SUMMARY:  This is the longest roadwalk we have ever done—probably a bit over 30 miles, from Winter Park almost to Grand Lake. We could not even see the Divide–it was swathed in clouds and mist. A ranger we met later on told us that it even snowed up there. And we knew how important it is on the CDT to be able to see—landmarks in the distance, rock cairns (to show the way when there is no trail) and what about when a big snowfield buries the trail and you are trying to find it? Virtually impossible if you are in a cloud.

Part of the time we were able to follow a nice hike / bike path and get away from the cars rushing by at 65mph. We stopped to eat in several places (trying to make up the calorie deficit)  and had several offers of rides. Even though it was a roadwalk, the scenery was wonderful and all the little towns quite picturesque.

It began to rain again when we reached Lake Granby. All the camping / lodging places were full because of the 4th of July weekend—we ended up in a rundown trailer / RV park. We are camped in the “boat trailer storage” area. In the rain!

DETAILS:  Thanks to the wonderful heater at the Sundowner Motel in Winter Park, all of our wet stuff was nice and dry by this morning.  And we got nice and warm, too–we really were chilled to the core by the time we got here yesterday, and only now am I feeling warm again.  It rained off and on during the night, and this morning when we got up to walk over to McD’s, everything outside (street, plants, etc) was soaking, dripping wet.

The McD’s cashier was amazed when we ordered TWO big breakfast platters, WITH pancakes.  “Wow, you must be hungry!” she said. No kidding.  We ate every scrap of them, then went back to the motel to get our packs and head out.  Turned out that we weren’t the only ones getting ready to leave–a group of motorcyclists were about to “saddle up” as well.  Then I noticed one of the guys had a CMA (Christian Motorcyclists Association) patch on his jacket, so of course we had to stop and talk to him!  It was great–we left with his blessing, and he with ours!

The Divide was totally swathed in clouds.  Fixit and I kept looking up at it as we walked along the road, and talked about how glad we were NOT to be up there, trying to locate the trail in those conditions.  How could we see distant rock cairns and landmarks?  A map and compass would be useless, and our Guthook app is mostly useless too.  We are bummed about missing what we hear is spectacular scenery on that stretch of the CDT, but we wouldn’t be able to see the scenery, either.

When we reached the tiny village of Fraser, we were very happy to find that there was a bike path to follow.  What a relief to get away from the highway, with cars whipping past us at 60/70 mph!  And it also meant that we could walk steadily along without having to step off the road shoulder every time a car came by.  But the path disappeared for awhile near the village of Tabernacle where we saw a weird but interesting logging operation which included a tall, skinny log building with a crane on it.  Hooray, the bike path reappeared, and we were able to follow it again for several miles.  It was fun looking at all the houses along the way–they all have what I call the “wood house” look, and it is amazing all the different designs that architects have come up with.

At one point the bike path (the official name was “Fraser-Granby Trail”) dropped down into a low swampy area where unfortunately the trail was not quite high enough, and we had no other option than to wade through the several inch deep water in our previously nice dry shoes & sox.  Oh well.  Finally it was back to roadwalking again.  At lunchtime we managed to get off the highway by getting into a ranch driveway entrance.  There were 3 horses in the pasture, and when they saw what we were doing (eating) they all came to the fence and were obviously begging, “Feed me!”  Alas, they did not know we value our calories (which we have been carrying on our backs!) so we gave them nothing.  Two of the horses finally gave up and left, but the third watched us the whole time we were there, with a very piteous look on its face.

Awhile later, we stopped for a second lunch at a Subway on the south end of Granby, across the highway from the big “Granby Ranch Resort.”  Good thing we did that–just after we’d sat down inside, it started to POUR rain, and just as we were leaving, the rain stopped.  Whew!  When we finally reached downtown Granby, we stopped for an ice cream, then cheered when we reached the Hwy 34 turnoff.  We thought we’d see less cars there (which would make it a lot easier, not having to constantly step out of their way), but alas, Hwy 34 turned out to be a very busy road, too.  It travelled along through a very green, very wet valley, with many horses, cows and…frogs.  The frogs were singing like crazy!  Then a nice ranger lady stopped to offer us a ride (we politely declined) and she told us that more heavy rain is on the way, plus gave us some ideas of where we might camp up ahead (though she did say since it was 4th of July weekend, a lot of campgrounds would be full).  She also commented, “Looks like it’s snowing up on the Divide.”  Fixit and I thought, “Yeah–there’s ANOTHER reason it’s good we didn’t try to go that way.”

We looked over at the Divide–still completely hidden by clouds that looked seriously black and nasty.  Not good.  We were getting pretty tired, but were determined to make as many miles as we could.  Hwy 34 wound up and down, and finally we saw what we’d been waiting to see–Grand Lake!  And what a lake!  It is huge.  There are houses all around it, and boats.  Then the rain began.  We kept walking.  We walked till we reached Grand Lake Lodge–with a “No Vacancy” sign already lit.  We thought about asking if we could camp out back, but decided to just keep going.

The rain stopped for awhile, and slowly the light grew dimmer.  It was starting to get late, and there was not a sign of a campground or any place to stay.  I was starting to think, “Maybe we should have camped at the Lodge”.  But then we spotted a rather ramshackle RV/trailer park.  It had a boat storage area with what were supposed to be some “tent sites” among the weeds.  There was no sign of an office or manager, but I knocked on the door of one of the trailers to ask if it would be OK to camp out by the boat trailers.  The lady who lived there said, “Sure!  Just leave ten bucks at the manager’s house” and she pointed out where it was.

Just as we were setting up our tent, it started to really rain–we scurried to get under cover, got into our sleeping bags and ate a late, cold dinner with the rain coming down.  The tent is holding up fine, so we were dry and comfortable.  We’re glad we have a place to camp, and tomorrow it will be breakfast in Grand Lake!