Adventures of Tin Can Lulu

We finished our time in Steamboat with another bike ride and hike. We covered some of the roadways that the locals frequent. In 30 miles we probably saw about 50 cyclists on a weekday! Amazing.

Our last hike took us to the popular trail, Fish Creek Falls. With the amount of water from the snow melt, the falls were roaring with water. The falls is 280 feet and really is magnificent. Fish Creek Falls is part of a glacial troughs or u-shaped valley formed by glaciers. Glaciated valleys are formed when a glacier travels across and down a slope, carving the valley by the action of scouring.

We also hiked to an abandoned uranium mine. The “Fair U Claim” which was prospected for uranium in the 1950’s.  The mine includes two passageways (all closed and boarded up), one which extends 600 feet.  The mine is at an elevation of 7,979 feet. It was an average 6% grade to reach the mine. Some of the trail was rocky and other parts went through aspen groves that provided shade and a flatter trail.

We learned that 80% of the water that is used by Steamboat Springs comes from snow melt/runoff. We thought you would enjoy what the mountain looked like at the beginning of our stay and the end of our stay. You can definitely see much snow has melted.

The Steamboat Springs public transportation system is very user friendly. Yes, we rode the bus right from the campground whenever we wanted to go to town. The bus schedule was very convenient and stopped at the campground every 20 minutes. It sure made life easy on the busy weekends when the town was loaded with visitors! But best of all, it was FREE!!

We are sorry to leave Steamboat Springs but are looking forward to exploring Idaho. We are headed to the Sawtooth Mountain area. More to come!