Mount Evans

Mount Evans, at 14,260 feet (4,346 meters), is the 14th highest mountain in Colorado. It is part of a massif, connected to Mount Bierstadt (14,060 feet, or 4,286 meters) via the forbidding Sawtooth Ridge. The Evans massif was a prominent landmark early in Colorado history, and during the gold rush of the 1860s was known simply as Chicago Mountains. These mountains are dotted with mines from that period, most of which are abandoned (and extremely dangerous; do not even think of entering one of these mines), but a few of which are still active today.

Mount Bierstadt was named for Albert Bierstadt, a well known painter of Western landscapes in the 1860s and 1870s. Bierstadt's painting were particularly popular in the eastern United States, and they helped to establish a somewhat idealized and romanticized notion of the Colorado Rockies that persists somewhat to this day. One of Bierstadt's more famous paintings, of Longs Peak (14,255 feet, or 4,345 meters) now hangs in the Denver Public Library. Bierstadt and fellow painter Fitzhugh Ludlow were the first men known to have climbed Mount Evans. Bierstadt named this larger of the two mountains in the massif "Mount Rosalie" after his wife, but it was renamed Mount Evans in 1870, after Colorado's second territorial governor. A nearby mountain was named Mount Rosalie.

The University of Denver built its Cosmic Ray Research Laboratory at the summit of Mount Evans in 1936, and has conducted a wide variety of experiments at that lab. In 1973, a 4-ton, 24-inch (61cm) reflector telescope was installed at the summit, becoming the highest fixed astronomical telescope in the world. However, these facilities (and a Summit House) were destroyed in a fire several years ago; only their ruins remain.

There is a road that takes you within a very short hike of the summit of Mount Evans. That road is the highest paved road in the United States (while Trail Ridge Road, in Rocky Mountain National Park, is the highest continuous paved road in the United States). Be sure you have plenty of gasoline before you begin this trip, as there may be no services available after you leave Idaho Springs and the round-trip is 28 miles (45 kilometers) on a steep and winding road that will require more gasoline than you might expect. Be sure to have warm clothing with you as well; there is no time of the year that a snowstorm is out of the question, and it is almost always cold enough to require a coat at this altitude.

If you are watchful, you are likely to see a variety of wildlife on the trip. In particular, watch for deer anywhere along the way, watch for mountain goats and bighorn sheep near Echo Lake, and watch for ptarmigans, marmots and pikas at the summit.

Here are directions to the top of Mount Evans: from Keystone, head north six miles to the I-70 interchange, and take I-70 east toward Denver. You will go back through the Eisenhower tunnel, then watch for exit 260 at Idaho Springs, which is also marked as the Mount Evans exit. Get off at this exit, then follow the signs onto Highway 103, at which point you will be 14 miles (23 kilometers) from Echo Lake. There is a parking area here, and a place to eat; gasoline should be available here also, but there is no guarantee (and it is likely to be expensive). From Echo Lake, it is another 14 miles (23 kilometers) to the top. The road from Summit Lake to the top of Mount Evans is somewhat likely to be closed by mid-October, to give road crews an opportunity to work on it, while the road above Echo Lake closes with the first heavy snowfall, often late September, rarely later than mid-October.

This road is paved and well maintained, so any automobile in reasonably good condition can make this trip (unless there has been an early snowstorm, in which case the road above Echo Lake is likely to be closed). All the same, there are some sharp turns and steep dropoffs along the way. Thousands of tourists make this drive every year, and some of them report that having the wits scared out of them is part of the fun of driving to the top.

If you drive all the way to the top and then wish to scramble to the summit, please be very careful, especially if there is rain, snow or ice that day. There have been some fatalities and serious injuries on Mount Evans that probably would have been avoided by people more experienced in the mountains. You should also take it easy at the top; even moderate exertion, such as running a very short distance, can bring on sudden mountain sickness at this altitude. The view from the summit is rewarding, as on a clear day you can view a total area approximately six times the size of Switzerland, or a distance of about 200 miles (322 kilometers).