Mount Evans, Colorado -- Highest Paved Road in North America

I really enjoyed the road trip with Allen up to the top of Mount Evans, Colorado, yesterday.

 

Mt. Evans is one of Colorado's "Fourteeners", so-called because the summit is above 14,000 feet above mean sea level.   It is \west of Golden, south of the town of Idaho Springs.  A paved road leads through beautiful scenery, from I-70 all the way up to the summit.  It is a highly-recommended half-day trip.

 

Echo Lake, about halfway up the road.

 Echo lake from above.

The treeline is reached about 12, 500 feet.  The road is paved, but not in the best condition, is extremely narrow, winding, and completely without guardrails.  Often, there is a steep cliff right at the edge.

There are numerous little mammals living way up here.

The air is very thin, and being a low-lander, I can't walk very far without getting winded.  This was taken at a very short trail Allen found after we parked at Summit Lake, around 13,800 feet ASL.

 Summit lake still was mostly covered in ice, even at the end of June.

 A gorgeous mountain bluebird at Summit Lake.

The Camry didn't miss a stroke, and ran smooth as silk, even in the thin air.  We reached the top, 20 miles and about an hour from the entrance station, and found this view.  This is the view looking south.

 Looking west.

These ruins are the remains of a hospitality house at the summit which was destroyed by a propane explosion around the year 1943.  This is looking east towards Denver.  They claim you can see Nebraska on a clear day, but I don't believe it, since I've never seen any peak (or any trace, even) of the Front Range from Nebraska.