Steamboat Springs

• Day:  90
• Start:  1449
• End:  1467
• Miles:  18
• Hours:  7
• High temp:  67
• Low temp:  32
• People met:  1

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Magnificent aspens along the road 

The mooing was intermittent during the night, punctuated with the occasional coyote calls. Altogether the sounds where comforting as they crept into my half sleep. The chill morning temperatures still exist, I see frost on the grasses as I walk. The dirt road has been recently graded so the walk is easy.  More open fields come into view as I drop away from the forest. The scent of cows is I the air and it offends my senses. 

Very smooth for a dirt road

A cow spots me from his field and starts to move with intention in my direction.  Movement towards me is unusual as they always end up running away, so I'm getting concerned.  What pops into my mind is this animal a bull because moving towards me seems aggressive. I speak sharply to the animal and it halts with a curious look. A little further down the road 2 cows do the same maneuver drawing the same response from me. Perhaps the rancher calls the cows in the mornings and they thought I was him, anyway most unusual. 

Soon I'm at the 10 mile asphalt road walk along highway 14 and 40. Luckily traffic is light so I feel relatively comfortable walking on the shoulder. 

Highway 14

A range of mountains out here is called the Rabbit Ears Range. I'm almost to highway 40 and now have a view of the namesake mountain top for the range. 

The mountain top has ears like a rabbit. Hope you can see that in the picture. 

The haze that I mentioned before has thickened and seems to be getting worse by the moment. Appearantly there are many fires all along the West coast plus in Idaho and Montana. Health alerts are out for Steamboat Springs. This explains the slight cough I've experienced since yesterday. 

Luckily I only need to hike up highway 40 only 2 miles to the trailhead. 

Once in Steamboat Springs I secure a room, do laundry and shower. Now I'm ready to retrieve my boxes and carry out the rest of my chores. Great news Carolyn sent new pants in the mail with special modified Velcro patches on the pockets, reinforced zipper for my phone pocket and nicely hemmed.  I move down the street to the Big Agnes Headquarters store. Big Agnes makes all kinds of camping gear. I have a tent and sleeping bag of theirs. My tent pole sack is starting to fail, they fix it immediately, very nice folks there. 

Now for a late breakfast, just down the road is the Back Door and they serve breakfast all day. 

The Back Door

Eggs inside

Steamboat Springs has a free bus system making moving about this stretched out town very easy. They have a Walmart so I get my shopping done there. Back at my room I wash and water proof my rain fly and ground tarp. A good day in this pleasant town. 

A Frosty Day

• Day:  89
• Start:  1428
• End:  1449
• Miles:  21
• Hours:  9
• High temp:  55
• Low temp:  30
• People met:  5

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Grapple from last night

High winds blew most of the night, they brought some light rain. By morning the winds were gone and temperature had dropped below freezing. All the rain drops on my rain fly were frozen. I must have packed an extra pound if frozen water on my rain fly. The air is crisp just like a Fall day in Tahoe. I'm wearing my rain gear for warmth as well as my gloves. Not until about 1130 hrs does the sun actually melt the frozen north side. 

It seems that I'm at the edge of a prairie.  After hiking in the Rockies for about a month I'm amazed at this wide open land. The mountains here are not as high, however there is a range between here and Wyoming.

The distant prairie 

A better prairie shot

The trail takes me in what feels like a circuitous route. Since the mountains are not so high here all the climbs are fairly easy. I come upon water, while gathering some I check my next water source, Steamboat Springs, about 26 miles away. Appearantly there is water but it is cow water. I prefer to carry more than take cow water. Cow water is any water that cows have access to, it may even run clear but still should be treated. After hiking around so many cows I've come to realize they are very filthy animals. So I load up with the water that I figure I'll need in this cool climate. One nice thing about the coolness is I don't perspire hardly at all. 

Time to dry the ice chips

Where I stopped to dry my gear is the top of the climb for today. The next 25 miles are a road walk downhill to Steamboat Springs.  So my Colorado mountain experience is changing back to cows, dirt roads and flat land.  I figure about 95 miles left in Colorado. Time to start thinking about Wyoming and the Wind River Range. 

This part of the road walk is pleasant.