I was up and taking my tent down at five to six. Petr and Kafka were just a few minutes behind me. Kafka took the lead. She sets a pace I can maintain. The trail stayed right on the shore of the lake. Suddenly I noticed the lake was a river. We were at the inlet to the lake, a broad river flowing in, the Colorado River.
We were only 7 miles from the town of Grand Lake. On the walk in I called the shadow Cliff Hostel about a room for the three of us. They didn’t answer the phone until 9:00 so I left a message. About 3 hours were required to get to town. At the outskirts of town Kafka and Petr wanted to hang their tent and other stuff in the sun so it would dry out after a dewy night. I thought mine was okay and headed to the Post Office. I had a resupply to retrieve plus my hiking umbrella that Andy had mailed. I also planned to mail some stuff back home to lighten my load, 3/4 of my zPad, my ice axe, extra iPhone, some socks I had found, my malfunctioning trekking pole, an extra 10,000mamphr battery and some other stuff. Just trying to lighten my load. It took a few minutes to construct a box to hold the ice ax with its long shaft. Kyle showed up and we cheerfully sorted out gear and food in the Post Office, spread out on the floor and counters. People of the town would stop to talk to us as if dirty, scruffy looking people Living out of their packs was a totally acceptable thing. In this town it is, because everyday hikers come through, stop at the Post Office to get their resupply, walk to the downtown district and buy food at the grocery and eat at the restaurants, which is exactly what we did. First stop grocery for a soda and some chips, then to the Sagebrush restaurant for food outside on the sidewalk. Burgers and burritos were the hit. Kyle, 70 Pound Hammer, Petr, Kafka and I enjoyed the meal together.
Now it was decision time! There was no
Laundry at the hostel, so do laundry in town first and then to the hostel, of to the hostel, then back to town to do laundry? The hostel is about 200’ above the town on a rock outcropping, about 1/4 mile from downtown. I voted for hostel first as I was planning to wash my clothes in a sink and the sooner I got to lay down on a real bed the better. They agreed and up the hill we went.
What an incredible hostel! The common room was so inviting and cozy and huge!! It overlooked the lake. The cooking facilities were great, it had an industrial sized kitchen for events, a large donning area and rooms on the two floors above. Bruce checked is in and showed us our room. It had a double bed and a bunk bed with the Colorado River right out our window, except it was about 150’ below us, roaring and tumbling down into Grand Lake.
I flopped onto the lower bunk and was surprised at how exhausted I felt. Petr and Kafka were headed to town to do laundry. They agreed to thrown my few articles in with theirs. It was only about 1:00pm so I had the rest of the day off. I just layed on my bunk in my raingear and dozed and rested. Why my rain gear? I only have one set of clothes, a yellow button down shirt, a red fleece, a pair of underwear, a pair of zippy pants and two pair of socks. They were all headed down town to be washed so the only thing for me to wear was my Frog Togg rain gear.
I owed all afternoon, icing first the top, then bottom of my foot, hoping it would calm down. I downloaded episodes 8 & 9 of Stranger Things. Excited to watch those. Sally called twice, once to talk and once to FaceTime. It was really nice to spend over an hour with her. I wish she were here. Of course, I spent time on the blog and spent an hour or so in the common room talking with Petr and Kafka and Hammer. This day was as close to a zero for me as a nero can get. What a great day. Now if I can just get this foot nursed back to health!
The common room at the hostel
The fireplace
Seating down in the pit and close to the fire.
The view out our room
The town and lake below the hostel
Dining area
The Rempel family was the driving force behind this non profit facility
The entrance
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