Sunday morning we headed back to Silverthorne, passing the traffic jam headed back to Denver. It is lucky after all that I need to be in Denver next Sunday, so we will go back on Saturday when the route is less crowded.
Silverthorne is a very popular summer destination on Dillon Lake, the reservoir for Denver. The water is piped under the continental divide to the city. The dam has created lots of room for water sports. We did not make reservations, so we have done a lot of moving camp — not a huge problem as the campsites here do not have hook-ups.
We spent Sunday afternoon sitting by our private beach on the lake near the town of Frisco, watching the mountains, boaters and bicyclists. The sun was intense but there was a lovely cool breeze by the water. We are taking it easy – Chuck because he likes to have the occasional day that is less busy and me because I am still a bit worried about the effects of altitude.
On Monday we moved to our second campsite, which is close to the town of Frisco. We spent a lot of time doing practical things — filling up our freshwater reservoir, finding a place to empty our grey water reservoir, purchasing a few necessary items, and attempting to do some banking (a bit of a problem since apparently our bank has no branches west of Kansas City — a fact we wished we had known earlier). In any case, once we were settled, we decided to enjoy the view of the lake and the mountains.
On Tuesday, we moved to our third campsite, which is beside campsite #2. That accomplished, we (or actually Chuck) blew up the kayaks and we set out for the lake.
A few minutes into our paddle, we saw a sailboat that had evidently grounded. With none of the power boats going to the rescue, and since Chuck knows a thing or two about sailing, we decided to see if we could help. Chuck moored his kayak to the sailboat, and I kept an eye on a child of about 8 who decided to abandon ship in favor of a paddleboard that was also moored to the sailboat. The wind was really picking up fast. As a result, when the boat was finally afloat, things happened fast. The boat swung around, forcing Chuck’s kayak under the paddleboard and boat; the child scrambled onboard safely, while I bumped into Chuck’s kayak, forcing it further under the boat although with no adverse effects on me.
It was only after we righted the kayak, Chuck boarded and we waved goodbye to the sailor and son that we realized that we had a problem. Chuck’s paddle, which was wedged into the kayak, had twisted enough to snap one of the plastic paddle blades. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished. Chuck was able to use the other end of the paddle like a canoe paddle and we made it back to our launch site against a very stiff headwind. Fortunately, paddles are cheap compared to kayaks.
Wildflowers are blooming here, so that everywhere you look there are purple (in lots of shades) yellow and white blossoms. As well, there are two prevalent grass species — one is grass green, the other is much bluer, with the blue shade really intensifying under some light conditions. lt is really a beautiful spot.
Wednesday we went searching for a new campsite and found the Pine Grove camping area, which does not take reservations. We were happy to find that many sites were available — for up to 2 weeks. However, I soon discovered I had site jealousy. The camping area is just a parking lot. On the left is the view from the site we got on Wednesday. On the right is the view from the site we moved to on Thursday. It was totally worth moving again!
View from the road side 
View from the lake side
This area is a biking paradise. There is a dirt trail that goes around much of the lake. The folding bikes did well on the trail, but it was a bit nerve-racking trying to miss roots and rocks without falling into the lake. After about 45 minutes, there was a cut-off to the paved trail into downtown Frisco. Alternatively (and every time we went to Frisco thereafter) the paved trail goes the entire way and takes about 20 minutes.
Needless to say, in this summer and winter vacation area, it is a very touristy downtown, with lots of restaurants, hike/bike/ski gear shops and trendy clothing. I went shopping for something to wear at the Joint Statistical Meetings next week (no luck) while Chuck headed for the bookstore.
It turns out that on Wednesdays the bookstore hosts a local musician in their coffee shop. Chuck started chatting with him (before his set started) and we ended up staying for two hours. The local guy, Randall, had invited two friends to play with him. They played mostly 70s folk/country/western. A lot of Randall’s friends showed up to make requests. All in all, it was a lot of fun. We biked back on the paved path against a strong headwind, but the threatened rain held off.
On Thursday we moved to our final campsite here, with a great view over the lack and mountains. In the morning we tried out Chuck’s new kayak paddle. Although it is an inexpensive one, it seems to be a better length for him than the old one, so he is happy with it. The wind on the lake is very strong, so we are taking the precaution of always heading into the wind on our way out.
Thursday evenings Frisco has music in the park. We biked in again for that.
By Friday morning we were surrounded by a very congenial set of other campers. We spent quite a lot time chatting with people about life, camping, work, you name it. Some of them will be staying for as long as possible, so we are considering returning here after our Denver stop.
We had a very nice kayak trip around half the lake. However, in the late afternoon it began to rain and we stuck around the campground.
We started Saturday with a kayak trip up the lake in the opposite direction. We were thrilled to see several bald eagles, both overhead (which is common near State College) and also hanging out in the trees on of the islands. We have never been so close to eagles in the wild. They seemed quite undisturbed by quite kayakers and paddle boarders. We have better pictures from our second visit to Dillon, so I am not posting here.
We packed up and then headed to town to do laundry. Usually we do a couple of loads a week at the campsite, but we were due to do a load when we left Blackhawk and then were at campgrounds with no laundry for a week. In short, we probably had 5 or 6 loads — laundromats have parking and lots of machines so everything can be done in parallel.
Frisco was really buzzing around noon on Saturday, and so things were a bit more complicated than planned. For some reason, although we had already been to town twice and seen the laundromat both times, this time we could not find it. We ended up moving the car 3 times. We also had some issues in timing the laundry and lunch. Of course in the end both got done.
Then we went into Silverthorne, as I needed some professional clothes for my conference in Denver. We finally rolled into our campsite in West Denver around suppertime. It is not beautiful, but it is convenient. (It also has a great laundry facility – but who knew?)