Prospector D1 ... Breck and More

Part II of today's story finds us exploring the area ...

First up, we drove around the loops at Prospector Campground to check out the sites and note our preferences for a future stay. Rimmed as the area is by tall mountains with green-clad slopes, the scenery is nice pretty much everywhere ... the air redolent with the scent of fresh pine .... except when the campfires are burning. Privacy-wise, however, the sites on the outer edge of the loops are the better choice.

Next, we drove down Swan Mountain Road to Frisco, one of several towns in close proximity to Dillon Reservoir. Seeing the construction traffic, we skipped checking out the downtown area. Instead, we crossed the Dillon Reservoir by way of the Dam Road. This gave us a chance to check out the Heaton Bay Campground, which has FHU sites. What surprised us the most about this campground is that none of the sites have water views! And they are fairly close together. That definitely was not the impression we got when we spotted the campground from the overlook on our way back from Carbondale a few weeks ago.

A brief drive into the town of Dillon followed ... then another one into Silverthorne. Seeing the heavy traffic in both towns, we decided to skip any in-depth exploration. It was too early to go back to the Cruiser, however, so we decided to drive up to Breckenridge — aka Breck — instead ... maybe get some ice cream 😉

When we arrived in town, we were pleasantly surprised to find Main Street blocked off to traffic to create a pedestrian way with one side affording restaurants a place to set up tables for al fresco dining. Even better, though there were a number of people out and about, there was no problem social-distancing. And everyone was obeying the MANDATORY requirement for face coverings.

Parking in Breck is inexpensive considering it's a resort town — $1.50 bought us two hours to wander up Main Street; get some expensive but delicious ice cream at Higgles where the ordering counter was set up outside the shop; stop to check out the sculptures and smell the brilliantly colorful flowers hanging from baskets on the light poles; stroll along the Blue River Rec Path while being serenaded by the gurgling water.

It was a perfect late afternoon wander ... until the sun went into hiding and it suddenly cooled down considerably. Add to that an uptick in the number of people finding their way to Main Street. It was time for us to leave.

One of the reasons we opted to test our dry camping set up at Prospector instead of a campground closer to the house is because our friends, Sonia and Boris, are in Breckenridge for a few weeks ... to escape the heat in Denver. On our way back to the car, we called to let them know that we had arrived. After a brief chat, we ended up going over to their place for a bit. We'd last seen them in December 2019, so it was great seeing them again and catching up. We have plans to spend time together in the next couple of days.

It was after 8:00p when we returned to the Cruiser. The solar panels had done a good job of floating the batteries in our absence ... even though we forgot to switch the fridge from electricity to propane. Oooops! Won’t make that mistake again! We ran the generator briefly to use the microwave and warm up our dinner. And now, time to settle down to a quiet night of reading.

P.S. One of the photos in this footprint is of Tom's Baby ... the story associated with the sculpture is here ... https://eenusa.smugmug.com/PhxCrzr/CO-Day-Short….Read more