5/27 Frisco, Colorado

I've been here a week, but it has been cold and rainy, so not the best for taking photos.  This is one of the prettiest areas in Colorado, with snow-capped mountains surrounding Dillon Lake and this Forest Service campground.  It is a very popular ski area during the winter and a hiking and biking area during the summer.  There is an 18.7 mile paved bike trail around the lake, and it is very busy with locals and visitors.  Check it out here:  https://www.summitcountyco.gov/1385/Dillon-Reservoir-Recpath-Loop

There are three towns around the lake: Frisco on the west, and Dillon and Silverthorn on the east, so it is very easy to ride a bike to any of those towns.  Or at least it would be if it didn't rain and blow every day, plus being quite cold.  The sun does come out from time to time, but the clouds are always in the sky looking threatening.  The other problem, at least for me, in terms of walking and riding my bike is that the elevation here is 9,200' high, so there is not a lot of oxygen around! 

Also, a couple of days ago, I had gone out to the nearby water treatment plant to dump my tanks and pick up some groceries.  When I got back to my campground, I noticed that there was a warning light to check my radiator anti-freeze level.  With a bit of help, I managed to open the hood and discovered the reservoir was completely dry!!!  Took Uber to and from the nearby Walmart store and bought two gallons of radiator antifreeze.  (I am hoping it is a slow leak from a hose.)  The first 24 hours, it did not leak at all, so this morning, I was going to drive to the historic town of Leadville today, but when I went out to unhook this morning, I discovered a puddle of antifreeze--checked the reservoir and it was about 20% down.  I did run out and dump my tanks, but decided that driving 35 miles over a pass to Leadville was not a good idea.  

So, I have an appointment at the Ford dealer on Tuesday morning, and I did stop again and got two more gallons of antifreeze, so I can safely make it to the dealer.  In the meantime, I will relax and enjoy the scenery here. 

This is an extremely popular campground, by the way, because it is only about 70 miles west of Denver.  Would be a lot easier to get a site if it were farther away!!  I have been here before, but two years ago, I was not able to get any sort of reservation here.  This year, I got in on the first day it opened because school was still in session, and it is not really summer here yet.  

 

Note the little red hummingbird feeder I have on my window!

 

These are black-chinned hummers, except if you see the males in the right sunlight, you can tell their chins are really bright red.  There are dozens of them here, all fighting for a chance to drink.  They are very fast flyers and make a constant high-pitched trilling sound as they fly, so you can tell where they are.   

This female has a spotted white chin.  I have noticed that two or three females will share the feeder, while the males do most of the fighting. 

The camp hosts told me that a couple of years ago, the forest service went through and removed all of the dead trees that had been killed by insects.  Now there are mostly younger pine trees, along with some aspen.  Shorter trees does make it easier to see the snow-topped mountains.  The next few photos were some I took on a walk through two parts of the campground yesterday.

I'm not sure where the ski slopes are because most of these mountains look too steep for skiing.

 

 

It took quite a bit of walking to find the lake, but here it is.  You can paddle on it with a kayak, but you are not allowed to swim or dip any part of your body in the water because it is used for drinking, but I suspect it is too cold anyway for swimming.  The town of Frisco is to the right of the shore in the distance.

 

 

My campsite is very close to where the bike path crossed Dam Road, which is the road that goes past the campground.  I just walked behind my camper to take these photos.  

 

 

This view is looking towards Frisco, about a mile down the path.  

 

 

 And this view is looking towards Silverthorne and Dillon, about two miles away. 

And this is the view of my campsite from the road and bike path.

As soon as I get my leaking antifreeze problem solved, I'll take some photos of the towns, and then hopefully drive to Leadville.   Next Friday I head east through the Eisenhower Tunnel and on to Denver for a couple of nights.