Day 92 - Out and Around Grand Lake

September 18th

19 Miles

Big Rock Campground 

Spins and I got breakfast at the Fat Cat Cafe in Grand Lake this morning and packed all of our stuff. We went to the post office and then Mountain Market to resupply. The woman who owns the market is seriously one of the kindest people we've met on trail and sheltered in our packs as we shopped because the sky let loose and the winds howled as per usual lately. She told us we could hang around the store as long as we wanted to stay out of the weather. 

Now the trail out of Grand Lake heads south and then follows Granby Lake to the north and east. The only problem with that route is that three or so miles of it is horrendous blowdowns...hundreds of them. Previous hikers recommended either rock hopping along the shore down a steep drop to the shoreline or road walking all the way around the west and south side of the lake. The road walk was about five miles longer but that three miles of crappyiness I figured would take longer than five extra miles so we chose the road. 

When we got out we made it about fourth minutes before round one of rain came pelting down with some serious thunder and lightning. It ended around as long as the dry spell lasted and we eventually came to a cafe with a 'fried chicken to go' sign in the window. I immediately ventured in and we were greeted by yet again the nicest woman who let us stay there as long as we pleased, had games and books, and gave a free drink to CDT hikers. We got a pizza and played a few rounds of chess for lunch while it rained outside. The rain ceased and the pizza disappeared and we were back to the road walking. Soon after we turned I to county road 6 around the south of Lake Granby and walked over a few dams and in and out of the rain. The last round of rain produced this:

While it was nice and all it was still raining, pretty windy and freezing cold!! We continued on and hike another five miles into dusk until we reached the campground and the reconnection of the CDT. Tomorrow morning there is a potential bakery a couple of mile down the trail!!!