Leadville to Frisco (7/13-7/15): 38 Miles
Before leaving Leadville, we walked to the grocery store to resupply for our short, 2 night stretch. A non 6 night stretch - we were pumped! A local guy, Bob, saw Ross out in the lot with his pack and offered us a ride back up to TN Pass. We happily accepted, and back on trail we were.
We came across Camp Hale: a training facility for soldiers in skiing, cold weather survival and mountain climbing. It was constructed in 1942.
A guy who had just got done trail running stopped in his truck and gave us a beer on our way to camp, which complimented my packed out-of-town pizza. With only 2 nights of having to carry food, the combo was a special treat, along with a bag of Cheetos and a pack of blueberries.
We quickly got to Kokomo Pass the next morning, then from there, walked Elk Ridge. The easier ridge walking provided views of mountains up top, and once lower, we were amongst the pines, sharing the trail with CT hikers, day hikers and mountain bikers. We even passed a guy with two horses. They were loaded up with bags and even a guitar; most likely bringing the gear up to a cabin for folks that were staying there.
Lowering down into Copper Mountain, we were surprised to see a resort filled with lots of people, restaurants and even a rope obstacle course. We took advantage of it and decided to not eat our packed hiker lunch, and treated ourselves to a burger and reuben instead.
We weren’t prepared for some rain that came quicker then we expected. Because we didn’t have time to pitch our tent we settled for sitting under a bridge and our tent laying on top of us. Not one of our best ideas, but ya gotta laugh it off!
We arrived to the trailhead just in time to catch the (free!!) city bus that could take us into Frisco (very close to Breckinridge). We got lunch, resupplied for the next trail section, and because of late afternoon rain, we sipped on beers at a brewery till it was clear enough to leave town. We took the bus back to the trailhead and hiked 1 mile outside of Breckinridge to our camp spot for the night. A free campsite was better than a $250 hotel room, anyways. Next stop: Winter Park!
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