Western Road Trip - [Colorado - Steamboat Springs]

 We drive up about an hour and a half around Steamboat Springs, CO to find some free campsites. We luckily found one right off the road and it was great! We are getting better at finding such great campsites to enjoy for free! We decided to meet some friends here for the weekend and spend some time together. I (Sarah) met Zac and Erica (our Colorado friends) in Vietnam, while I was on my backpacking trip, and we still stay in touch!

our campsite for the next couple of days.

Zac fishing at the lake at our campsite.

Steamboat Springs is a town known for their ski resorts. The Yampa river also runs through this town so in the summer tubing the Yampa or biking the Yampa Core Trail is also a great activity to see the town! Before we met our friends, Oliver and I walked around town and popped into some cool little stores around the town and biked the Yampa Core Trail. The trail is a 7.5 mile paved multi-use trail along the Yampa River. Its a straight shot from one side of town to the other and you can stop at some restaurants and gardens along the way! Click here to see the trail map.

The next day Oliver and Zac did a 30 mile bike ride! 

The bike route started at Rabbit Ears pass next to Dumont Lake Campground. We started riding around 9 am. It was pretty cold for a summer morning. With the wind chill it was in the 30s!  For the first few miles it was nice muddy singletrack with some forest roads on and off. Winding through wildflowers up and down some meadows, eventually the trail became increasingly more technical, with rocks, roots, and steep climbs/downhills. The good thing about this was, we were getting deeper and deeper into the backcountry of the Routt National Forest. Riding around lakes and breaking tree lines into beautiful mountain meadows.

 We kept our eyes open for any wildlife that might be out and about. Eventually we came up on a group of hikers that had spooked a female Moose with her calf. We slowed down hoping to catch a glimpse of them, but unfortunately they had moved out of the area pretty quickly. After almost 20 miles of backcountry riding, I was feeling the effects of riding at elevation. The trails stays above 9,000 ft for over two thirds of the ride! Pretty soon, most of Zac and I's conversations started to have the same repeating topics. Food and beer. We finally made it to the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort where our hard work had finally paid off, with the next 13 miles being all downhill. This was the best possible way to end so an amazing ride. With nonstop technical trails dropping thousands of feet to the town of Steamboat.  We rode our bikes straight to Mountain Tap Brewery (we did make one stop at a lemonade stand) where the girls were waiting. We ended up riding 33 miles.

For our last day here, we stopped by Strawberry Park Hot Springs is a natural hot springs here in Steamboat Springs. Due to Covid, you have to reserve a 2 hour time slot to enter the springs. From our experience, they were not that strict with the rules and regulations, but to be respectful, I would read the protocols and guidelines before coming to the Strawberry Park. There were various pools at the springs, all with different temperatures! Super cool and relaxing to be here for our last stop in Colorado before heading to Wyoming. 

The Strawberry Park Hot Springs.

We are excited to be heading to Wyoming!