Posted by 21.5 miles
A fairly cruisey day today into the town of Grand Lake, the source of the mighty Colorado River. No big climbs today and all below 10,000 feet. It felt great to have some easier miles under the feet after all the elevation gain and loss over the last four days.
I was in town by quarter past 3 and checked into the Spirt Lake Lodge, a nice centrally located hotel, close to everything that I needed. Most hikers only refer to the Farout App which looking for town accommodation however it only has a very select few locations shown. My preference is to use Google to explore all options of which there were about 12 compared to 2 in the app. I struck a good rate for a king room.
Heading to the laundromat I ran into Brave Heart again and had a great old chat while the washers did their thing. She is section hiking the CDT and will go through as far as Steamboat Springs, the next resupply stop on trail. Shortly after Red came in and we did the same, have a solid chat, this time while the driers did their thing. He is travelling with his dog Blue. Blue is a blue healer and at 11 years old not coping so well with the miles Red wants to do so will rest up with a sitter from Steamboat while Red continues north.
Laundry done it was time for some calories so I headed over to an ice cream shop for a Churros Chocolate Sunday. Delicious!
Running out of time to do all the chores I’ll hit up the supermarket for food tomorrow morning. It will be a big resupply with food through to Steamboat Springs and I’ll ship four days ahead to the tiny town of Encampment in Wyoming which basically just has a gas station, no shops. Steamboat springs is the last resupply point in Colorado.
I am certainly looking forward to completing another state on the trail and leaving Colorado behind, particularly the big mountains and associated winds.
From Grand Lake there is opportunity to hike 24 miles through Rocky Mountain National Park and return back to town however I’ve seen enough of Colorado mountains – how much more spectacular can RMNP be? So I will take a four mile alternative route cutting off the RMNP which does a big horse shoe out to the east. This will also make up a day of travel and get me back on track.
Started to see bear sign for the first time in Colorado. Perhaps because this area is hugely busy with campers on the lakes and because its closer in town. I’ll have to start taking bear safety a bit more seriously.
For my belated birthday celebration I headed to Sage Grill and hooked into the tastiest beef brisket I’ve ever tasted, accompanied by a few IPA’s of course.
Mick Beckers 