Zirkel Circle Loop

Backpacking Zirkle Circle Loop — Zirkel Circle Loop
in
MOUNT ZIRKEL Wilderness

BACKPACK ZIRKEL CIRCLE LOOP in STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, CO

The Duration: 2 days, 1 night (first solo backpacking trip, eek!!)

The Distance: 11 miles

Time of Year: July

The Track: Loop

The Rose: Talk about alpine lakes! These lakes are nestled perfectly between the mountains making for some epic views.

The Thorne: Being beyond paranoid (remember, I’m by myself!). I did not sleep a wink thinking that there was a bear outside my tent the entire night and I would have to fend it off completely alone. Kate vs. Bear style.

The ZIRKel CIRCLE LOOP Trail Overview

Okay, so setting the premise here. It was my (Kate’s) first solo backpacking trip – not only without Kat 😢 but without ANYONE. With that being said, I wanted something simple, low mileage, and with great views. Man, Zirkel Circle is the hike!! A true Backpacking Beginners hike! If you are near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, whether you live there or you’re just visiting and want to try backpacking for the first time – Zirkel Circle Loop is a great trek (assuming you have someone to do it with!). Zirkel Circle trail is well traveled, the views will make your jaw drop, and the mileage/incline will challenge you just enough to test your backpacking strength. With only 11 miles on a well blazed trail, you’ll feel like you conquered a real mountain!

Think you’re ready to take the plunge backpacking solo? Read more about tips for Backpacking Solo HERE.

Selecting ThE ZIRKel CIRCLE LOOP Trail

As mentioned, my criteria for this trail was a low mileage, simple, well traveled trail with some epic Colorado views. Starting with low mileage, I wanted a distance that I felt my body could physically handle. I felt 10-12 miles would be my best bet here, breaking it into 5 to 6 daily miles. The second criteria was an easy, well maintained and blazed trail. One of the hardest things when backpacking can be following a trail that is not well maintained. For this hike, I wanted something foul proof that I could not get lost on. Lastly, I wanted to be sure I was hiking and camping around people that way if something went wrong I could rely on others around me. Boy, did I get that one wrong on this trip. I did check The Hiking Project (similar to All Trails) to see if this was a ‘heavily trafficked’ trail which it was for day hiking but I guess not for backpacking on weekday nights because I ended up being COMPLETELY ALONE setting up camp for the night. Straight spooky! I would definitely recommend doing this hike on the weekend where you can probably expect a few more neighbors.

Ready to kick off Zirkel Circle Loop…SOLO!

For this selecting this trail, I heavily relied on The Hiking Project app

This trail is located in Medicine Bow National Forest. There are literally so many trails in Medicine Bow National Forest that hiking can be endless. This specific trail has a lot of side hikes that you can include to increase the daily mileage or even add an extra day. For example, add Mica Basin in for some extra miles and beautiful views! I also saw a lot of people carrying in fly fishing rods or inflatable kayaks for some extra adventure once you set up camp.

The ZIRKel CIRLE LOOP Trail DESCRIPTION

Parking / Leaving Cars:

Lots of space at the Gilpin trailhead. Cars were parked on the side of the road but it was large enough to fit plenty more! Also, if you need a place to stay the night before your hike, there are a lot of campsites leading up to the trailhead for some easy car camping.

The road to get to this trail is ROUGH. It is a very long, narrow gravel road filled with potholes. Be sure to fill up on gas before heading to this trailhead (kinda in the middle of nowhere) and have a car that can handle some bumps.

The Hike Description:

There are two options for doing hiking the Zirkel Circle Loop – Clockwise or Counterclockwise.

Beautiful Waterfalls all along the ZIrkel Circle Loop!

Clockwise will have a more gradual incline but the views will be mostly behind you. Compared to counterclockwise where you’ll have more aggressive inclines with easy hiking in between. However, with counterclockwise, you’re hiking straight into the views rather than them coming up behind you. I would recommend going Counterclockwise; though it’s a bit harder, I think the views are better.
As mentioned, this hike is about as straightforward as it gets. The trail is well maintained making it easy to follow. There was maybe a time or two where I asked folks around me to make sure I was still on the right path or checked my Hiking Project App.
If you are going counterclockwise, starting from the Gilpin Trailhead:
- Zirkel Circle is well trafficked during the day and starts with pretty immediate incline that sneaks up on you but totally it’s doable! The majority of this first stretch follows along a river with some waterfalls and river crossings.
- There will be two lakes you pass - woohoo! Gold Lake (the first) is better for swimming and jumping off rocks on a hot day. Gilpin Lake (the summit lake) is better for admiring the epic views.
- You’ll summit the mountain by doing a little rock scrambling before heading down the mountain through a series of switchbacks.
- You’ll end the hike by walking some beautiful meadows following along a scenic river.
Zirkel Circle has relatively low mileage and should only take about half a day to hike in and half a day to hike out. With that being said, I would recommend taking advantage of having extra time by enjoying the beautiful lake either the afternoon you get there or having a lazy morning before packing out for the day.

I’m telling ya, as far as hikes go, Zirkel Circle one is really close to perfect. It is very simple to follow, has plenty of water sources, summits a peak, allows you to enjoy two beautiful lake views and some waterfalls. How could there be more to offer??

Where to Camp:

I camped at the summit before Gilpin Lake which is about 5 miles into the trail (going counterclockwise). The lake was still a good distance away through a series of steep switchbacks so I chose not to go down to the lake to get water for the night and decided to refill in the AM once I was closer to the water.

In this neck of the woods, you can’t camp within ¼ miles of either of the lakes. There will be signs designating where this distance stops and starts. There is a flat spot near the top of the peak overlooking the lake or once you are about 2 miles past the lake going counterclockwise. There will also be some good places in camp in the meadow about 6-7 miles into the hike.

As always, Colorado is bear country so be sure to hang your food a good distance from you or use a bear canister. In this hike, I used a bear canister and had it about 200 ft. away from my tent though I wish I had tucked it away even father! Check out more Bear Safety in our Backpacking Safety HERE.

On the Way Home:

Steamboat Springs, CO has lots of local spots to stop after your hike! I usually crave a filling pizza after a good hike so I headed to How Ya Doin’ Pizza and then grabbed a beer after at Storm Peak Brewing Company. These places are about 45 minutes from the Trailhead!

The Lessons Learned FROM ZIRKel CIRCLE

Making the famous Velveeta at the top of Mount Zirkel!

#69: Going Solo: Bring a Portable Charger. As mentioned, I didn’t sleep a wink at night so what did I do instead? I spent bundles of time on my phone; writing notes in my phone, playing music out loud and eventually when I knew I was up for the night, I watched a movie I had downloaded previously from Netflix (Perks of Being A Wallflower, anyone??). Anyways, all this phone activity killed my phone’s battery pretty quickly. Since I was using the Hiking Project as the guide and navigation for my hike, this was no bueno. Thankfully, since the trail was pretty easy to follow I had no issue making it back without the app’s help.

#70: Going Solo: Make the Little Moments Count. Going solo means not having the companionship that you usually would have on a backpacking trip. This means you have to be your own form of entertainment. I found myself laughing out loud when I was yelling out to bears around “Hey bears, it’s Kate. This is just a friendly reminder to please stay the f* away from me. Thank you!” or the moments of making dinner and just having that feeling of ‘yes I did that’ today while admiring a great view. You’re solo, take time to reflect on how much of a badass you are!

#71: Going Solo: Water goes quicker is it’s only one of you. I don’t know why but this came as a shock to me. I assumed that I would be fine on water with my bladder and Nalgene, but come dinnertime I had used the last of my water and wasn’t by a readily available water source. Usually with two people, there is enough collective water to get through the night but with only one it was definitely tight. Does anyone else get thirstier when they know that they are out of water??

#72: Going Solo: Don’t be lazy! I felt pretty tired after the last scramble to get to the peak where I was setting up camp for the night. With that being said, I didn’t cook and store my food as far from the tent as I know I should have. This left me feeling paranoid all night that a bear found my food and is that much closer to me!

The Perspective from Kate:

From the summit at Mount Zirkel at Gilpin Lake

Have I mentioned this was my first solo hike yet? 😏 OH, and bonus points… I did the entire hike in CHACOS. Yup, Chacos as in sandals. The previous weekend I had done a three night backpacking trip and had some blisters that needed recovering before putting my hiking boots back on. Seriously though, I'm super proud of myself for making it out alive and actually enjoying it. *self high five* Zirkel Circle was both a physical and mental challenge throughout the entire trek. Physical in the way that I had to self-motivate going through the last set of switchbacks when my knees started hurting on the decline. Mental in the way that everything spooked me – camping alone, fear of bears, even sometimes when the wind blew a little too loud. I felt like I was on hyper aware the entire trek for weird sounds and scat.

Overall though, I know I have already emphasized this but Zirkel Circle really was the PERFECT backpacking trek, especially for beginners. You could totally push it and make it a long day hike but I say take it easy and enjoy a good overnight camp sesh!