One of the reasons I like this campground is that it has a paved bike trail 18 miles around the lake! And if it very nicely wide and goes through the young lodgepole pine forest. I found out this day why the area has nothing but young trees--apparently a few years ago they had to clear cut a huge area because the lodgepole pines were all dying because of the mountain pine beetle. So, now the campground and the area around the lake are filled with trees that are anywhere from one foot tall to maybe 15 feet tall.
Lodgepole pine are tall and skinny, and they did indeed make terrific poles for native Americans to use for lodges and teepees.
Anyway, I probably rode only 10 miles on my new electric bike, but it felt good. I had a bad fall from my bike in Napa at the end of December, and it has made me a little concerned about falling again. The problem is that electric bikes can take off on their own when you hit gravel, especially if you are using the full-power mode or the power boost mode. What happens is that when you hit some gravel, the bike senses that it needs to speed up, so the wheels spin and you can easily lose control. Luckily, I did not break anything, but I landed partly in the very busy paved road and had to be rescued by some employees of the nearby auto repair shop.
I tore a big chunk of skin off one ankle, and bruised and scraped my left knee and left elbow. The ankle scrape was the worst because it had to heal from the edges, so it took almost two months. Also, this new bike is faster than my old one and takes off more quickly, so it is taking getting used to.
I headed west out of the campground and into the town of Frisco to try to get my back brakes fixed, but no luck, so I had to manage with just the front brakes. Luckily, they are disc brakes, so really do a good job of stopping me! You can see how all the trees are small in the area. And you can see the yellow stripe down the middle of the bike trail.
The lake is a little low, but this marshy area will sometimes be filled with water.
Love the snow-covered mountains. The lake is at about 9,000 feel in elevation, so I have no idea how tall these mountains are. All I know if that this is prime skiing country. These mountains are to the northeast of the lake.
This mountain is west of the lake and campground.
A good photo of the bike trail. No gravel!!!
I rode all the way east to the dam. Behind the dam is the town of Silverthorne.
I walked across the road that goes over the dam and took this photo of Silverthorne. It is really built up with stores, hotels, restaurants, and all that go along with them. Breckenridge, by the way, is only a few miles south of here.
Back home to my campsite.
And a last photo of the campground. This is a forest service campground, so there is power for one area, but the other areas are all dry camping. And no showers or flush toilets, either. Most of the people in this this loop were camped in self-contained rigs, and our sites had water and electric hookups.
Heading to Denver tomorrow.
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