Camping in Steamboat Springs, Colorado

I love surprising my husband with a week(end) trip for his birthday every year. He loves camping and we don’t get out camping as often as he would like, so if I can pull off a surprise camping weekend for my hubby, you know it’s going to happen!

It has been years since I’ve been out to Steamboat. Growing up, I had a few soccer tournaments in Steamboat but Steve had never been.

It was a perfect combo - somewhere he’s never been PLUS a camping weekend. Here is everything we did, including where we camped and the restaurants/breweries we checked out

THe Campsite

Meadows Campground in Routt National Forest

Reservations can be made here on recreation.gov.

I personally like campsites where you can book in advance - less stress of driving around hoping there are first come/first available sites - and ones that have designated toilets.

This site was perfect for us with it being reservable and roughly 30 minutes into Steamboat.

in town recommendations

Storm Peak Brewery

One of my favorite things to do is go to a brewery on a hot summer day. And with it being Steve’s birthday, you know we found one. It was actually really perfect too as the brewery was also celebrating their birthday with a limited release Birthday Cake beer that we couldn’t get enough of. We will be visiting this brewery every time we are in Steamboat going forward!

Steamboat Meat & Seafood Co.

Located close to the river and near some great local shops, this butcher shop is great for fresh made sandwiches, prime cuts of meat, and name the type of seafood you want. We stopped in here to grab sub sandwiches that we took with us to Storm Peak Brewery.

the hike to do

If you are looking for a super scenic hike, look no further than Fish Creek Falls! This hike can be sort (less than 1 mile) or up to 5 miles if you want to hike to the top of the falls.

Read my full hike review for this hike here!

Hike Review: Cheesman Canyon, Sedalia, CO

Cheesman Canyon is one of those hikes that has been on our list but not a high priority to do, thinking it wouldn’t be anything overly amazing. Well, we finally can cross this one off and, wow were we wrong! This hike has so much about it that we loved. In fact, the only thing we would say is a downfall is that there is very little shade. But, we did pick one of the hottest weekends of the summer to do this hike, so really that is our own fault, as this hike would be absolutely perfect on a warm but not blazing hot day.

Keep reading for our full review as to why we loved it!

1. The hike is along a river!

   Yes, you literally hike along the river for the majority of the hike! There are a ton of fishermen around and a lot of access points from the upper trail to the water. So if you get too hot, you can work your way down to the water to cool off.

2. Good ups and downs the whole way.

   We love a good hike that is pretty equal effort both ways. This is not a hike that is up one way and down the way back. You get the challenges of inclines and declines both ways. This means that you don’t have a ton of overall elevation gain (you never get above treeline) but you get the workout associated with a strong elevation gain!

3. If you go far enough, you hit a reservoir.

   We did not make it far enough in on this hike to hit the reservoir (hello, 100 degrees by 10am!) but if we were to have kept going, there would have been a reservoir for us to sit by and enjoy. The reservoir feeds the river that you hike along. Needless to say, we will be back to get to the reservoir on a cooler day!

4. Not overly busy.

   We arrived at the parking lot by about 8am and had no issues parking. However, when we were leaving there were cars circling the lot waiting for a space. There is no street parking - if you park on the street you will get ticketed if caught.

We will warn you that the trail is mostly loose gravel - meaning that the declines are slippery and your feet can definitely come out from underneath you if you aren’t overly cautious. Yes, speaking from experience on that one. Whoops! Luckily I only scraped my hand a little bit, but it could have been much worse!

Overall, we give this hike a 4 out of 5 stars.

Happy Trails!
Liz

Hike Review: Catamount Loop, Woodland Park, Colorado

Disclaimer: this is an opinion about our personal experience of this hike. Others may have a different opinion, and that is perfectly acceptable. Everyone has a right to their own opinion.

The Catamount Loop, known as the “Lumber Pine, Mule Deer, Mackinaw and Ridge Trails Loop” on AllTrails is an 8 1/2 mile loop trail around a gorgeous reservoir near Woodland Park in Colorado. Here is what we think you need to know about this hike.

1 - The views are STUNNING.

As you hike around the reservoir, you will have endless views of Pikes Peak, a 14,000 ft mountain in Colorado. We went counter-clockwise on the loop, so we got to stare at the mountain for 3/4 of the hike without having to turn our heads all that much. If you are more a water person, the reservoir itself offers stunning views of the blue/green water.

2 - The hike goes in and out of actual trails and dirt roads.

The dirt roads are NOT my favorite. It was honestly very disappointing to discover that the trail becomes a road for 2ish miles, in multiple different sections of the loop. During these stretches, there is no tree cover and can get really dusty if cars use the road to get down to the reservoir.

3 - There are very steep grinds up and down.

While the elevation gain listed on AllTrails says about 1,000 feet, there are a few extremely steep ups / downs that are full of loose gravel. Hello butt-burner!!

4 - Parking is free but spots in the lot are limited.

The designated parking lot for the trailhead has maybe a dozen or so parking spots, but the good news is, parking along the road is allowed! When we got there, all spots were taken, but it was pretty easy to find a spot on the side of the road - no high clearance vehicle needed.

5 - All in, we give this 3 out of 5 stars.

Without the views this hike offered, we’d honestly rank it less, just due to the fact that the trails go in and out of dirt roads to actual trails. Out of all the hikes we’ve done, it’s hard to justify ranking this one much higher - a hike to us is a trail fully submersed in nature, not something that you have to watch out for vehicles for a significant portion of the hike. We loved the views, loved the distance, and loved the variability of challenging inclines to flat trail. We just really wish there was a trail running next to the areas of dirt road instead of merging them into one.

Additional Resources You Might Enjoy:

Day Trip Hiking Pack List

Hiking Reviews

Our Top 5 Quarantine Activities

We have officially been on “self quarantine” orders for a month now. To say the adjustment hasn’t been easy is an understatement, which we are sure the entire world can relate to. We miss our trails, the mountains, the freedom of happy hours and time spent with friends and family. But through this all, we’ve found a new routine and a few favorite activities to help us compensate our need to be in the mountains somewhere. We hope you enjoy these as much as we have been!

1. Walking and Biking on Local Trails

   We talked about the fact that we live very close to bike trails in our blog post on how to not feel as cooped up inside (check it out here!) and we have been making daily use of them. We can walk or ride down to the trails - which are paved bike and running trails - and have our pick of which direction to head. One way heads toward a brewery (major bonus that they are still open for to-go beers!), the other heads toward downtown Denver. If we really wanted to, we could easily get a 40+ mile bike ride in on the same trail.

2. Bonfires in the Backyard

   We are making use of our fire pit on a weekly basis! We love camping, and having a bonfire makes us feel like we are enjoying a peaceful night at a campsite. Bonus points if you make s’mores and extra bonus points if you pitch your tent in your backyard (or living room)!

3. Watching National Park Documentaries

   Hello, Disney+! If you have been on the fence on subscribing, let us be the first to tell you that the National Geographic Documentaries they have are 1,000% worth cost of the subscription! Our favorite is the 8 episode series “America’s National Parks”. Each episode highlights a National Park and the wildlife that lives in the park. Basically, it’s trip planning material for us! Leave us a comment below on what you think of the series if you have watched it!

4. Working on Puzzles of National & State Parks

   We were puzzle people prior to the lock down, but now we are constantly working to put puzzles together. Since we can’t enjoy the outdoors as much as normal, we decided to bring the outdoors to us with a couple of our puzzles. We have put together one of all Colorado activities and places, and are currently working on putting together a Yosemite National Park puzzle. Both have been fun and ways for us to think about places we want to go or book trips to when the lock down is lifted.

5. Reading and Working While Sitting Outside

   Prior to the lock down, we would enjoy our deck on weekend nights, and once in a while through out the work weeks, but not as often as we are now. These days, we are spending as much time as possible out there. We both work from laptops, and our wifi reaches to the deck, so as long as we don’t have video conference calls and the weather is nice, we are setting up shop outside. Post work, it’s nice to relax with a book and beverage on the deck before making dinner.

What have been your favorite activities during the “stay at home”/ “self quarantine”/ “lock down”? Leave us a comment below - we’d love some suggestions!

Burning Bear Snowshoe Trail

This past week has been hard for most Coloradoans, and honestly, most people across the US and world with what is happening with the Coronavirus, aka COVID-19. We’ve all been asked to “social distance” ourselves from others. Liz is a full blown extrovert, so being told to stay away from others is her absolute nightmare.

We have been trying to combat the cooped up feeling (see our blog post here about our favorite ways to not feel cooped-up) by getting outdoors as much as possible.

Yes, we are extremely fortunate that we live where we do but we challenge you to think about how you can get outdoors even if you live in a major city. Fresh air and sunshine? Sign us up.

This weekend we drove about an hour from where we live to check out Burning Bear Trail. We had never hiked or snowshoed this trail before, so we were really excited to see what it offered. Spoiler alert: it’s now our favorite snowshoe trail we’ve done. Yep. Favorite. Boom.

I mean, who wouldn’t immediately fall in love with a trail when this is how it starts? Yes, it’s as wonderfully peaceful as it looks in the photo. The sound of water flowing under the bridge and not much else? Happy sigh.

Alltrails.com rates this trail as “easy”. Our rule of thumb is to add one level of difficulty to Alltrails’ ratings when going snowshoeing. You hike differently. Your stance is wider, your steps are different, and your legs burn from the effort of pulling yourself out of knee deep snow if you happen to find a soft spot.

This trail is a 7.4 mile, out and back trail. There is a gradual incline on the way out, which means you get a really nice and easy hike coming back. The views were top notch. The parking situation was really easy, with a designated parking lot just around the corner from the trail head. All in, we loved this trail.

The best part for us? We are in the middle of a nation-wide ask to social distance and we ran into maybe a handful of people the entire time we were out. That’s about 20-30 people less than we were expecting. This is either one of the best kept trail secrets, or no one was wanting to drive an hour-ish from Denver to get there. Either way, we’ll take it.

If you want a really relaxing, beautiful hike/snowshoe, we highly recommend this trail. It’s great for beginners and experienced snowshoes alike.

As always, be sure to do your trail research. Just because we loved this hike and had the most perfect day out there does not mean it’s perfect for you. Know your surroundings and what you are going to get into before you go.

Happy future trails!

- Team Be Outdoors

Additional Posts You Might Like:

Beginner’s Guide to Snowshoeing

Beginner’s Guide to Hiking

Lost Lake Snowshoeing Review