Thursday – September 12, 2013
Frisco, Colorado
We departed the Stillwater Campground near Grand Lake, Colorado at 11:05 a.m. It rained here all night, but fortunately, we are in the high country, west of Boulder, Colorado and not affected by the rain. Unfortunately, Boulder has been devastated with flooding from the amount rain they are receiving from a converging low-pressure front from the west and a high-pressure front from the south. These two fronts are expected to continue producing significant amounts of rain through Sunday.
Our route today took us south on US-34 to west on US-40 to south on CO-9 into Frisco, Colorado. Our journey was comprised of scenic mountains and valleys, a beautiful blue sky with patches of puffy white clouds, gently floating through the blue space above, and areas of massive storm clouds unleashing a torrent of rain at the mountain peaks and a light rain in the valleys. It is quite interesting to observe as the mountains create these various weather conditions.
We arrived at the Heaton Bay Campground in Frisco, Colorado at 1:00 p.m. during a fairly heavy rainfall. Within 20 minutes, the rainy weather cleared out and patches of blue sky let the sun shine through in between the puffy white clouds floating by. This campground is one of many located within the White River National Forest. There are 81 campsites within this campground, 11 of which have electric and water hookups and 13 of which are tent only sites. We were fortunate to find the one, non-electric campsite that was still available. All of the other electric and non-electric sites were either occupied or had a reserve sign on them. We gratefully settled into campsite #2 and promptly relaxed in our recliner camping chairs to enjoy the scenic mountain vistas surrounding our campground.
Campground Details:
Loop A: Non-Electric, Sites 1 – 9, RV or Tent
Loop B: Non-Electric, Sites 10 – 26, RV or Tent
Loop C: Electric & Water Hookups, Sites 27 – 43. RV Only
Loop D: Non-Electric, Sites 44 – 56, Tent Only
Loop E: Non-Electric, Sites 58 – 81, RV or Tent
Heaton Bay Campground is situated at an elevation of 9,000 feet in the White River National Forest. There is little or no shade in the campground due to pine beetle infestation and the removal of hazard trees, but the sites offer open views to Dillon Reservoir and several mountain ranges. Vault toilet facilities are available and drinking water is available. There is no dump station within the campground. RV’s can dump their tanks, for a fee, at the Breckenridge Water Treatment Facility located on Swan Mountain Road. The dumping fee is based on the honor system, $5.00 for small tanks and $10.00 for large tanks.
Internet access through our T-Mobile service provider is excellent. This is a welcome bonus to have access to the Internet within the confines of our trailer. During our visit to the Rocky Mountain National Park we had to travel eight miles to a visitor center to access the Internet, via their free WiFi service.
We will spend five days here using Frisco as our home base. Frisco is located nine miles north of Breckenridge. During the 1980’s and 1990’s we spent many winter vacations skiing the mountains of Breckenridge and the nearby mountains of Copper, Keystone and Vail. This is the first time that we have visited these areas in the summer and we are looking forward to the adventure ahead.
Camping Fees:
Electric Sites: $24.00
Non-Electric Sites: $19.00
Golden Age Pass holders receive a 50% discount.
Total miles traveled today: 80
Tomorrow another adventure begins.
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