Get Thee Up Into The High Mountains

Today we took the advice of a friend and struck out toward Mt. Evans, which is one of Colorado's "fourteeners." A fourteener is a 14,000+ foot mountain, and that particular height represents a real mountain out here. That's what you get when your baseline is 5500 feet.

Anyway, we decided to go to Mt. Evans, which has the distinction of being America's highest passenger highway. Indeed, you can drive nearly all the way to the top, all 14,200 feet of it. It takes about 15 miles of winding road to get to the parking lot, and at times you slow waaaaaay down to avoid careening to certain death. Once you get to the parking lot at the top, you have to walk the last quarter mile, which is really just a series of switchbacks that rises about 150 feet. Jessa ended up making that little hike, much to the amazement of several onlookers. The oxygen's pretty thin up there, and some folks were impressed with her bravery and endurance. (In case you're wondering, we got our doctor to sign off on the trip before we went).

Anyway, the view from the top was predictably amazing, with Denver visible some 40-50 miles to the east, and the rest of the Front Range visible in every other direction. There were glaciers dotting the landscape, several lakes, patches of alpine tundra vegetation, some mountain goats and bighorn sheep (with little horns), and lots of tourists like us. All in all, it's a pretty good Fourteener to start with.

Here are some of our pictures from the day:This is the view from one of our many bathroom stops--a glacial lake called Summit Lake, with the actual summit in the upper left, and a glacier coming over the ridge.

Ominous sign at the parking lot up top.

View from the top.


Denver is out there in the distance in the middle of the picture...if you REALLY squint.
Summit Lake from the summit.

A nice couple took our picture.

Mountain goats.
Bighorn sheep, with a glacial lake in the background (not the same one as above).
That's the summit again, on the upper left.

Overall it was a great way to spend a Friday. We beat the Labor Day crowds, and we beat the winter season, since they close the road to the top after Labor Day (because of snow, I kid you not). This will definitely be a featured attraction for any of you who come to visit!