In the summer of 1985 I happened upon the H-Bar-G and had a fantastic two-week stay at $5.50 per night. I wish I had written down everyone's last names, because the bunkhouse was full of crazies and we had shed-loads of fun. Some of us worked in town at a restaurant called P.S. Flowers, and we had frequent nights out at a place called (I think) The Mountain Man Tavern. Back at the ranch, there was Marvin, the philosopher-woodcarver who hadn't driven a car or answered a phone for 23 years; there was Dick, a senior figure from the ACLU in San Francisco; Vicki (who was there every summer); Jim the climber; Mike the Aussie; Francis the Brit; Laura the Soloflex model and yoga enthusiast who was with her young son Miles MacPeace; Dave from Massachusetts. It was a real menagerie of misfits.
Fantastic hikes, including one where we set out at 3 a.m. to go up Longs Peak. Stunning place. A lot of that trip features in my novel "From Pillar to Post". Too bad to hear about Lou, and sad also to hear that the hostel has closed. Anyway, I'm delighted to have found it at all - memories forever of a sensational place. In some respects, it's amazing to think that it was ever a hostel at all.
- Eli Lederman