Breckenridge and Frisco: Free Transit from the CO 9 Crossing

Verified August 16, 2026, against the Summit Stage Summer 2026 timetables, which run April 19 through November 14, 2026. Times change on the winter schedule.

Free public transit reaches the trail at the Continental Divide Trail CO 9 crossing – CO4-213 Southbound & CO4-214 Northbound – north of Breckenridge. From one pair of bus stops, you can get to Breckenridge, Frisco, Silverthorne, Dillon, Keystone, and Copper Mountain, and on to Denver, without paying a fare inside Summit County.

The stop

Summit Stage stops at the Revett Drive intersection with CO 9, 0.25 miles south of the Gold Hill Trailhead. Southbound buses to Breckenridge load on the west side of the highway; northbound buses to Frisco load directly across from them on the east side. Neither pullout is signed, but they are the only pullouts on the stretch of CO 9 where the ADT crosses, and both are visible from the highway.

Buses stop at designated stops only and will not pick up between stops, so walk to the pullout rather than trying to flag one down at the trailhead. Stand where the driver can see you coming around the bend; at an unsigned stop, drivers slow for a waiting hiker rather than for the post. Going to Frisco means crossing CO 9 on foot, and traffic runs fast with limited sight distance around the bend.

The ride is free. So is every other Summit Stage route.

Tiger Run RV Resort is 0.2 miles north of where the trail crosses Revett Drive, and the office will let hikers fill water. Step inside and say what you are doing. It is the only water at the crossing, which matters whether you are waiting for a bus or heading out for the day. RhiisSara'26

Frisco to Breckenridge, both directions

Southbound: leaves Frisco Station on the hour and half hour, Revett Drive at :15 and :45, Breckenridge Station at :05 and :35.

Northbound: leaves Breckenridge Station at :15 and :45, Revett Drive at :21 and :51, Frisco Station at :00 and :30.

First bus out of Frisco is 6:00 a.m. Last buses run past midnight in both directions.

Getting to REI

The store is in Dillon, one stop past Silverthorne, at Dillon Ridge Marketplace, 306 Dillon Ridge Road. Three buses from the trail:

Revett Drive to Frisco Station, Frisco to Breckenridge route northbound. Arrives Frisco Station at :00 and :30.
Frisco Station to Silverthorne Station, Silverthorne to Frisco route. Departs :00 and :30, 15 minutes.
Silverthorne Station to Dillon Ridge, Silverthorne to Dillon to Keystone route. Departs :15 and :45, 4 minutes.

Both connections are same-minute, so the trip runs about an hour if the buses hold and about 90 minutes if one does not. The northbound bus often reaches Frisco Station before its posted time and lays over, which gives you a few minutes to make the Silverthorne connection rather than a scramble. Tell each driver you are transferring; they will often hold the next bus. Add 5 minutes for the 0.25-mile walk from the trail to the stop.

City Market, a full grocery, sits in the same lot as REI. Coming back, Dillon Ridge to Silverthorne Station is 6 minutes.

Gear replacement is the reason most hikers make this trip. A shredded tent or a failed pad is a section-ending problem in Summit County and a two-hour errand if you know where the store is.

Silverthorne Station itself is at the outlet mall. The Columbia factory store there is the cheapest place in the county to replace a layer, and it is worth the stop on the way through even if REI is the destination.

Around Breckenridge

The Free Ride covers town, free, at breckfreeride.com. Summer 2026 routes are Gray North, Gray South, Purple A, Purple B, Green, Gold, and the Main Street Trolley.

The Bivvi Hostel, 9511 CO 9, is on Gray South in summer and the Brown route in winter. Tell the driver where you are going. On foot, the hostel is 8 to 12 minutes from the south end of Main Street by a trail off the back deck.

The Bivvi accepts resupply boxes by UPS and FedEx only, not USPS. Address them to The Bivvi, 9511 Hwy 9, Breckenridge, CO 80424, with your name and expected arrival date on the box.

Getting to Denver and the airport

Pegasus runs year-round from the Frisco Transfer Center, 1010 Meadow Drive, to Denver Union Station in about 1 hour 45 minutes. The RTD A Line runs from Union Station to DIA. Fares are a fraction of a private shuttle.

The Bustang West Line also stops in Frisco on the Denver to Grand Junction run, useful for anyone connecting to or from the western half of the state.

Epic Mountain Express and Peak 1 Express run door to door between Breckenridge and DIA daily. Reservations required.

Riding it

Track buses in the Transit app or TransLoc. Summit Stage's SmartBus system feeds both; there is no separate Summit Stage app.

Schedules change twice a year. Summer runs roughly mid-April to mid-November, winter the rest of the year, and departure times shift between them. Confirm before you plan a town day around a specific bus.

Well-behaved leashed dogs ride at your feet, not on a seat.

Bike racks are mounted May 1 through October 31 only, sunrise to sunset, three bikes maximum.

The School Road stop in Frisco, listed on some timetables as KFC, is detoured to Lakepoint Drive and Ten Mile Drive for construction. Check whether it has moved back before relying on it.

Slackpacking on the free buses

Hikers are leaving their packs at a hostel in Breckenridge or Frisco, riding the free buses to a trail access point, walking with a day pack, and riding back to the same bed. No shuttle fee, no hitching, no car.

Colorado West Segment 4 is built for it. Breckenridge, Frisco, Silverthorne, and Copper Mountain all sit in this segment, and Summit Stage serves all four. The trail meets the bus twice, at the CO 9 crossing at Revett Drive and at Copper Mountain, which makes those two points the ends of a day.

That day is 15.6 trail miles, measured from the Copper Mountain Inn where the trail enters the resort to the CO 9 crossing. Counting from the CO 91 crossing at the Colorado Trail Segment 8 trailhead it is 14.1. The walking sits between 9,200 and 11,000 feet, so it is a full day rather than a casual one, and the bus adds 45 minutes on the way out and 30 on the way back.

The Copper to Frisco route leaves Passage Point at :00 and :30 and reaches Frisco Station at :15 and :45. The Breckenridge route leaves Frisco Station at :00 and :30 and reaches Revett Drive at :15 and :45. Coming off Copper you land at Frisco with 15 minutes before the next bus south, which is enough to buy food and not enough to sit down. End to end, Copper to the CO 9 crossing is 45 minutes on the bus including the transfer.

Going out is tighter. Frisco Station to Passage Point leaves at :00 and :30 and takes 30 minutes, and the northbound bus from Revett Drive arrives at Frisco on the same :00 and :30. The transfer is same-minute, so you cross the platform rather than wait. In practice the northbound bus usually pulls in early and lays over, which buys the margin the timetable does not show. Tell the driver you are connecting to Copper.

Buses out of Frisco toward Copper start at 6:30 a.m., putting you at Passage Point at 7:00. From a bed in Breckenridge the first realistic arrival is 8:00, since the northbound bus has to reach Frisco first. Staying in Frisco buys an hour of daylight over staying in Breckenridge, which is the whole difference on a long section.

Buses out of Copper run until 11:30 p.m. with a final midnight trip, and the Breckenridge route runs past midnight in both directions. Transit is not what ends your day here; daylight is.

Two things still decide whether a given day works. Buses stop at designated stops only, so both ends of your walk have to be at a real stop, and there is no bailing partway because the highway crossings are the only pickup points. And the Revett Drive pullouts are unsigned and unlit, so a walk that runs past dark leaves you flagging a driver from an unlit shoulder on a highway with a blind bend. Plan to be off the trail with light to spare rather than counting on the late buses.

CO4-213, the southbound pullout on the west side of CO 9. CO4-214, on Revett Drive, 0.13 miles north of the stop.

Keep planning

Full segment guides, waypoints, and Gaia GPS data for this crossing are in the Colorado West state guide.