Day 80: Rocky Mountain National Park Loop

Mileage: 26.2 miles (1267.9-1294.1)

I got up around 6:00am and started around 6:30am from the trailhead with only my orange dry bag looped onto my belt, which was slung around my shoulder. I had water and a bit of food. I felt so light and free without my pack.

I was doing the Rocky Mountain National Park loop, which would allow me to begin and end in Grand Lake, getting to take advantage of having a hot meal and a bed two nights in a row. It was part of the official CDT but most hikers don't do it as there's a shortcut that cuts it out. But I figured I'm only a few miles from the park so why not enjoy it. 

The walk started out pretty flat along a sandy jeep road through some meadows and up through a river valley. It gently ascended past horse camps and people camps, all of which were by wilderness permit only. I couldn't have camped legally in the park if I'd wanted to. It was too crowded for me anyways. 

It was a beautiful cloudless day as I wound my way up the switchbacks and into the high country. Waterfalls rushed alongside the trail, some tall and steep, while others were more like oil slicks running on flatter, nearly horizontal rocks. As I skipped along I met a group of three women and a man a couple hundred feet below treeline. They were pretty amazed I'd walked from Mexico and that I was doing the loop in a half day, while most (including them) were doing it in three or four, with fully loaded packs. Partly because they thought I looked hungry and partly because they were eager to lighten their load, they gave me some snacks which I started eating immediately.

Once I topped the ridge there were some pretty awesome 360 degree views, and though it was similar to other parts of my walk, I understood why it was a National Park. To my south and east I saw Long's Peak, RMNP's only 14'er jutting out abruptly from the rock. 

As I started jogging along the ridge and heading down from Ptarmigan point I met a guy who hiked the Appalachian Traul and his girlfriend, and they gave me a snickers and honey stinger waffle and we hung out for a bit on top of the ridge. We enjoyed bathing in the sunlight until a few passing clouds drizzled on us and we decided to go our separate ways. I was struck by how easy it was to connect with another thru-hiker, someone who despite the distance of time and geography just understood exactly what I was doing.

As I descended quickly I noticed a herd of at least 100 elk in a high meadow to the west. I passed lots of folks with big packs who all asked me what the hell I was doing - most people up there were taking 3-4 days what I'd do in 8 hours. 

The trail was really gentle on way down, not even having switchbacks as it slowly descended back to the valley below. I ran a lot of the way down, enjoying the high of being so weightless. Coming down even further I saw a Bull Moose 30 feet away in Big Meadow. He barely noticed me as he continued grazing, his huge spread of antlers somehow not getting in his way. There was tons of water and I even dunked my head in a cold, rushing stream to cool off. The trail continued following Big Meadow until it veered off into woods towards the visitors cente.

After I gawked at the circus inside, complete with crying babies, raucous kids, and entitled sounding grown-ups I got the heck out of there to the comparative peace of the parking lot. Immediately after I walked out a bus pulled up and what do you know it was headed back to Grand Lake! I had no money but the driver let me get the $3 from my room, $2 of which I had to borrow from U-turn when I realized I was short on cash.

We ate Mexican for dinner again and afterwards I could barely walk. I fell asleep watching Risky Business, Tom Cruise's first big movie, feeling like my day was just a wonderfully pleasant dream, flitting through my mind.

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.