Day 79: Hiking into Grand Lake

Mileage: 18.1 miles (1249.8-1267.9)

We woke up at 4am. It has rained all night but finally stopped so we figured we misewell pack up while we could. We headed down 1,000 ft to start off day down to Monarch Lake and a campground. It was the lowest elevation we'd been in a long time and could feel it palpably in the thick, moist air. A blue heron soared over head and trout popped their heads up in the lake, searching flies.

As we admired the serene, glass-like lake a small, Red fox walked right up to us  and stopped a few feet away. He looked at us, as if to say, "can you guys stop blocking the trail?" Meanwhile, my jaw was so far dropped that I didn't even think to take a picture with the phone that was still in my hand. Perhaps the act of taking the picture would have sucked the magic from the moment, as its apt to do. But I still felt silly that I missed the photo. As we headed down past a few campgrounds, an older fella outside his RV started chatting with us. Before we could stop him he bolted into his truck and grabbed us cinnamon rolls he'd gotten from Sam's Club.  I was running low on any food I wanted to eat, so I wolfed mine down. He saw that and brought us each two more. We said goodbye and I refilled some water at the campground and got rid of my trash in one the bear-proof dumpsters.

Winding our way out of the campground, the trail was extremely overgrown and wet from the previous night's rain. There was so much dew and water on the grasses, U-turn said that he was wetter than when it'd been raining on us all day. And he was right. This was basically how the trail was all the way to Grand Lake, which kinda sucked - but apparently it could have been worse as a ton of blowdowns had just been cleared by the Forest Service and volunteers not long ago. Before the trail was basically impassable, so getting wet shouldn't have been a big deal.

We talked about gators and cattle farming and the way the USDA classifies beef. It was interesting to hear him tell me about something so foreign to me, despite growing up in the heart of beef country in Nebraska. Walking along Lake Granby we met a couple with a beautiful black dog that looked like a bear when I first walked up.

They gave us coffee and little sweets and we chatted with them for a bit and then headed off again towards town. Almost immediately after leaving them we entered Rocky Mountain National Park - it was part of the park's low country and was full of meadows and bogs - the trail didn't improve too much until we were just a mile or two from the parking lot.

We made it to town and went straight to the post office before it closed at 4pm and got our stuff we needed. We stopped at a Mexican joint for lunch and I got a combination platter. It was awesomely huge and delicious. Though you could have probably dipped a piece of dog crap in butter and I would have thought it tasted good if you gave me some ketchup. After I finished I went up to the hostel to grab my resupply package - while I was doing that U-Turn covered the meal which was really generous of him. I enjoyed his company quite a bit.

The Shadowcliff hostel, where I grabbed my package was unfortunately totally booked, but my package was still there, including new gaiters! I had lost one of mine awhile back so it was great to have two again.

We found a hotel on Main Street which was a bit expensive for me, but U-Turn was gracious and offered to cover most of the room since he was going to get a room regardless. I bought him beers and dinner that night at the BBQ place in town, where we each got a rack of ribs - which were so enormous I couldn't finish. One of the first times I couldn't finish a meal on trail. I also felt a little ill from the glut of salt and fat. I went to bed early in the big, comfy bed.