Mt. Evans

On our last day in Colorado, we drove up Mt. Evans Scenic Byway.  If you ever have a chance to drive this, do it.  It is west of Denver just off of  I-70.  This road boasts that it is the highest paved road in North America.  The road is actually quite terrifying and not for the faint of heart.  I'm not sure that I, Jolene, would not have been able to drive it.  However, it was really neat and very amazing to be up so high.

The one edge is shear drop offs.

The driver really needs to keep eyes on the road at all times!

It was neat to drive through the different ecological systems. 

They say some of these bristle cone pine are more then 1500 yrs. old.

Summit Lake, above the tree line.

It's hard to see, but there are people fishing in the water.

The alpine plants were fascinating!

Bighorn sheep grazing near Summit Lake.

Looking down from Summit Lake to two more lakes.

These two were in a group of mountain goats near the top.

More goats at the top.  Note the elevation.

The structure in the background used to be a restaurant years ago.

They seemed very used to people.

This is what we climbed to get to the very top.  

There was a path that zig zagged it's way up the side.

Hard to read, but this marker says 14,258 ft.

Summit Lake below.

On top of the world 

We were thankful for a beautiful clear day!

Can you pick out the road?

They blend in so well.  This was a bachelor group.

We also saw a huge herd of elk (hundreds) "playing" down (way down) in a snowy field.  They were pretty small specks.  Unfortunately, they were at a spot where there was no where to pull off and zoom them in with the binoculars.

As cool as it was, it felt pretty good to get back down to lower elevation and a normal road!!  If you have vertigo issues and a fear of heights, you may need to close your eyes at times (unless you're driving!)  Ha!