Faced with a schedule that precludes a trip to Yankee Boy Basin or Gothic or the other holy grails for wildflowers this month, I have to be content (poor boy) with my local surroundings here in Steamboat Springs. Yet, just 25 minutes away is the Dumont Lake area on Rabbit Ears Pass, which to my delight has a proliferation of wildflowers this year beyond anything I've seen in the past---and a visit earlier this week confirmed once again that last winter's snows have produced abundant blossoms.
Again, I apologize for a busy composite, but I wanted to display a range of what I saw in the last few days. The background and two pictures on the right side are from Dumont. I've never seen so much Paint Brush and Lupine. The good news is you can drive right to this area---and it's only about 2 1/2 hours from Denver.
The two pictures on the left side are from the trail to Gilpin Lake and the lake. Gilpin is a little more difficult to get to---up to the end of Seedhouse Road about 35 miles from Steamboat, then a 4-5 mile uphill-all-the-way hike with about 1,400 ft. elevation gain. There were a lot of flowers along the trail but only glacier lilies at the lake---it's a little early still at that altitude (9,840 ft.).
It appears to me that the flowers at Dumont probably will be good for at least another week.
Posted by Mark Aultman on July 13, 2006 at 8:59 PM
looks fantastic...I was near Cabin Creek last weekend and I saw much of the same
From Walden, you'll be on Hwy.14 heading west and south, which terminates at Hwy. 40 at Muddy Creek, just east of Rabbit Ears Pass. At that point, you're only about three or four miles going west on Hwy. 40 to Dumont Lake.
Discussion
3 repliesAgain, I apologize for a busy composite, but I wanted to display a range of what I saw in the last few days. The background and two pictures on the right side are from Dumont. I've never seen so much Paint Brush and Lupine. The good news is you can drive right to this area---and it's only about 2 1/2 hours from Denver.
The two pictures on the left side are from the trail to Gilpin Lake and the lake. Gilpin is a little more difficult to get to---up to the end of Seedhouse Road about 35 miles from Steamboat, then a 4-5 mile uphill-all-the-way hike with about 1,400 ft. elevation gain. There were a lot of flowers along the trail but only glacier lilies at the lake---it's a little early still at that altitude (9,840 ft.).
It appears to me that the flowers at Dumont probably will be good for at least another week.
From Walden, you'll be on Hwy.14 heading west and south, which terminates at Hwy. 40 at Muddy Creek, just east of Rabbit Ears Pass. At that point, you're only about three or four miles going west on Hwy. 40 to Dumont Lake.