As I said in the post before, my husband and I went on a little trip to Golden, CO. We visited a couple of different museums and visitors centers. However, one of the best parts of the trip to me (besides being with my husband), was the drive up to Mt. Evans. Mt. Evans has the highest paved road in North America. From where you turn off the major Interstate 70 you will drive until you are 14, 240 feet at the summit. The drive up to the top and back down to the bottom is truly amazing. The views are gorgeous and the wildlife you see is just beautiful.
As we were driving to the top, we first pulled off at the Mt. Goliath Natural area. It’s a little building were they talk and show the landscaping of the mountains. It shows the 3 different levels of the mountains. It also showcases the vegetation of the land. The plants, flowers and trees are different at each level due to the climate. This area is actually a boundary between the sub-alpine forests and the tundra. This area also contains most of the Bristlecone pines. They have dated some of the pines to be older than 1600 years.
We continued the drive to the top and then came to Summit Lake pull-off. At the time we were there, Summit Lake was still frozen. I had never seen a frozen lake before! However, we were unable to walk to the lake due to safety concerns. The Wildlife Rangers were accessing the situation at the time.
The first day we went to Mt. Evans, Summit Lake was as far as we could drive. It had snowed the previous day/night and they had the road closed to the top. We were determined to go to the top of the mountain, so we came back the following day. We wanted to tell our kids that we had been 14,000+ feet on top of a mountain! {grin} So the next day, we made the journey back to Mt. Evans and were told we could drive all the way to the top. I never tire of the beautiful views that God has created. The views did not disappoint as we passed Summit Lake. Around every curve there was another gorgeous view. What surprised us was seeing people riding their bicycles and even a man walking up so high. We know the air gets thinner as you go higher and was told to be careful and to drink plenty of fluids. Yet, these men were out enjoying a ride and stroll at such a high altitude!
We then came around the corner to the very top. There was this huge stone building that I later found out was once called The Crest House – “The Castle in the Sky”. However, a propane tank exploded and blew the roof and part of the building up. They then changed it into a visitor’s platform. The views from the different levels were amazing. There is also an Observatory on top of the mountain as well. We didn’t make it around to see this. The wind was blowing so hard that it was very hard to stand up and was freezing cold!
What surprised me the most up on top of this mountain? Seeing mountain goats and sheep! I had never seen a mountain goat or sheep before. I could not believe how docile and calm these animals were. They continued grazing, breaking through the little bit of snow and ice that hadn’t melted yet.
I was unable to get close enough to the mountain sheep to get any pictures of them. However, take my word for it when I say that they are beautiful creations of God.
The views from the top were so beautiful and I am glad we had decided to come back on that second day.
I am so glad that I was able to go on this trip with my husband. It was definitely a once in a lifetime trip with just the two of us, until our children are all on their own. As much as we enjoyed being with one another, we both said the next time we took off again on a trip like this, our children will definitely be with us.
Have you ever been on a trip and wished you had your children with you?