North Ten Mile Trail Hike

Went on a nice hike today along the North Ten Mile Trail by Frisco. Here's your photo recap:

The hike almost ended before it began. The skies looked pretty ominous over the foothills this morning. This is the view from Chief Hosa by Evergreen.

But by the time I got to Idaho Springs things were already clearing up. Here's the view from the trailhead right off of the I-70 Frisco exit.

Weeds in your yard, wildflowers when you're hiking.

A guideline to hiking in Summit County -- when in doubt, go up!

Runoff from heavy winter snows had North Ten Mile Creek running pretty high and fast.

The trail opens up into some scenic meadows after about a mile.

There were several spots with a noticeable amount of beetle kill, but it got less and less the farther in and farther up I went. I wonder if this was just because of the cooler temperatures at the higher elevations, or if proximity to development plays a role?

Two miles in you cross into national forest land.

There was still so much snow in some areas it got hard to pick up the trail. I lost it once and ended up slogging through a seasonal stream before I found it again.

But getting lost let me stumble on this plant growing happily in the runoff. I'm not sure what it is exactly -- marsh marigold? mountain dryad?

The only moderately adventurous part was crossing this swollen stream. And the log bridge was wide enough and stable enough that even that wasn't exactly Indiana Jones-esque.

I'm pretty sure these are what the Ewoks used to smash one of those Scout Walkers.

Nice view of Uneva Peak.

The end of the trail is a little anti-climactic if you like to be greeted by a big, sweeping mountain vista. I went ahead a little ways to see if one was hiding, but gave up pretty quickly and just started back.

It is June, right? Lots of spots like this made me think that it's still probably too early in the season to try a 14er.

The best view was probably coming back down looking out towards Breckenridge.
All in all, a pretty nice hike. Only took me a little more than three hours to do the 6.8-mile round trip. There's less than a thousand feet of elevation gain, so it's not too strenuous.
It's a complete day when you can do something outdoorsy like this AND waste time at your computer. :)