August 2021
Another day . . . another road trip. With a holiday day to take advantage of, Linda and I decided to explore more of Colorado. We decided to drive the highest paved road in North America. Off to Mt. Evans we went.
Mt Evans is a ’14er’ – one of Colorado’s 58 mountains over fourteen thousand feet high. At 14,262 feet above sea level, it is the 18th highest peak in the state. It’s also the closest to our home in Westminster. The road up to the peak starts near Echo Lake Park, on Colorado Highway 103. We found out after leaving Interstate 70 at Idaho Springs that we needed a reservation to drive to the top. We didn’t have one but inquired at the ranger shack if we could just drive up. We could – if we didn’t stop the car. No getting out to make photographs or even to use the bathrooms. We thanked the nice young ranger and drove to the top – without stopping – no photographs and no pit stops.
The first half of the drive is beautiful. We drove through conifer stands with views of mountains and valleys in all directions. Once we hit treeline – somewhere around 11,500 feet, the surrounding beauty diminished. We were now surrounded by rocks and more rocks, and no trees. The road was narrow and at times Linda had to ask me to put my coffee cup in its holder and place both hands on the wheel.
On the way down, we picked up three hitchhikers. A girl from Arvada was with her brother and his friend (both from Texas). They had parked at Summit Lake and hiked to the peak and then realized they were too tired to hike back. Since they did have a reservation, we stopped a few times to make photographs and use the facilities.
We made it to the bottom of Highway 5 and back onto Highway 103, driving toward Evergreen. We stopped for a picnic near Beaverdam Creek before driving north and east into Evergreen.
Not ready to go home, we hiked for a few hours in Elk Meadow Park, grabbed a beer at the Lariat Lodge Brewing Company, and then made our way home, passing through Golden. We arrived home by 6:00, tired and hungry, with another Colorado destination under our belts.
