A Trip on the Highest Paved Road in the U.S.*

With the rain of the previous two days seemingly behind us, the sun shining brightly and the temps in the mid 60s, we thought it would be nice to take a drive and see some more of our new home state. So after lunch, we jumped in the car and headed to Mt. Evans (14,264 ft), which is just west of Denver. After about 75 minutes, we arrive at the ranger station, only to see the sign "Mt. Evans road - Closed." Are you kidding me?!?

I went into the station to find out if the sign out front was right. The ranger said it was, kind of. She told us we could drive up about 20 miles, but the last couple miles of the road were closed because road crews were up there trying to clear away the 6 - 9 inches of snow and ice they received last night!

Not remembering the last time we saw snow in August before, we drove on up as far as we were allowed. The drive up was pretty interesting... the temps were dropping as we ascended, and there was no guardrail. Nonetheless, it was a pretty amazing sight once we got above tree line to see the snow accumulation.

(Picture: Chloe and I at Summit Lake [12,800 ft.] In 32 degree temperatures. In snow flurries. In August.)

* The road to the top of Mount Evans is the highest paved road in North America but reaches a dead end at the summit. Trail Ridge Road in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park is the highest paved continuous highway in the United States and reaches a maximum elevation of 12,183 ft.