Mount Evans Wilderness Area, Colorado

Article and Images by Bob Smith

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My good friend Weldon once told me that extreme weather produces extreme images. Never was that more true than on the Mt Evans Scenic Byway. Located 50 miles west of Denver, CO, this 12 mile mountain drive is the highest paved automobile road in North America. Not for the faint hearted, this winding mountain road features 1000 foot dropoffs, tight switchbacks, and a total lack of guard rails! Now why would you want to venture into this area? Mt Evans Scenic Byway takes you to an elevation of 14,130 feet and provides incredible views of the Rocky Mountains to the west, Pikes Peak to the south, and the plains of Colorado to the east. And did I mention the mountain goats?

Mount Evans Scenic Byway provides access to the Mount Evans Wilderness Area’s 74,401 acres of alpine tundra and a variety of wildlife including mountain goats, bighorn sheep, marmots, pikas, weasels, mule deer, coyotes, foxes, and the elusive ptarmigans—wildflowers of the alpine variety: yellow ones, purple ones, red ones…

And the landscapes—beginning with Echo Lake at the base of the mountain (10,600 feet) did I mention the 1,600 year old bristlecone pines? And the Mt Goliath Natural Area, with the world’s highest alpine garden. Higher up the mountain, Summit Lake sits at the base of the summit itself. The summit stretches another 1,400 feet almost straight up above the lake. Reflections abound in the early morning light, mirroring the mountain peaks in the still waters at sunrise.

From the summit parking lot, it is a short 350 yard hike up a rock trail to the actual summit of Mt Evans. From there you will have the most unobstructed views in all directions. Evening light can provide truly awesome landscapes and even the cloud formations are spectacular in the evening after a thunderstorm has passed eastward towards Denver.

For those of you looking for off the beaten path opportunites, there are 4 trailheads providing over 100 miles of hiking trails, most of which are inside the Mount Evans Wilderness Area.

What makes this area attractive to me is the constantly changing weather conditions. On almost any day, the weather will change from blue skies in the morning to heavy snow, thunderstorms, lightning, and/or sleet at midday to gorgeous sunsets in the evening. Did I mention fog? It rolls uphill! Pushed by the upslope winds from the east, the fog will rise up the mountain and envelope nearly the whole mountain, creating eerie landscapes and backdrops to the animals standing on the cliff sides.

Another facet to the Mount Evans Wilderness Area is the short summer season. The summer is so short at this elevation that the whole mountain seems to have its own lifecycle, lasting only a few short weeks. The mountain goat kids, appearing in late June, grow very quickly. The ewes bring the kids up from Echo Lake, where you will find them frolicking on the rocks, pushing each other off the top or chewing on another’s ears. Their antics are worth the price of admission alone! Wildflowers never last long in the mountains, but on Mt Evans their period from bloom to withering away is measured in days. The flowers begin blooming at lower elevations first and move up the mountain. But it seems the cold nights cause those at the highest elevations to have the shortest life. And the snows from the previous winter linger on, providing water to the tundra soil and runoff to the valleys below.

White-tailed ptarmigans are one of the most elusive inhabitants on the mountain. While I have seen groups of 20–30 birds feeding together, it is more common to find them in small groups of 2–3, often near sunrise or sunset. These ground dwellers wear camouflage! The color of rocks in the summer, they turn pure white in the winter.

As the summer progresses into August, you will see the mountain goats have shed their winter coats and become sleek and fat. The bighorn sheep ewes with their young will mix in with the goats, feeding on the tundra grasses. Marmots are everywhere, perched on the rocks or feeding on the grasses. And the pikas will have already begun to gather food in their burrows for the coming winter. Whereas the marmots hibernate, the pikas stay active all year long and need a large supply of dried grasses to sustain them. You will find them scurrying from a patch of grass back to their burrow in the rocks, mouths overflowing with their harvest.

As September approaches, the snows on the mountain increase and the nights become cold once again. The tundra grasses turn brown and red giving all notice that winter is fast approaching. The road from Summit Lake to the top closes shortly after Labor Day weekend, but the goats head to more remote areas at that time as hunting season opens. And by early October the road closes once again for the long winter.

Mount Evans for me is a microcosm of life… short in duration, intense and dramatic.

Some guidelines for planning a trip to Mount Evans:

• Road is closed from early October to near Memorial Day
• Mountain goat and bighorn sheep shed their winter coats in mid July—early August…
• Mountain flowers bloom in mid-July thru mid-August
• Mountain goat kids appear first in late June
• Snowstorms are most prevalent early in the season and late in August and will close the road from Summit Lake 4 miles up to the summit parking lot for a day or more.
• The alpine tundra is fragile and easily damaged.

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