(To the base of the summit towers)

September 14, 2020

By Tim Briese

5.3 miles, 1000’ elevation gain, 3:00 roundtrip time

I’ve lived in Colorado over 40 years and have traveled extensively around the state for hikes and climbs, but remarkably, until this outing had never visited the Steamboat Springs area. I guess there aren’t high enough peaks in that part of the state that might have lured me there, but that’s a lame excuse, because it is a beautiful area and a visit was long overdue. I researched the best hikes in the area and settled on a couple of them.

My wife Teresa and I made a leisurely drive up to northwest Colorado on US 40 on our way to Steamboat and stopped in the afternoon at the Rabbit Ears Pass area to do this short easy hike. The twin towers of the Rabbit Ears stand prominently on a ridge about three miles north of the pass. We drove past the Dumont Lake Campground, turned left and drove about a quarter mile to a junction and turned right onto FR 291 and pulled into a spacious parking area there. This is a popular area but there were only a few other vehicles there today. FR 291 rapidly turns into a 4WD track which also serves as the foot trail that goes all the way up to Rabbit Ears. We hiked along through extensive open meadows and some forest as we gradually circled around up to the peak, enjoying very nice views along the way.

nice views along the trail

The Rabbit Ears themselves were visible much of the way.

rabbit ears

looking back down the road we hiked up

The last few hundred yards got quite steep as we pushed up toward the summit towers.

getting close to rabbit ears

the views up here were outstanding

approaching the west tower

The towers consist of crumbly volcanic rock and the footing adjacent to them was quite loose. We followed a trail around the left side of the west tower to take in a commanding view to the north.

view of the routt national forest to the northwest.  smoke from a forest fire is visible at the upper right.

The west tower requires a 4^th class rock climb on the crumbly rock, while the east one, which is 3 feet higher, is much more difficult to climb at class 5.5. That was way beyond the scope of what we were doing today.

the east tower

After enjoying the beautiful panoramic views a little longer we walked back down the trail and headed into Steamboat Springs for the night.  'The Boat' has a lot of appeal - modern buildings and infrastructure, hip bars and restaurants, dog friendly, a forward-looking spirit - a true magnet for millennials I suppose.  This bustling little city is the progressive hub of northwest Colorado.