July 17, 2018
Day 15: Dillon to Frisco. Around Dillon reservoir.
Today our destination of Frisco is only 5 miles from Dillon. Kelly and I will take the long way around Lake Dillon. Jacinto will do that and climb to Hoosier Pass and back. I will do the entire 18 mile loop, the Frisco to Dillon portion twice.
We started out going south from Dillon, clockwise around the lake. The lake shore is densely populated for the first 2 miles. Then the trail turns away from town and climbs into undeveloped hills on the south side of the lake.
Today we saw fireweed in a few places. I have seen fireweed in Alaska and northern British Columbia. Never before this far south. Here at 9000+ feet elevation the climate is similar to the northern Boreal forest.
Today had beautiful high mountain summer weather. 60's in late morning. High of 75F. More blue sky in the morning, more clouds in the afternoon but it never threatened to rain. I can really appreciate the cool mountain weather after enduring much hotter weather in the high desert.
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All morning we had good views of the Ten Mile range to the northwest. Tomorrow we pedal over those mountains. Today we enjoy the view from below.
The Ten Mile range tops out at less than 13,000 feet but is much closer than the 14,000 foot mountains to the southwest. Frisco is right at the base of the Ten Mile range.
The southeast part of the loop climbs 550 feet above the lake. The view was quite good because in many places the trees were sparse and small. Maybe due to fires? It's not near the tundra line which is visible much higher up the mountains.
The Lake Dillon bike trail is very popular. We had a lot of company on the trail. Many cyclists but very few hikers on the "back" side of the lake because the 18 mile loop is too long for most hikers. Hikers who can go 18 miles mostly prefer to be on a singletrack trail instead of a paved multi-use path.
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The Lake Dillon loop goes on a road for 2 miles on the southwest part of the loop. Downhill all the way in our direction. Then back on trails on the northwest side of the lake. There is a maze of trails in the vicinity. Trails crossing the town of Dillon, a trail to up Breckenridge, a trail up to Copper Mountain, plus the lakefront trail. Signage was poor, so at junctions I took the trail that was closest to the lake.
Kelly and I arrived at Lakeshore Motel in Frisco at 11 AM. Fortunately the rooms were almost ready. $99.38. We had lunch in a busy Mexican cafe next door, happy to be resting in Frisco instead of pedaling up to Hoosier pass and back.
After lunch I took a short nap. At 2:30 I pedaled away to complete the loop around the lake. 14 mile round trip from Frisco to Dillon and back. Mostly flat and busy. I pedaled it once before in 2010, coming down from Breckenridge.
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I turned around at Dillon amphitheater where I could hear a sound check for tonight's String Cheese Incident concert. That's the reason we had to move to Frisco tonight.
The Dillon to Frisco portion of the Lake Dillon loop is mostly flat and populated. It has many more pedestrians and inexperienced casual cyclists than on the hilly south side of the lake.
I got back to Frisco at 4:30 and spent some time walking on Main Street. Most of Frisco is new but it's actually a historic mining town. There are a small number of 1890's structures on Main Street.
Dillon was also once a historic town but the original town site is now deep under the reservoir. Dillon was rebuilt in its present lakeside location after Dillon dam was completed in 1963.
Below the dam the larger town of Silverthorne is upscale now but was founded in 1961 as a camp for workers building the dam.
Today had great scenery. A semi-rest day was just what I needed after yesterday's big mountain climb and before tomorrow's big mountain climb. 7 years ago I did a 44 day tour with no rest days. I can't do that now.
The Silverthorne/Dillon/Frisco area is upscale, expensive, and somewhat crowded, but very hospitable to bicyclists. Trails everywhere. Bike racks everywhere. I saw far more cyclists today than at Colorado National Monument on the 4th of July.
Distance: 27.7 mi. (44.3 km)
Ascent/Descent: +1489/-1438 ft. (+451/-436 m)
Average Speed: 8.9 mph (14.2 km/h)
Today's ride: 28 miles (45 km)
Total: 600 miles (966 km)
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