Hans Peak
My friend Sterling and I planned to hike Hahn's Peak, a short distance outside Steamboat Springs. After an autocorrect mishap delightfully transformed "Hahn's Peak" into "Hans Peak", our goal became affectionately personified into a happy-go-lucky German. Silly accents and outbursts would be the theme of the day, as breakfast at the Hans (properly Hahn's) Peak Roadhouse brought up the only association I have with the word "roadhouse", this scene from Family Guy.
"Hallo I am Hans. Sank you for climbing me today! (Roadhouse.)"
Teutonic triflings aside, the Roadhouse breakfast burrito was pretty good and quite substantial, providing the necessary fuel for a quick jaunt up the 1432 feet of elevation gain to the 10839 foot peak, where we were rewarded with panoramic views of the surrounding area and little to no lightning. Oh yes, we did hear some rumblings of nearby thunderstorms as we neared the top. We kept a close eye on them as we tentatively scurried up the last scree slopes, ready to turn back quickly if the storms decided to visit our new friend Hans. Luckily they remained at bay and we summitted without incident. After returning to the car, we treated ourselves to some ice cream at the Clark Store, then did a little exploring of the nearby forest roads, which brought us through terrain with some great variety of ecosystems, a charming aspen forest being the highlight. It was a great day with the best of company and a pretty good example of why I'm out here on this journey in the first place (mountains! trees! fresh air!).
Elsewhere
