It was a relatively easy drive from Sylvan Lake up to Steamboat Lake. When we arrived, we found a line of RVs at the dump station. Some may have been dumping, but most of us were there to fill our fresh water tanks. After filling ours, we proceeded to our pull-through campsite on the Wheeler Loop.
After setting up, we took a short stroll to check out the nearby campsite cabins.
We passed the camper services (shower house) building and continued on to the marina.
They rent pontoon boats here, some of which have propane grills on the back. It would be fun to rent a one for an on-the-water picnic, but at $600+ for half a day, it was a bit out of our price range. We need to come here with like-minded friends who would be willing to split the cost.
Monday was a lazy day around camp. On Tuesday, we drove out down Seedhouse Road for a hike to Three Island Lake in the Mt. Zirkel Wilderness Area. We had picked up a handout sheet listing 25 hikes in the area, and Three Island sounded like a good option. It would have been had we made it the entire distance. Instead, we petered out before actually reaching the lake. Maybe next time.
Dianne and I spent most of Wednesday making money. While she remained in camp working on her LifeVantage business, I drove around the park taking photographs for an upcoming Colorado Life camping column.
After circling the lake and shooting 400+ photos, I went back to camp, scooped up the wife and we headed into downtown Hahn’s Peak Village for a late lunch-early dinner at the Hahn’s Peak Cafe.
There, I enjoyed a couple of Jamaican Red Stripe brews with a delicious green chili burger.
From there, we went on to Steamboat Lake’s sister park, Pearl Lake State Park. They have yurts here…
…and a hillside campground of sites with neither hookups nor dump station.
Back at Steamboat Lake, we drove to Rainbow Ridge and shot photos of sunset clouds over the lake while listening to sandhill cranes whooping in the distance.
Thursday was chores day. Dianne did laundry at the park’s laundry facility while I filled up fresh water and got down Bob, our sewer wagon, to drain our gray- and black-water tanks.
Friday was go into town day. We drove into Steamboat Springs, had lunch at Del Mezcal Mexican restaurant downtown, bought a replacement folding chair for me at Wally’s Mart and stocked up on groceries at City Market. After topping up the tank with City Market gas, we headed back to camp.
Our big hike came on Saturday when we scaled Hahn’s Peak. It’s only a two-mile slog up from the trailhead parking lot, with the final third of a mile up 300 vertical-feet of loose talus.
State Park rangers told us that on April Fool’s Day a few years back, the local paper wrote that they had just opened a Starbucks atop this 10,839-foot peak. Baristas, they wrote, were lowered into work by helicopter. What we found up there was nothing but a retired forest fire lookout with nary a caramel macchiato to be seen.
That night, we topped up our wine glasses, sat outside the trailer and watched another glorious Colorado sunset. I was so inspired by the sight, I posted the following to one of our trailer camper sites group on Facebook:
The first thing we did when we bought our current trailer was to remove the built-in TV.
Rather than sitting inside watching the Kardashians, we sit outside, glass of wine in hand, and enjoy sights like this.
Needless to say, I got lots of negative responses to the posting. I guess trailer campers must really like the Kardashians.
Sunday was getaway day. We loaded up, hooked up and headed up to the dump station. There, a line of motorhomes and trailers waited for their turn at the one sewer drain that wasn’t stopped up. Having dumped on Thursday, our black and gray tanks weren’t that full. We decided we’d just carry it to our next campsite and dump there.
Goodbye Steamboat Lake. We’ll be back, maybe next time with our non-camping friends who can bunk in non-camping comfort at one of the cabins while we stay in the nearby campground.
