Diane Ron and Brad take off to Steamboat for the Fourth of July

Diane Ron and Brad head to
Steamboat for the Fourth of July.

The Columbines were very large this year	Di cooks evening meal	Starting out
Ron and Di enjoy the evening by Gold Lake	Brad at the top of Mt Zirkel

The Hike into the Mt Zirkel Wilderness was spectacular. We Started at Seed House Road, went about 4 miles to Gold Lake. The park regulations require that no one camp within a quarter mile of the lakes, so we found our first camp spot by a creek above the lake. It rained, so we were able to test our our tarp method of camping. All of us stayed dry that night.
The next day we climbed up Red Dirt pass on up to Mt Zirkel, crossing snowfields and soggy marsh.It was late that day that we finally found a campspot quite a distance from Gilpin Lake as we could not find a dry flat spot. I conked out without dinner, Ron and Brad had bean and mashed potato soup. I was not too thrilled about that combination, so it was no big loss to me.
We hiked out, soaked in Strawberry Park hot springs, then visited friends( and former roommates of Diane),Sam and Mimi and Gary before heading home to Boulder and Longmont.