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June 13, 2021
Mount Evans - Sun June 13th, 2021
Mount Evans is the highest paved road in North America (14,285' above msl). And today, it was like 85F at my place, and I was sweating like a whore in church, so I figured it wouldn't be a horrible idea to try to make it to the summit, to cool off for a bit, if nothing more.
In theory, due to the COVID pandemic in the public sector, you have to have a reservation to ride up to the summit of Mt Evans. But I'd heard from some motorcyclists that you really didn't have to have a reservation. That, if you just drive up to the little check-point where they normally charge you a fee, or in 2021 they verify your reservation, that really all they do is make you promise not to park in the parking lots, and you can ride to the summit and back free of charge, no reservation required.
So I stocked up on Gatorade at King Soopers and threw it in my Givi case on the back of the bike (I don't like getting stranded without liquids) and headed up Squaw Pass Road (Colorado State Highway 103).
Mount Evans never opened for 2020. It just opened for 2021 9 days ago on June 4th.
When I got to the little ranger station near Echo Lake, there were 2 lanes opened. I went to the one with some girl/woman staffing it.
"Do I need a reservation?" I asked her.
"If you just ride to the top, and turn around and ride back down, and don't use any parking spaces, then you don't need a reservation. You can just ride on through.
"Great," I replied. and then I took off heading up the highest paved road in North America.
It's really hard to describe how stunning the ride is. I'm just always surprise how beautiful it is, and how glad I am I live here.
I keep my eye out for large snow banks, because I want to get some shots with my bike in front of a 20' drift, as it's hard to believe these still exist when it's 88F at the house.
I pass a few people and when I get to the summit, it's 59F. I take photos for some people with the sign showing they summited Mt Evans. Then, I get some pics with my bike, and head back down. I stop and shoot some pics at Summit Lake, and then at some of the largest snow drifts on the way down.
I continue down SH 103 into Idaho Springs where I hit the Carl's Jr. Last year, they called the cops on me for not wearing a mask, but we're past that now. Now, they have a experimental new entree, a chicken and waffle sandwich with syrup which I order and it's to die for.
When I roll down to Evergreen Lake, there's a bunch of emergency vehicles and elk standing around. Lots of people seem worried/concerned. I ask some bystanders what happened. I figured some elk had gored some people, but instead, a girl that was fishing had managed to hook her eyelid. They took her off in an ambulance, and the elk were left to roam freely again.
Map Route
Distance Traveled: 49087 - 49005 = 82 miles.
Time Traveling: 5:40 pm - 1:10 pm = 4 hours 30 minutes.
Pass Bagger: Squaw Pass
Posted by Rob Kiser on June 13, 2021 at 9:53 PM
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