Every couple of years there is a cool private festival called Marblestock held near the charming town of Marble which is about a 45 minute drive from Carbondale or about an hour from Basalt. Marble is known for the beautiful white marble that comes from the quarry. There is an annual marble symposium where one can learn to sculpt marble in the forest and by coincidence this was also being held this week. On the way to Marble we stopped in Carbondale to see the Sand Mandala being crafted by monks. So intricate; it seems like a shame to destroy it. We saw it the day before the monks swept up the sand to put some in bags for people and the rest into the river to symbolise impermanence of worldly things. I almost felt like the act of taking a photo conflicted with that goal but they said it was ok 🙂 While in Marble we went out to the Crystal Mill. This road seemed to have fallen into much more disrepair than I remembered! I decided to park and we walked the last three miles. If you want to go I would recommend going with one of the local 4WD tours!