Since we made it to bed so early I was up (really I was up all night...I couldn't sleep) and rearing to go at 6:10 a.m. I tried to see if Heather was going to go w/ me but she thought sleeping in would better prepare her for the day's activities. I headed out on my bike to go see the Hot Air Balloon Rodeo just outside of the town. It was a beautiful morning (crisp, I should have brought gloves) to see the balloons.
Hot Air Balloon Rodeo (Bike)Trails Used: Trail along Yampa River
Distance: 8.23 Miles
Difficulty: Easy
Moving average: 8.1 mph
Overall average: 4.7 mph
Moving Time: 1 hrs, 0 min
Stopped Time: 44 min, 39 sec
Total Ascent: 333 ft.
Maximum elevation: 6913 ft.
After a quick breakfast we headed out to Fish Creek Falls. It drops 280 feet and is most impressive to view.
We decided to hike to the upper falls as well.
It was a grueling uphill but was great coming down. The area was like a tropical mountain valley. It was so lush and even humid that it didn't feel like you were in the mountains at times. At least until you had one of these views:
The whole hike up was a constant series of waterfalls and wildflowers. We had a great lunch at the top (our top, we could have gone to Lost Lake but that was another 2 miles at least and we had many things to do still). Our hostess had given us the name of another sandwich shop in town that was fabulous. Back Country Provisions gave us each a nice sized sandwich neatly wrapped for hiking that was yummy!
We ate here and had the sound of water all around us. We even gave our feet some relief and dipped them in the cold water.
The aspen along this hike were big, white, and beautiful. I'd love to do this hike in the fall and see them change color.
Fish Creek Falls (Hike)Trails Used: Fish Creek Falls Trail
Distance: 6.46 Miles
Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult
Moving average: 2.5 mph
Overall average: 1.7 mph
Moving Time: 2 hrs, 32 min
Stopped Time: 1 hrs, 17 min
Total Ascent: 1468 ft.
Maximum elevation: 9119 ft.
We ended our day (I guess I should say the afternoon) at the Strawberry Park Hot Springs. It was another beautiful place that had a couple of different pools w/ different temperatures. It was nice going from the hot pool into the main river. We even saw some rainbow trout swimming around. The only thing that could have made it better was a cold, frosty beer!
We were going to try to attend the Steamboat Pro Rodeo Series but by the time showers and dinner were done the rodeo wasn't as high on our list. We walked by and the place was empty. Friday night it was packed so we were very surprised to see it so empty! We ate at Mambo Italiano and had a good appetizer and pizza. We were glad to see the size of their dishes (huge) so we split a pizza. We headed to the Rio for margarita's (they weren't as good as the ones in Ft. Collins) and then to Sun Pie's for the rest of the evening. All in all it was a great day out!
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