Lake City, CO. area, anyone?

Have spent a lot of time there in the last 25 years. Spent (3) nights there this past summer. It's a very small town, has a movie theatre, laundry, and the best soda fountain (like in original c. 1890) on the planet (San Juan Soda Co.). The locals are super friendly and get along well with the seasonal invasion of Texans on holiday. Expect a Texas personality. The restaurants are decent and visitors tend to fish, jeep, ATV with some hikers backpackers mixed in. I'd say it's one of the best re-supply towns on the CDT. There is a grocery store that has just about anything a thru-hiker would need. Recommend the Matterhorn Motel for sure. There is a hostel that many use but to me a huge, yuk-ola! The town library is great and even has a cat, along with computers you can use to log on to the internet. Ask me some specific questions.

For bad coffee recommend Mocha Moose. Worst restaurant: Packer Saloon and Cannibal Grill. Everything else A-OK. We really enjoyed our stay last summer. Once it was pouring rain for over an hour. My daughter and I were at the "Supermarket" and on foot with about a mile walk back to the motel. A local asked us if we needed a ride, she interrupted her shopping and took us to the motel. That's a confirmed "wow" along with a volunteer townie who picked us up at Spring Creek Pass.

P.S. Wine Alert: All the restaurants in town sell the cheapest, worst tasting wine, money can by. However there are (2) restaurants that serve Black Box wine: Restless Spirits Saloon & Southern Vittles. Restless Spirits makes good pizza too!
Black Box may not make "Wine Spectator" magazine but for Lake City, it's as good as it gets.

How old is your daughter and what type of vehicle will you have. That will help me with practical ideas.

That's exactly the type of place I love.

Westy,
To answer your question, she is 16 and will probably handle the trails better than I will, in all honesty. However, she has not done any mountain trails yet, as we live in a flat state (Ohio). She is still relatively new to backpacking so I want to keep her on more easy to moderate trails to keep it fun, at this point. We will work up to the more difficult ones; I don't want to hit her in the teeth with a miserable trek right out of the gate, so to speak.

walkswithblackflies,

Thanks for the link. This is just the kind of info I was looking for.

As of a couple years ago, I'd recommend a car with good clearance. Not a Chevy Aveo... unless you want a challenge.