THE HIGHEST PAVED ROAD IN NORTH AMERICA

This past April I was fortunate enough to fly to Colorado, a trip that I have been wanting to take for several years. My fascination with Colorado has a lot to do with the mountains. I have been dying to see the Rockies, and that is exactly what I did. I arrived late Thursday night, hit up a drive thru for some grub and settled in for a good night sleep. Early the next morning I did a bit of shopping and then set my GPS to take me to Mount Evans. The drive is about an hour from Denver but it is well worth it. 30 minutes in you begin to see the gorgeous view, you drive through what appears to be a distant planet. As you drive further, enormous rocky formations begin to surround you. The houses become fewer and fewer and the ones left are located atop of cliffs and hills, simply incredible. Finally you arrive at the base of the mountain where there is a small town called Idaho Springs. This is the last stop for gas and food before you embark on your climb.

Then it begins, you start driving on a narrow road that keeps getting higher and higher and higher. Within 10 minutes you are half way up and you can definitely notice. The air gets thin and the cliffs get steep, some curves have railing but most of them don’t. It gets to a point where any distraction can send you right off the side and trust me when I say that no one will find you. This is the highest paved road in North America, and it is a narrow two way road at that. Another 15 minutes and I arrive at a point that claimed to be 14,000 feet above sea level. I parked the car on the side of a beautiful cliff and proceeded to walk to a clear curve so that I could take a shit load of pictures. A 20 yard walk felt like a 20 mile walk, I was out of breath but once again it was well worth it. The silence was addicting, I felt like I could live up there and never go back down. This is one spot that I know is special, I could feel it and I know that I will be going back.