After a night on an 11,000 ft ridge with excellent reception which allowed me to watch Netflix in my sleeping bag (Garfinkel and Oates – it’s subversive and hilarious), I loafed in bed till 8 then got up and started walking the 10 mostly downhill miles to Hwy 9 between Breckenridge and Frisco. The forest for the last 20 miles has been decimated by the pine bark beetle with maybe 90% of the trees killed (is that what decimated means? Or is it 10% killed?). Trail crews have pre-emptively cut down all the beetle kill. If they had not, the trail would be impassable with deadfall, not to mention dangerous. Thank you, trail crews!
Another day of clear blue skies afforded excellent views of the Tenmile Range. The charm of these views was tempered somewhat by the amount of snow on the ridge, which I will have to plow through.
mile 97 – the Tenmile Range
I got to the highway by 1 and took the free shuttle to downtown Frisco, where I checked in at the cheapest lodgings in town , the Snowshoe Motel. After a shower and a trip to the laundromat I was fit to appear in civilized society and headed down to the Backcountry Brewery to sample the local ales. Although there was some kind of concert going on across the street from the motel, I opted instead to honor Hikers Midnight and was soon asleep in my oh-so-luxurious cheap motel bed.