Steamboat Lake State Park is about 40 minutes north of Steamboat Springs. We booked 3 nights at Bridge Island campground, which was just a 5 minute walk to the marina and swim beach. After we arrived, we went on a walk along the Willow Creek trail.
Beautiful wildflowers, nice view of the lake, well-maintained trail.
There were so many wildflowers surrounding the trail. I had never seen a trail like it before.
Camilla loved finding all of the different types of flowers and Lola loved all of the different smells.
When the sun started setting, it made for some beautiful pictures.
The view of the mountains in the background was so beautiful.
It was some great family time.
The next morning, Connor and Lloyd went to Emerald Mountain to mountain bike.
I took Camilla to the lake and rented a canoe for 2 hours.
We had so much fun maneuvering around the lake.
Lola was scared at first and I had to lift her into the canoe. Steamboat is such a dog friendly area. There were dogs everywhere and everyone told Lola how beautiful she was.
But she relaxed after a while.
It was neat to go all the way out the middle of the lake and look around.
Lola got out and swam for while.
We canoed to a little island and got out and walked a bit.
Then we just relaxed in the middle of the lake.
After our canoe adventure, we came back and relaxed and ate some burgers.
When Lloyd and Connor returned, I went down to the lake and did some open water swimming.
The water was warm enough to not wear a wetsuit but I know that I swim faster with a wetsuit on.
The swim area was not too deep and I wasn’t scared at all.
The night before the triathlon, there was a blood red moon.
The Morgan Creek fire was burning 14 miles from Steamboat and the firefighters had a camp set up next to Steamboat Lake State Park.
The swim starts out in the surprisingly warm waters of Steamboat Lake (70 degrees), then athletes transition to a scenic bike course. You’re more likely to see a herd of cattle crossing the road than be passed by a vehicle! After a ride through the rolling country-side athletes transition to a 3.5 mile run course that’s 50% on road, and 50% on the dirt trails that hug the lakeside. You run through wildflower meadows to the finish.
The triathlon was so fun! It was probably the prettiest triathlon I have ever done! I was the 3rd fastest swimmer out of the water, which gave me a huge confidence boost.
Some people passed me on the bike and I came in the 5th fastest cyclist.
I came in 2nd on the run which gave me a 3rd place age group finish.
After the triathlon, we took a trip down to Steamboat Springs and did some shopping and ate dinner on the patio.
We loved our brand new tent, which was spacious and comfortable.
Our campsite wasn’t very secluded but we still had fun. Lloyd did have to talk to our neighbors on the first night because they were playing music loud at 11pm, but they were nice and quieted down.
Due to low river flows along with a concern about high water temperatures and low oxygen levels in the Yampa River, the city implemented closures for all commercial activities on the Yampa River and asking the public to abide by a voluntary closure for all recreational river use starting July 7. Hopefully, next year the water will be normal and there will be no wildfires in the area.
I definitely want to do this triathlon again next year!
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