Steamboat Rock — Sunday, Apr. 11, 2021

I spent the weekend camped at Steamboat Rock State Park. This was mainly a fishing trip but I felt like I had to get at least one hike in. Got up early this morning and hiked up to the plateau. Once on top I did a counter clockwise loop. Great views from up there on this cold clear morning. Quite a bit of wildlife too. There were probably 30 deer up there grazing, a bunch of marmots running around and a couple of chukar too. Wildflowers are just starting to bloom and with the warming weather should really take off. As for the trail it's very steep in places up to the plateau. The main issue is that there's a lot of loose dirt and rock that's pretty slick coming down. I'd recommend poles although I didn't have mine. If you're in the area this is a very worthy hike. RT from the campground was about 4.5 miles.