Mt. Evans

Today’s goal was to drive to the top of Mt. Evans on the highest paved road in the United States. These are the kinds of superlatives we are collecting as we travel.




Today’s wildflowers

You have to really want to get to Mt. Evans. From I-70 you drive 14 miles to the entrance station and then once you pay your $10 (free for us because of our National Parks Pass — yeah!) it’s another 14 miles to the end of the road. The roads are all very steep and windy, so it takes you a while. Luckily for us, we had Book the Tenth from A Series of Unfortunate Events to listen to and that passed the time for us. The dastardly doings of Count Olaf and his troupe keeps you on alert.



The scenery held our interest pretty well, too. Mt. Evans is one of Colorado’s 54 fourteeners (mountains over 14,000 feet), and once you get above the tree line the views are limited only by the haze. We added two previously unseen mammals to our list, too, both seen on the side of the road and then later, on a path we were walking.


Both male and female goats have horns. Female’s are smaller. I think this is a girl.

The first was a herd of mountain goats. Bold as brass on the side of the road. We paused to take a picture of one and as we moved on she started to follow us. She lost interest soon enough, but it was kind of fun to think we’d be bringing home a new pet! I was surprised by their size. Their hindquarters and shoulders are thick with muscle but their torso is thinner than I expected it to be. They have a ridge of hair on their shoulder (in the same place the mane of a horse would be) that acts as a windbreak of sorts to help retain their body heat.



We had the windows open as we drove higher and I could already feel the effects of the thinner air. This is the highest in altitude that we have been but I was surprised how quickly I felt a little woozy. At the top of the road there is a small parking lot with a few buildings and an observatory. The observatory didn’t seem to be open and I wonder who uses it. There is an odd shaped building up there, once the highest building in the world. It was built between 1939 and 1941 and was, apparently, a restaurant. In 1979 there was a propane explosion (oops) and what we see now is all that is left of the building. We wandered around it for a minute or two before taking to the summit trail.


Before and after.

Elise already had a headache and Bobby and I felt kind of lightheaded so we took it easy going up. Elise and Bobby paused (for Elise’s sake) about halfway up and I continued on, giddy with oxygen deprivation. The view from the top was pretty amazing. My favorite view was of Summit Lake, over a thousand feet below us. We had passed it on the way up, but because of the way the road curved around it, we missed seeing over half of the lake. On my way down, I met Bobby and Elise slowly heading up. Elise and I headed down and Bobby took the camera to the top for pictures.


On top of Mt. Evans . . .


The view from the top.


Summit Lake, still slightly frozen.

We stopped at Summit Lake on our way down. Elise still wasn’t feeling very well, so I headed down to the shore on my own. This lake reminded me very much of the lake I soloed by on my Outward Bound trip in 1993. I loved being by the alpine lake with the mountain rising up steeply from its shore, then and now. I saw another path leading around the lake on the other side, and Bobby and I convinced (coerced) Elise to come along. Ask Elise, we’re “forcers”.




The ice is still melting on Summit Lake.

This was the best part of the day. The path winds around the back part of the lake to a hidden valley that was stunning. Bobby and I have already decided where in the valley we want to build our house. We just have to check with the national forest people first.



It was here that we saw our other mammal, a yellow-bellied marmot and a member of the squirrel family. A cute little fellow, he was sunning himself on the rocks.


He’s in the middle of the picture, toward the right side.

I continued on the path a few hundred yards and sat down to enjoy the view. Below me, I saw another mountain goat so I called out to Bobby and Elise to come join me. I made the mistake of telling them in a loud voice that I had seen this mountain goat which prompted the couple that was also in the area to embark on a ridiculous escapade which left all three of us shaking our heads at people’s sheer stupidity. Apparently the couple couldn’t see the goat from where they were standing so instead of staying on the path and coming to where we were to see it (which was up on a ledge), they decided to leave the trail (a huge no-no on national park or forest land) to try and get as close to it as possible for a picture. Keep in mind that they are both wearing flip-flops. They decided that the best way to get to the poor, unsuspecting goat was to walk down an area that the forest service had shored up in terraces because the area was eroding too quickly. Probably from people like them walking around — OFF THE PATH! They never got too close to the goat, but not for lack of trying on their part. He would move every now and then, just to keep them guessing. At one point, the wind blew the baseball cap off the guy’s head but he let it go so he could get the picture he just had to have.


The goat is down the hill, kind of a white blob on the rock. She is above him to the left. You can see the reinforced terracing in the foreground.

After about 10 minutes of this, we hear another goat bleating from somewhere nearby. The goat we had in our sight answered and we soon saw Goat #2 arrive on the scene. Goat #2 was looking to get to Goat #1 but Clueless Couple stood directly in the way. He was at the top of the slope, Goat #1 was at the bottom and Clueless Couple was in between the two. Instead of staying still and letting Goat #2 pass (there was enough room had they stayed still), the couple started toward Goat #2 to get his picture. Goat #2 panics slightly and now has no choice but to walk in the opposite direction to try and get away from the couple. This takes him farther away from Goat #1. The couple ends up walking behind him all the way to the parking lot! Granted the goat could have left the path at any time and gone up onto the rocks and circled around, but he didn’t. We saw the threesome in the parking lot a short while later, the goat eating something, the girl still taking pictures, and the guy pointing out the goat to everyone. They had seen us in the valley and made some comment about how Goat #2 had “cornered them” (like that’s possible). I told them that I had seen it from the path. Bobby made a comment about how the second goat was trying to get to the first but it somehow got detoured. We hinted, but I don’t think they got it. Poor goat.

Our drive home was a little trafficky, but uneventful. Count Olaf continued to be cruel and foul-smelling, as all good villains are. Once home we invited our neighbors, David and Nora over for a S’more-fest after dinner. They came over with their golden retriever, Darby, and we passed a very pleasant evening chatting and wiping melted chocolate from our hands and legs. Actually, I think I’m the only one who dripped chocolate everywhere. Everyone else was a much neater eater.