“You gotta climb that peak before you die,” said one stranger to the other.
Upon hearing this, questions immediately began bouncing through my head. Was he talking to me?
Am I hallucinating? Is this man a serial… “Which one?”
This felt like a reasonable question — considering we were looking over an entire mountain range
— but, realistically, I knew which peak he was referring to.
The man in navy blue overalls, with thin white pinstripes, went on to detail the many times he’s
hiked Uncompahgre Peak — successful and unsuccessful attempts, with his father, or wife, or a
group of buddies, or just himself.
I never saw his eyes, but could feel the passion and intensity of his stare behind those dark
aviators. You could see him reliving those fond memories, as the breeze lifted his gray ponytail off
his shoulders.