The Gold Hill Trail is located along Highway 9 between Frisco and Breckenridge. It runs 3.3 miles west to the Peaks Trail, a N-S artery that connects the two towns. The Gold Hill Trail is part of the Colorado Trail, which runs nearly 500 miles from Denver to Durango. This short segment begins in the Ten Mile Range foothills with moderate grades ideal for running, biking, families and winter recreation.

Clear cuts aimed at fire mitigation have created new space for wildflowers like these geranium on the Gold Hill Trail

Primrose are among the first to flower each year (prima rosa)

Partial views of the Ten Mile Range, which is a northern extension of the Mosquito Range

Periodic, low intensity fires help manage lodgepole forest densities and susceptibility to disease

Columbine are notoriously hardy, and can survive in a range of soil conditions

Native grasses and sage have taken over cut areas in the Ten Mile Range foothills

Some Native American tribes boiled Prairie Smoke roots for tea and smoked them in a mix with other ingredients

Sunflowers are related to daisies, and found in several varieties on the Gold Hill Trail

Approaching the top of Gold Hill (10,315'), evident only when you begin dropping on the far side

A number of wild rose species line the Gold HIll Trail

Bistort is in the Buckwheat family, though there's little commercial value in these plants

Fireweed, which is in the primrose family, is especially common in disturbed, cut or burned areas