A couple of questions about camping at Mary E. Illium:
Is it possible to bike back and forth between Mary E. Illium and the festival? If so, is the ride a steep uphill climb on the return?
Is it possible to put a bike on the shuttle to Mary E. Illium?
How early does the shuttle start running? I will be volunteering at the festival and am wondering if the shuttle will be able to get me to my opening shift on time.
My friends have a vehicle pass for Mary E. Illium and I do not. Will I be able to set up my tent with them, or is the car camping separated from the rest of the camping?
If you have a Mountain Bike you can ride from Illium into town on the Galloping Goose Trail Illium trailhead. It’s more uphill getting into town than returning. The trailhead is about a mile past the Illium campground entrance on your left side of the road. From the Illium road its about 2-3 miles of nice advanced beginner single track that spits you out at the Lawson Hill campground, from there its a paved trail another 2 miles or so into town. Wouldn’t recommend riding it back at night while intoxicated, depending on your experience level, and you’d want a good light. I think if the shuttle busses are not over-loaded they will let you on with a bike, but there are no bike racks on the shuttles. Shuttles start running around 7-8 am starting wednesday. They stop picking up in town around 2-3am. You can camp wherever there is room for your tent. We rode the trail into town twice, if you don’t stop its less than an hour one way, but Telluride Brewing is along the way and worth the halfway pit stop!
Thanks! Just getting back around to this. Super helpful. I’m going to be in Alaska the week before (wrapping up my week with a fun Chickenstock weekend) and based on this I’m going to do my two trips into two weeks vacation planning to get there Tuesday- from Oregon. I haven’t done one of these turnarounds in a while and I’m excited!
Sully there is plenty of room in the conference center where Travelin McCoury’s will play after Lil Smokies. You can stash your stuff outside the main dance hall in any number of places and it will be fine. you won’t need much on Wed though. First grass is on a grassy knoll and most folks will be dancin instead of sitting anyway. :woohoo :pickin :rock :abduct :concert :hop :drunk :drunk :drunk :sunshine :sunshine
Cindy lou
Bet you didn’t get up with the roosters this morning!!!
1st grass till 11
Stay at mnt. valley conf till 2am. Ride the gondola down to T. Will there be a bus at 3 am going back to Mary E?
Gonna be a late nite to kick it off with. :pipe2 :pipe2
Actually Sully I was up until the sun came up, went to bed about 6:30 this morning. I often see the sunrise, but it’s not because I’m just getting up! :lol :lol :sunshine :horsey :horsey :dog :dog
Hi! I am camping at Mary E. Does anyone know about showers? Can we use the ones in Town Park? We will probably bring a solar shower or jump in the river, but I’m curious what ya’ll do?
My Brother and I are trying to figure out the best time to arrive at Ilium, right now the earliest we could swing is leave Denver ~2PM Tuesday.
That puts us in Telluride probably 9pm or so - any idea if this is possible logistically?
Specifically I’m wondering if someone will be there to check us in this late, and whether we’ll be annoying folks by pulling in and finding a site this late.
No showers in Illium, and washing body, or dishes is forbidden in the river. There will be people at the Illium gate until late, not sure when it shuts down pre fest, but even if you show up at 3am you can drive in and get a spot, then check in with the authorities next day.
Hey guys! Its my wife and I’s first year at telluride. We got married recently and this is our honeymoon!
Just a couple questions. My camping pass; that all gets checked at the actual campground and not somewhere else? Just wondering for when i drive in, where to go first or if i can just go straight to campground. Also do you guys think there will still be some room on wednesday evening? Earliest we can get in should be around 6pm just a little paranoid. Haha.
The year we camped at Mary E. we got to camp Wednesday evening. It was filled in, but we found a space big enough for our 6 person tent. Just ask your neighbors and you’ll be fine.
IMHO, I’d go to camp first. They had our 4-day passes along with our camping wrist bands at the camp host check in. Then you don’t have to worry about setting up in the dark/dusk, and you can always get your festival wrist bands at the main box office on Thursday morning.
I’m a volunteer at the Ilium campground, 3 years running. I will answer some questions, assuming nothing has changed since last year.
You can come straight to camp, as long as you have your camping and 4-day festival passes printed. We will check those and ask that you go to the box office the first time you go into town to get wristbands. You can drive your vehicle in to drop all your stuff off, then will need to move it to the road for parking unless you have a vehicle pass. If you arrive while there is not a parking attendant (late night, several days before, etc.), you can keep your vehicle in the campground until there is one.
Wednesday is the day that most people arrive, so any day before then is great. But it’s a big campground and there’s plenty of room for everybody. Shouldn’t be hard to find a good spot especially if you are a small group. See you all soon!!!
just a little paranoid. Haha.