6/28 Bike RIde on Trail near Frisco, Colorado

I am staying at Heaton Bay Campground, which is part of the White River National Forest.  I had tried to get a campsite here when they first opened six months ago, but was unsuccessful.  I was lucky to find a cancellation a couple of weeks ago so I could escape from the heat in Zion.  This place is along I-70 and less than a two-hour drive from Denver, so it is a busy place on weekends and during the week for that matter during summer.  

The reason temperatures have been in the low 70s instead of the 100s is that the elevation is over 9,000 feet.  The campground is on Dillon Reservoir and surrounded by snow-capped mountains that are 14,000 feet high.  Very beautiful, although the oxygen level could be a but higher!  I have a very nice campsite:



There is a paved bike trail all the way around Dillon Reservoir so it is easy for me to take my electric bike and zip into either Frisco on the western end of the lake or Dillon across the dam on the eastern end.  Today, I rode into Frisco, picked up some groceries, and then rode to the dam.  It was a total of 11 miles, but even with an electric bike I really needed a rest when I got back.  Whew!  And I thought riding a bike at 7,000 feet at Grand Canyon was hard.  

So here are some photos of the bike path:

I think this area was burned a long time ago.  There are only small trees, but it will not take too long to lose these views as they grow. 

Frisco is about three miles away.  A lot of small stores and not quite as big as Dillon on the other side of the reservoir, but handy for picking up fast food and small things. 

I know this is tilted, but it is the best I could do right now.  One thing I did learn when camping a couple of days ago on the southern side of the reservoir, about in the middle near the top, is that the bike trail is really steep on that side of the lake.  

These apartments in Frisco have great views over the lake and excellent access to the bike trail, as well. 

 

Could not resist stopping for this wildflower covered hill. 

 This is at the dam looking across at the town of Dillon.  There are more stores there, like a Lowes and an outlet shopping area. 

The mountains near Dillon are part of the Arapaho Basin Ski area.  Breckenridge is only about 10 miles away, but I am going to be driving past there on my way to my next camping area on Friday, so I will be lazy and not head there until then.