[Journal entry for January 12 and 14, 2019; the Colorado Trail east of Route 9, Breckenridge, Colorado].

January 13, 2019. Dallas and I parked at the hiker’s lot off of Route 9 in Breckenridge Colorado, at the Gateway Drive (Road 950) intersection. Dallas had a bad experience when a speeding car seems to intentionally swerve to hit her (or frighten her) as she crosses Route 9.

We crossed the Blue River via the highway bridge. We spent a considerable amount of time searching around for the trail, snowshoeing around a wetland east of the river, for several new roads had been built, making my hiking map hard to interpret. We finally met a woman walking her dog who gave us directions.

The trailhead is along Revette Drive, opposite the entrance to the Tiger Run Resort. The trail parallels Revette Drive for a while and then crosses it, near a small pond along the Swan River (a tributary of the Blue). A second parking lot, not on my map, is along Revette Drive across from the pond.

The Trail circles the south shore of this pretty pond, which is an anthropogenically widened part of the Swan River. The trail crosses its inflow via a pedestrian bridge. Ducks were paddling about the pond, which still had some open water, and foot-long fish were swimming beneath its surface. The trail then ascends a steep hillside, mostly bare of trees, via a series of six switchbacks. This section of the trail offers breathtaking views of Buffalo Mountain and the Tenmile Range. We ascend to the top of the fourth switchback and had lunch, seated on a tree stump. We then headed back.

A second, unmarked trail branches off the Colorado Trail at the top of the first switchback. It follows a stream in a narrow valley north of the hill. We explored it for a few minutes, walking a few hundred yards up the tunnel-like terrain, amid Spruce Trees decorated with clinging snow. We then reversed direction and took the trail down to the Tiger Run Resort, which is a dense grid of small bungalows with log cabin motifs. We made our way back to Revette Drive. Dallas waited there, while I hiked the Blue River Bikeway back to the car. It crosses the Blue River via a pedestrian bridge at a beautiful spot, where the river flows by a low cliff.

About two and a half hours.

We drove Swan Mountain Road back to Silverthorne instead of taking the Interstate. We stopped twice, once at the south end of this road, admiring the superb view of Dillon Lake and Buffalo Ptarmigan Mountains beyond it, and again at the north end, by a small park just south of Route 6, at the end of the Snake River Arm of the lake. The views down this deep narrow valley are equally superb.

January 14, 2019. I returned to the Colorado Trail, parking at the lot along Revette Drive, across from the pond. I ascended all six switchbacks in about a half hour and reached the broad, mostly clear cut tableland at the top. The snow was crossed by many ski and snowshoe tracks. I chose an easterly one that seemed to be in the direction of my map’s depiction of the Colorado Trail, and hiked it until it descended into a small valley with a wetland full of red Willow bushes. I decided to bushwhack partly around the wetland, enjoying the three-foot deep snow along it margins. I connected with another ski track at the top of the wetland, and took it back west. It eventually intersected my original track, which led me off of the mountain.

About an hour and a half.

On the way back to Silvertorne, I stopped at the overlook on Interstate 70, between the towns of Frisco and Silvertorne. It commands a superb view of Dillon Lake and the many mountains that surround it. Looking across to the far side of the lake, I could see Windy Point, where the 2018 Family Renunion was held, and the hill behind it, which Beth Abbott, Carol Abbott, Dallas Abbott, Kathy Abbott and I climbed on sunny spring afternoon amid beds of wildflowers. Like all the nearby terrain, the hill is now snow-covered.