Despite living in Colorado for 12 years, we had not yet driven up the Mount Evans Scenic Highway as a family. With summer winding down I decided it was time to finally do this before winter set in (the road is only open a couple months each year in the mid to late summer).

I had once before taken a drive up to the summit with my older brother all the way back in 1997 when I was in college. Now twenty-six years later I wanted to take my family to the top to enjoy the scenery and the alpine wildlife, which frequently includes mountain goats, bighorn sheep, marmots, and pika.

We actually had more of an experience than we planned on. We hit a torrential downpour on the I-70 west of Denver that cleared up before we took the road south toward the mountain at Idaho Springs. Then we hit some of the thickest fog we’ve ever driven through. Still, like many others on the road that day, we carried on with a can-do spirit and had a really enjoyable time, even if we couldn’t see for a hundred miles.

We saw plenty of mountain goats and I took the short hike to the very top to get a photo of the very worn survey marker. When the clouds did part we had some fleeting vistas with impressive displays of light and cloud.

We made a fun video that’s included below.