Since we’d first decided to make the detour through Colorado, we’d been looking for a way to hike a 14er, that being the enormously popular thing to do here. Somewhat surprisingly, all our hikes in CA have been below the 12,500′ level, and Jane’s personal elevation record (for hiking) was just under 11,000′. Over the time we spent in Loveland, we came up with a plan for the drive home following the Labor Day baseball game in Denver – we’d drive west up I-70 after the game and spend Monday night in an AirBNB (a vintage Airstream trailer, actually) near Idaho Springs, hike the nearby 14,254′ Mt Evans on Tuesday, and then afterward drive another 1-1/2 hours to Breckenridge and spend a couple of nights there so Chris could catch up on some work. Mt Evans is the site of the highest paved road in North America, as the summit area is serviced by a well-maintained road – in season, one may drive to within 100 vertical feet of the summit. As it turns out, that road closes on Labor Day each year, meaning our only way up was to hike, which is what we’d have preferred anyway for our first 14er – Mt Evans is ranked among the easiest of the Colorado collection, so it seemed like a reasonable choice. We secured a permit to start up the lower portion of the Mt Evans road at 7am, which begins at about 10,600′ and winds its way over 9 miles to the trailhead at Summit Lake, elev. 12,850′, where the road to the summit proper is gated. From the parking area, it’s apparent one could hike directly up the steep northeast shoulder of the mountain, but the official trail – likely once a use trail that later gained official status – loops around to the west of Summit Lake, up and over Mt Spalding (13,852′), and then south and eastward up Evans’ west ridge to the top in about 3 miles. We left the truck about 7:45am and ambled north a few hundred yards to a notch between Spalding to the west and Mt Warren to the east – here, we found a wonderful view north to the Chicago Lakes area far below. We then started hiking up the steep trail that climbs the length of Spalding’s east ridge, gaining about 1,000′ in just 0.8 miles – we took our time going up this section, frequently stopping to make sure we were on the correct one of many threaded paths up the slope. Eventually, we neared the rounded summit of Spalding and got our first views of the saddle below to the south – after crossing Spalding’s high point, we’d lose about 200′ down to the saddle and immediately gain it back as we started up Evans. We made good progress climbing out of the saddle until the 13,800′ level, where the trail devolved into a talus/boulder rock hop for the next mile plus – this section was not technical in the least but it was quite tedious, more from the continuous route finding than anything. We pressed on, feeling the elevation for sure but rewarded with awesome views over Abyss Lake to Mt Bierstadt, another 14er just to the south. The west ridge actually leveled out as we neared the parking area, only to be followed by a set of aggravatingly-long switchbacks up to the summit. At the top, we found several other hikers, most of whom we’d spotted above us as we climbed, and we both scrambled up the airy summit block to claim the high point – as Jane scooted off the rock, her daypack got hung up on a lip of stone, humorously stranding her there with her feet not quite touching the ground below her, and Chris had to come help her down. It was sunny and warm at the top, a light breeze keeping it from being excessively hot, and we hung out for a while enjoying the gorgeous views. As we prepared to depart, we decided that a downclimb of our ascent route didn’t sound all that fun, and we opted to hike back 5 miles on the road instead. Though long and a bit monotonous, the route afforded us new views to the south that had previously been obscured, so that was nice. At a few points, we walked cross-country to cut some distance off the longer switchbacks of the road, and we eventually found ourselves on the long straightaway leading northwest to Summit Lake. In all, the loop was nearly 8-1/2 miles and took us almost 7 hours, about 90 minutes of that spent resting or verifying the route. Once back to the truck, we cruised down the hill to the busy I-70 freeway, and joined the hundreds of other rush hour drivers heading west. This was a wonderful hike, not only for the accomplishment of hiking a 14,000+’ peak but for exposure to the alpine environment and the experience of route-finding/scrambling above timberline as well. More of this to come.