Steamboat Lake State Park - July 22nd to 24th, 2020
Our two nights and one full day at Steamboat Lake State Park was long enough to enjoy the abundance of wildflowers surrounding the lake. A couple of rain showers actually enhanced our experience and helped keep the area lush with vegetation.
It felt good to be on the road again after a couple of days at home. Our first destination on this loop was Steamboat Lake State Park. We started out on I-70. The engine check light came on as we approached Idaho Springs. Left Buddy (LB) pulled off at Idaho Springs and into a gas station. We took the opportunity to fill up on gas and check the engine codes. The engine codes indicated that there was a small fuel vapor leak. The most common cause is a gas cap not put back on properly. However, the Ford Transit does not have a gas cap, just a flap that is held closed by the driver’s door. Since it is not dangerous to drive with a fuel vapor leak, but it does cause extra pollution, we cleared the codes and continued on our way. We’ll have it checked out the next time we are home. As we descended from the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70, the engine check light came on again. This time it indicated that the transmission was overheating. We stopped at North Pond Park in Silverthorne just off of Colorado 9 for an early lunch to let the transmission cool down. North Pond Park looked like a popular town park with a lot of people fishing, paddle boarding, and kayaking in the pond.
After eating our lunch, LB crawled under the van to see if he could see any issues. He saw a small amount of what he believed to be transmission fluid dripping down, but could not see where it was leaking from. We texted our daughter to see if she could check our driveway for spots of leaking fluid. There was nothing that looked like transmission fluid. A local woman getting in her vehicle parked next to ours was very friendly and helpful and gave us the name of a mechanic that she recommends and uses. As we looked through the car manual and discovered there is no way for us to check the transmission fluid level ourselves, we decided to drive over to the local Ford dealer to have our van looked at. When we got there, the dealer could not get our van in to even look at it until the following day. However, he recommended not using the Tow Haul mode and we should probably be fine. He suspected when the transmission overheated, a small amount of transmission fluid came out the pressure release vent. So we continued on our way.
For a change of pace, we took Colorado 9 out of Silverthrone to Kremmling, then up US 40 to Steamboat. We stopped in Kremmling for ice cream at Big Shooter Coffee. They served Dryer’s hand dipped ice cream and also served up milkshakes, so LB was happy. LB checked under the van one more time while we were stopped. There were no signs of any fluids leaking or dripping, so we felt better.
Steamboat Lake is a short thirty mile drive up a county road from Steamboat Springs. However, road construction had us sitting for about thirty minutes as we waited for our traffic direction to get its turn through the construction zone. The signs to turn into the state park are small and don’t give you much warning, so we missed the turn for our campground, Sunrise Vista, and had to turn around. The camp sites are in fields of wild flowers, some sites with shade and some without. Our site didn't have much shade, but that is what our awning is for.
Dinner was pulled pork sandwiches and slaw. It was a simple meal to prepare since Right Buddy (RB) had already cooked the pork and made the slaw at home. The pork roast and a whole head of cabbage are too large to fit in our small 28 liter van fridge, so she prepared them ahead of time and left some at home for the kids. They appreciated having one meal that they didn’t need to cook for themselves while we were gone. We also brought along some of our homemade BBQ sauce to put on top of our reheated pork. A very tasty meal without much effort! The rain started just as we were finishing up dinner, so we spent the rest of the evening working inside the van.
The next morning, we started our hike at 9 am. This was hike 39 of our 52 Hike Challenge: 7.8 miles, 585 foot elevation gain, in three hours and 53 minutes. We picked up the Willow Creek Trail right from the campground. First we headed over to the Dutch Hill Campground, Marina, and Swim Beach. The Marina had a little store, but we didn’t go in. RB noticed that there was a freezer inside that looked like it might contain ice cream novelties, but it was a little too early in the day for ice cream and we never went back to check it out. Can you believe it? We passed up an opportunity to have ice cream!
A man was getting some SUP boards ready for his grandkids. He asked if we were having a good hike and then offered us the use of his spare SUP board. It was a very kind offer, but we did not go back to the marina after our hike. There were all kinds of boats on the lake: SUP boards, canoes, kayaks, sailboats, pontoon boats, and speed boats.
From the beach, we headed back the other direction on Willow Creek Trail, towards the Visitor Center. We passed a woman sitting in a chair alongside the trail, sketching the panoramic view of Hahns Peak that lay before her. From the quick glance at it as we passed by, it looked pretty good. RB spotted something brown and moving in the willows from a distance. It was a sandhill crane. We were near Steamboat Springs the last time we saw sandhill cranes. They must like this area.
Willow Creek Trail follows the shoreline of the lake most of the time. There is a short section next to the county road, but the traffic isn’t too bad. We followed the trail all the way to the Visitor Center. Instead of continuing on Willow Creek Trail to the end, we headed over to the Tombstone Nature Trail. LB remembers hiking the nature trail with our kids years ago. That memory has long since vanished from RB’s mind. All she remembers from that visit to Steamboat Springs was going to the Strawberry Park Hot Springs and coming back to the campground in Steamboat Springs to find the rain storm had blown over our tent and gotten our bedding wet.
Our hike this time was very memorable. There were a large variety of wildflowers in every direction everywhere you looked. The most prevalent wildflower was mule’s ear which created fields of yellow flowers. As the day progressed and the sun started drying up the moisture from the previous day’s rain, the butterflies came out to visit all of the blossoms. Many of the lupine collected a large drop of water at the center of their leaves.
Hikers, bikes, and dogs are allowed on Willow Creek Trail, but bikes are not allowed on Tombstone Nature Trail. The nature trail is a little narrower and is a little bit hillier than the Willow Creek Trail. It is a loop up to the top of a small hill on a point that looks out over the lake. At the top of the hill is a grave site for the Wheeler family who homesteaded the area in the 1920’s. According to one of the tombstones, the Wheelers moved from Sterling to this area in their Model T Ford to homestead 243 acres. Most of those acres are now at the bottom of Steamboat Lake, which was created in the late 1960’s for recreational purposes.
After completing Tombstone Nature Trail, we headed back to our campground via Willow Creek Trail. We stopped off at one of the flush toilets in the campground on the way back to our campsite which was a little nicer than the vault toilet which was in our loop. When we got back, we put up our new Moon Shade, since it was a little windy and we didn’t want to have an issue with our awning. About an hour later, a storm blew through and dropped some rain. We tried to leave up the Moon Shade through the storm since it is supposed to handle the wind. However, a strong gust of wind blew the strong magnets off the van, so we quickly packed it up in the light rain.
After about another hour, the storm passed and the skies cleared up and gave us a pleasant evening. For dinner we made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup with fresh basil that we brought from our home garden. It was nice comfort food for a cool evening.
What we remember the most about our stay at Steamboat Lake is all of the wildflowers. We’re not sure if we timed our visit just right at the peak of the wildflowers, or if there are lots of wildflowers all summer long. It is hard to imagine that there would be less wildflowers in the spring. Steamboat Lake is definitely on our list of places to come back to. Maybe next time we’ll have a boat to go out on the lake or feel motivated to hike Hahns Peak up to the fire tower. What places have you visited that you want to go back to?
Check out our related video: Steamboat Lake State Park
(RB)