Mount Evans Scenic Byway

The Mount Evans Scenic Byway approaching the summit

The Mount Evans Scenic Byway begins at the junction of Interstate 70 and State Highway 103 near Idaho Springs, Colorado and continues on State Highway 5 through a corridor between the Mount Evans Wilderness where it ends near the summit of Mount Evans. The byway is 28 miles (45 km) in length and gains over 7,000 feet (2,100 m) of elevation. Achieving a final elevation of 14,130 feet (4,310 m), this is the highest paved road in North America.

The road was originally planned by the Denver Mountain Parks system to link Summit Lake Park and Echo Lake Park to their lower altitude parks in the foothills. As originally planned, the road ran from Bergen Park near Evergreen to Echo Lake, and then to the summit, while the road from Echo Lake down into Chicago Creek Canyon was a secondary branch. From the start, the road was planned in terms of the scenic vistas along the way.^[1] The route was set by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and for a while, between 1915 and 1920, it was to be the primary access road for a proposed National Park comprising much of what is now the Mount Evans Wilderness Area.^[2]

Entrance sign explaining fee structure.

There is a park fee charged if using parking lots and facilities along the upper portion of the byway. Prior to 2012, the Forest Service was charging anyone entering the highway at the entrance to Highway 5.^[3] This portion of the byway is often narrow, with sudden dropoffs that have no guardrails. It is typically only accessible from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, although the amount of access and specific dates vary depending on the weather and road conditions.

This route was designated a National Forest Scenic Byway on July 1, 1993 by the US Forest Service and has also been designated a Colorado Scenic Byway by the Colorado Department of Transportation.

References

↑ J. E. Murphy, A Motor Road on the Skyline of America, Popular Mechanics Vol XXXI,(1919); page 280.
↑ William Wyckoff, Creating Colorado: The Making of a Western American Landscape, 1860-1940, Yale University, 1999; pages 85-86
↑ http://www.9news.com/news/local/article/276449/346/Mount-Evans-amenity-fee-dropped-for-those-not-using-facilities

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mount Evans Scenic Byway.

Protected areas of the State of Colorado

Federal

National Parks	Black Canyon of the Gunnison Great Sand Dunes Mesa Verde Rocky Mountain

National Monuments	Browns Canyon (BLM-USFS) Canyons of the Ancients (BLM) Chimney Rock (USFS) Colorado Dinosaur Florissant Fossil Beds Hovenweep Yucca House

National Recreation Areas	Arapaho (USFS) Curecanti

National Historic Sites	Bent's Old Fort Sand Creek Massacre

National Historic Trails	Old Spanish Trail Oregon Trail Pony Express Trail Santa Fe Trail

National Scenic Trail	Continental Divide Trail

National Forests	Arapaho Grand Mesa Gunnison Pike Rio Grande Roosevelt Routt San Isabel San Juan Uncompahgre White River

National Grasslands	Comanche Pawnee

National Wilderness	Black Canyon of the Gunnison Black Ridge Canyons Buffalo Peaks Byers Peak Cache La Poudre Collegiate Peaks Comanche Peak Dominguez Eagles Nest Flat Tops Fossil Ridge Great Sand Dunes Greenhorn Mountain Gunnison Gorge Holy Cross Hunter-Fryingpan Indian Peaks James Peak La Garita Lizard Head Lost Creek Maroon Bells-Snowmass Mesa Verde Mount Evans Mount Massive Mount Sneffels Mount Zirkel Neota Never Summer Platte River Powderhorn Ptarmigan Peak Raggeds Rawah Rocky Mountain National Park Sangre de Cristo Sarvis Creek South San Juan Spanish Peaks Uncompahgre Vasquez Peak Weminuche West Elk

National Conservation Areas	Dominguez-Escalante Gunnison Gorge McInnis Canyons

National Wildlife Refuges	Alamosa Arapaho Baca Browns Park Monte Vista Rocky Flats Rocky Mountain Arsenal Two Ponds

BLM ACECs	66 Areas of Critical Environmental Concern

State

Colorado State Parks	Arkansas Headwaters Barr Lake Bonny Lake Boyd Lake Castlewood Canyon Chatfield Cherry Creek Cheyenne Mountain Crawford Eldorado Canyon Eleven Mile Elkhead Golden Gate Canyon Harvey Gap Highline Lake Jackson Lake James M. Robb - Colorado River John Martin Reservoir Lake Pueblo Lathrop Lone Mesa Lory Mancos Mueller Navajo North Sterling Paonia Pearl Lake Ridgway Rifle Falls Rifle Gap Roxborough San Luis Spinney Mountain St. Vrain Stagecoach State Forest Staunton Steamboat Lake Sweitzer Lake Sylvan Lake Trinidad Lake Vega Yampa River

Colorado Natural Areas	Aiken Canyon Ant Hill Antero-Salt Creek Arikaree River Badger Wash Blacks Gulch Blue Mountain Bonny Prairie Boston Peak Fen Boulder Mountain Park Boulder Valley Heronry Brush Creek Fen California Park Castlewood Canyon Chalk Bluffs Colorado Tallgrass Prairie Comanche Grassland Copeland Willow Carr Cross Mountain Canyon Daves Draw Deep Creek Deer Gulch Dinosaur Ridge Dome Rock Droney Gulch Duck Creek Dudley Bluffs East Lost Park East Sand Dunes Elephant Rocks Elk River Escalante Canyon Escalante Creek Fairview Fourmile Creek Fruita Paleontological Garden Park Fossil Gateway Palisade Geneva Basin Iron Fens Gothic Gunnison Gravels Haviland Lake High Creek Fen High Mesa Grassland Hoosier Ridge Hurricane Canyon Indian Spring Indian Springs Trace Fossil Irish Canyon Jimmy Creek Ken-Caryl Ranch Kremmling Cretaceous Ammonite Lake Pasture Lake San Cristobal Limestone Ridge Lookout Mountain Lost Park Lower Greasewood Creek McElmo Mexican Cut Mini-Wheeler Miramonte Reservoir Mishak Lakes Moosehead Mountain Mount Callahan Mount Callahan Saddle Mount Emmons Iron Fen Mount Goliath Narraguinnep Needle Rock North Park Phacelia Orient Mine Owl Canyon Paradise Park Park Creek Hogback Park Mesa Pawnee Woodlands Pyramid Rock Rabbit Valley Rajadero Canyon Raven Ridge Redcloud Peak Rocky Mountain Woodfrog Pond Rough Canyon Roxborough Running Creek Ryan Gulch Saddle Mountain San Miguel River Sand Creek Shell Duck Creek Shell Rock Slumgullion Earthflow South Beaver Creek South Boulder Creek South Cathedral Bluffs Specimen Mountain Staunton Tabeguache Tamarack Ranch Tern Island Treasurevault Mountain Trinidad K-T Boundary Two Buttes Unaweep Seep Uncompahgre Fritillary Wacker Ranch West Creek Wheeler Geologic White Rocks Williams Creek Yanks Gulch/Upper Greasewood Creek Natural Area Zapata Falls

State Wildlife Areas	307 Colorado State Wildlife Areas

Other

Trails	American Discovery Trail Colorado Trail Continental Divide Trail Great Divide Trail Kokopelli Trail Paradox Trail Tabeguache Trail

Colorado Department of Natural Resources (web)

Mount Evans Scenic Byway

See also

References

External links