't much for me to do here, so in my free time I hang out with friends. On the weekend when I get bored, I go out to the garage and work on my vehicles to get them mechanically sound. When the show flies in the Gunnison Valley, it really puts a damper on things. You can't really do much because it gets so cold out. What I do then is get all my friends together and we go out and play in the snow.

What I mean by playing in the snow is that we go four-wheeling if our jeeps are running right. The stipulation is to see who gets stuck first. Whoever gets stuck first is usually the one to break something. We horse around and push it to the limit to see if we can get ourselves out. It has its advantages and disadvantages. Some of the advantages are that you have awesome fun with all your friends, you get better at driving defensively because you have to watch everything around so that you don't hit anything like trees, or rocks. Things like that: Really, it's just a big obstacle course.

The disadvantages to four-wheeling are that you are bound to break something on your vehicle. When I break something, I find odd jobs around town to pay for repairs, and that is usually how I pay for most of my mess ups!

You can clearly see that there are things to do year round in the Gunnison Valley. There are also different alternatives to unhealthy or illegal choices. When people ask you if you would like to go out in the hills, don't turn them down. Go out and experience the adrenaline rush, because of everything else that you experience, I guarantee this will beat any other rush you will ever experience.