By Katie Soenke, Pikes Peak Courier

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In a small mountain town, people notice when something disappears.

Last fall, when the previous café in Lake George closed, the change was immediate. Cars would pull into the parking lot and then leave. Foot traffic slowed. Something felt missing.

Dave Herman saw it happen.

“I was like, ‘We have to get this open,’” he said.

Now, about seven months later, Gold Water Cafe has become one of those places people seem to naturally find. Travelers stop in on their way through the mountains. Campers come looking for breakfast and coffee before heading out for the day. Locals come back because they know what they are going to get.

It has become part of the rhythm of the area.

People heading into the mountains stop before fishing trips. Campers grab breakfast before packing up for the day. Others discover it while driving Highway 24 and decide to pull in.

For Herman and Vance Williams, the café started in a somewhat unexpected way.

Before opening the restaurant, Herman purchased the neighboring fly shop, which has been part of Lake George for about 11 years. Williams worked there as one of the fishing guides.

Then one day Herman saw a lunch Williams had packed for a fishing trip.

“I saw one of his lunches and I was like, ‘If I was to open a restaurant, this is my man,’” Herman said.

Not long after, the previous café owners closed their doors. The loss affected more than breakfast and coffee. Herman said business traffic around the area noticeably changed.

“You would hear cars pull into the parking lot and then leave,” he said.

That was when the two decided to move forward and create something they felt the community needed.

“I love all of our food around here,” Herman said. “But I just thought there needed to be a different variety for the community.”

Gold Water Cafe sits in a location that naturally brings people through the doors.

“Our location is prime,” Herman said.

Hundreds of campgrounds sit nearby. Travelers heading into the mountains pass through every day.

Some visitors stop intentionally. Others discover the café almost by accident.

Kelly Croner was one of them. A camper visiting the area, she found Gold Water Cafe through her GPS while searching for a place to eat. She said she wanted something that felt like a true mountain stop.

“I wanted the mountain experience,” she said.

Even small details stood out.

“Even the bathroom has logs on the wall,” she said with a laugh.

Still, location alone only gets people through the door once. Herman believes what brings people back is something much simpler.

“Do simple well,” he said.

That approach shows up throughout the menu.

The café focuses on fresh-made food and home-style meals. Coffee beans come from nearby Guffey, where they are locally roasted and picked up fresh each week.

Many items are made in-house. The café’s corned beef and biscuits and gravy have become some of its most popular menu choices.

Behind much of the food is Williams, who spent about 15 years working as a chef.

“I make everything here,” he said.

There is also help behind the scenes. William’s wife, Bailey, serves as the café’s pastry chef and handles many of the baked items and biscuits.

Herman’s own restaurant experience goes back years. He started working at around 14 years old, beginning in dishwashing before moving through nearly every area of restaurant service. Later, he helped build Black Tree Resort from the ground up.

But restaurants were never necessarily the original plan.

“To be perfectly honest, I’m a fisherman at heart,” Herman said.

Then he laughed.

“But I saw a void that needed to be filled, so we filled it.”

Outside the café after the interview wrapped up, Herman summed up the story another way.

“We’re just two fishy guys trying to get back to fishing.”

For now, though, the fishing may have to wait.

Gold Water Cafe is still finding its place in Lake George — one cup of coffee, one breakfast plate and one traveler at a time.