Photo TR: To the top of Mt Evans!

After checking the weather for the Mt Evans area on Wednesday night, my girlfriend and I decided that Thursday morning would be perfect for a drive up the highest paved road in North America.

All I can say is WOW, what a spectacular drive! If you are ever in the area during the summer and have a few hours to kill and the road is open, do venture up it. The views, the scenery and everything you experience going up it is amazing.

There is really 2 parts to the drive, once inside the Mt Evans wilderness area. The first part begins at Echo Lake and continues up through the treeline and onto the tundra via a two lane (although narrow..) road. The first part of the drive ends at Summit Lake (12,830 feet). From Summit Lake you get a good view of Mt Evans' summit and Mt Spaulding. There is also a parking area here with trails.

To continue to the top, you pass through a gate and onto a narrower road with no lane markings. From here all the way to the top, it seemed like it was just switchback after switchback. You start to get a real sense of exactly how high you are in the sky. If you are nervous about heights in any shape or form, this will certainly be a white knuckled drive for you. Some parts of the road are right along drop offs that look like they go on forever.

After navigating the switchbacks, eventually we reached the top. There is a small parking lot and an over look area. Upon reaching the top, we were greeted by a family of Mountain Goats. If I remember correctly, we arrived at the top at around 8:08am.

Eh, enough with this typing stuff and onto the pictures...


Destination


Purchasing some liquid gold at 5:45am


yay, almost out of the stinking city


Looking west on i70


Must be nice living on that hill


Being able to go 75mph without touching the gas pedal is awesome


Uh oh, I seem to be suffering from tunnel vision...


Just one more exit until the excitement begins..


Heading towards Echo Lake


Still climbing towards Echo Lake..


Echo Lake, without any echos


Ah, here we are


After turning onto Mt Evans byway, you are soon above the treeline


omg whats this?!


Do look down.


Hmmmm


HIIII!


Looking out off the mountain with the road on the right


Summit Lake


Looking toward the top of Mt Evans


Another view of Summit Lake, still frozen


The road after Summit Lake heading towards the top


We saw a crapload of these Marmots along the road. At one point after rounding a blind corner, 15 or so of them all jumped across the road


Nice view looking South West..I think


At the top with some goats AWWWWWWWW





To reach the very top, you have to actually climb the last 150' up that big rock mound


What a view...Road below is approaching Summit Lake


Those rocks sure do look appetizing


I did climb to the top, this is looking back down at the parking area


From the very top


Looking down at Summit Lake, 1434 feet below




They really are everywhere....


This picture does not do this view justice, just over that snow pile is a straight drop to the floor below...





Heading back down one of the hairpin turns





Heading back towards the treeline


I hope my brakes still work


A Bristle Cone Pine tree that is 1600+ years old. I was really looking forward to this area, but it was closed for restoration


I bet that water is cold!

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the pictures

I totally want one of those goats.
Or one of those marmots.

But wow, what a view. I wish I could do something like that. But... Texas is kind of mountain-less.

[jayman]

nice.. i love daytrips to the mountains or the desert..
what state is this in? never mind.. i saw the sign for idaho springs..
my parents and my little brothers live near centralia washington (nice place.. yucky social climate), i think the northwest is beautiful..

*snif* Reminds me of home

I used to life in Hinton Alberta, right by Jasper which is in the mountains, I used to be able to look at them from my back yard

Colorado jayman

Yo chris nice tr., damn there is lots of marmots but other that the view from the mountain is amazing.

[jayman]

oh..

Here is a complete video of the drive to the summit that I found on youtube;

http://youtube.com/watch?v=e6yjImjIVkI

Great TR Canadmos. I need to get out and do more of that kind of stuff. The only time we go to the mountains is during winter to ski.

Thats awesome. Looks exactly like where I go camping every summer. That road would be SOOOO fun to rallycar up!

wow thats a really nice place indeed, i always love to just go drive and end up somwhere totally random in nature but that i think is the best place you could end up ever.

i wish snowdioia had a road like that as the walk kills you

Nice View!

If you like hairpin turns, you should come to Norway: http://travel.zerogdesigns.com/images/9 ... tigen2.jpg [;)]

Hah, at 2:35 in that vid is some messed up road.

That looks awesome, the highest mountain I've been up (not to the top though) was Whistler in B.C. But that would be great to drive to the top with the goats (teehee! I want a goat[:)]) and see that view. Nice TR!

Originally posted by Woodie Man

Great TR Canadmos. I need to get out and do more of that kind of stuff. The only time we go to the mountains is during winter to ski.

I highly recommend the drive! The scenery is breathtaking and the actual drive is pretty fun.

Besides gas in your car, it only costs $10 per car, so it is a lot cheaper than most other 'attractions'.

If you do go, I would suggest going very early in the morning. This is for a few different reasons. One is to beat the crowds, as you might have noticed there isn't a lot of parking spaces at the top and parking on the side of the road isn't the best idea.

The other reason is that no one should really be at the top after noon. This is when lightning storms have a tendency to sweep in after the atmosphere has warmed up. Being in a lightning storm above the treeline does not sound like fun. [:D]

Hah, at 2:35 in that vid is some messed up road.

That part was pretty bad, though it was the only bad part.

It felt (and looked) like the road was trying to imitate an accordion.



Nosferatu, I do plan on visiting one day. [:D]