Adventures of Colorado Kate: Mount Evans with Love

The other day I went to a funeral and the husband gave the most loving and moving eulogy.  It made me think about what would Jace say about me and it made me laugh.  The first thing that you should know is I come up with epic fail dates.  I really excel at them.  I will drag him  to the sidewalk chalk festival and it's a crowd and it's a cluster, and it's hot and by the end everyone is angry.  So I think about what he would say, "UGH....Kate would drag me around and it was always so awful."  Hey I tried, and he knows that.

Lately, life has run me down and not because of anything bad happening, just not having a break from the hustle of life.   And so for the holiday weekend my kids went off to the country with grandma, and Jace and I had a break.  So I decided we would have an adventure day.  We started kayaking in the morning and ended up on top of Colorado's #14 tallest 14er.  A 14er is any mountain that is 14,000 feet or taller than sea level.  

I've hiked 4 of these and they are brutal.  Although the trails themselves aren't that hard (it should be noted  I've done the "easier" ones, but others I haven't been on are real brutal), the thin air makes everything so difficult.  Usually, towards the top, I have to keep breaking to get air into my lungs.  But Mount Evans you can drive to the top and it made me realize it would be a great way to introduce Jace to a 14er.  So on our adventure day we headed up to Mount Evans.  

The road to Mount Evans is America's highest road.  It is only open in the summer, and this year it opened Memorial Day weekend.  Depending on the weather, it will close approximately Labor Day.  I'm not going to lie, it's a little dicey for my tastes.  It's narrow and unforgiving at points.  But if you aren't driving, the outlooks are simply breathtaking.  Careful not to fall off the road, we made it to the top.  At this point, we were in hurricane-force winds.  This is the point Jace gives me the look.  The look that says, "Seriously, why are we doing this?  What have you gotten us into?"  With an annoyed sigh, he said, "UGH.  Are we going to the top????"  Ummmm....yes.

We got our winter gear on, hiking boots, leashed up our dog Lucy, and headed for the short hike to the summit.   The wind was fierce and the trail was solid ice.  I'm not going to lie, Jace was annoyed and I knew we were on our way to having another epic fail date under our belt.  We saw a mountain goat on our short hike up, which helped combat against this being a solid loss.   The thing about the summit is that you just simply will not see views of Colorado like that anywhere else.  When we got to the top, Jace couldn't even believe it and then my hope may have come to fruition and he saw my love of 14ers.  Of the 4 other 14ers I've done, I think Mount Evans has the prettiest view.  You can see the Front Range, Pikes Peak, the valley by Fairplay, the Collegiate mountains, the view just goes on and on.  As the sun set, the mountain ranges just lit up and we were so lucky to see the show.

We got back in the car, this time Jace in the driver seat and headed down.  I asked him if he liked it and he said, "Yes that was really cool!"  I shrieked.  Yes!  This would not be an epic fail date and hopefully, a love of 14ers was born so I can drag him to more places around the world. 

Jace had to walk Lucy because the strong winds and ice combined with my klutziness was a recipe for disaster.

Although I am a professional photographer, I am a horrible at selfies. It is what it is.

Thanks lady from Austin.

I love Jace. I told him to sit on that ledge, forgetting he had a fear of heights. I'm starting to understand more why we have epic fail dates.

This is the shadow Mount Evans was casting and it was so cool to see.

I will call this the road to heaven, because Jace drove a little too fast up it, while I was screaming, "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!" I'm super calm and cool like that.