Trailhead › Rustler Gulch

If coming from either the Front Range or the Western Slope, drive to Gunnison. From Gunnison, drive north on SH135 to Crested Butte. Stay on this main road as it enters the town, driving on through a major intersection with stop signs. Continue north on what becomes CR317 to the base of the ski area which is the Town of Mt. Crested Butte. Continue on the same road and a little after the main village and passing numerous condos, etc., the road will change over to a graded dirt road. During summer months, water trucks douse the road to help hold down the dust. Driving this road just after one of those trucks has gone through can change the road to a squishy, muddy mess, briefly. Begin measuring mileages from the end of the pavement. At 2.9 miles the road crosses the East River. Continue on CR317 to the site of Gothic which has a small but nice visitor center (3.4 miles) where you can inquire about parking regulations, hiking and biking trails and the research that is conducted in this area. During summer months daylight hours, this road is heavily travelled and parking is restricted to designated areas.

Continue driving NW past Gothic another 1.9 miles to the Gothic Campground, (5.3 from pavement end). There are only 6 designated sites here with good tent platforms. This is the first of the designated camping areas. Just west of here, is another designated area with 3 - 4 sites at the trailhead for Gothic Mountain. Another half mile or so is the next multi-site camp area. At the Gothic Campground, one site can accommodate a trailer. There is also a vault toilet. From June 15 to August 15, (or even later now?) camping in primitive, undesignated sites anywhere in this section of the East River Valley is not permitted so specifically designated sites are your only option between those dates. There are map kiosks that will indicate the location of these sites. From the campground turnoff, drive another .9 mile for the Rustler Gulch turnoff (6.2 from pavement end). If in a passenger vehicle, you should park here and plan on getting your feet wet to cross the East River. It is possible to drive down the road a little and park in some limited spots, but there's little sense in trying to continue across the river unless you have 4WD. The road that heads up Rustler Gulch is FR317.2B on CalTopo. The Gunnison National Forest map does not really show this road very clearly because it follows along the wilderness boundary. If you do have 4WD and the East River is not in high stage runoff, drive on down the rocky stretch through some close, tall willows and ford the river. The road will head immediately and steeply uphill for .7 mile to an intersection where you'll see a gate across the road that heads off to the right. Park here if there's any room to do so. Two or three vehicles might be able to fit in off the road just enough to let other vehicles by. Coordinates for this spot are: N38° 59' 57.31" W107° 00' 11.05". There's a stand of tall willows here. About .2 mile back there is a road that turns off on the right that goes to an old campsite, but cattle use the same area when allowed to graze here, and it is technically a No Camping spot now, however, you may be able to park.
Note: As of summer 2025 - the crossing of the East River has become complicated by more than one beaver dam built here. This has created a large, deeper pool at the old crossing location for vehicles. Only 4WD vehicles with good to excellent clearance should attempt to cross here now and in case you get bogged down, a winch would be needed.