MT. EVANS.

on saturday i woke b up at 4 a.m.to head out to north america's highest paved road, which was one of the things on our summer to-do list!

see, the sign says it all. elevation: 14,260 feet. we should have taken notice of this before we were at the summit.

here it is: the road! so, i'm not going to lie. i groaned and screamed and acted nuts the entire way. i'm not a huge fan of heights and the road was so skinny, there were no guardrails and you could see where portions of the road had broken off and fallen into the valley. because, you know, the road is on the edge of a mountain. also, in a bunch of areas there was still ice on the road. DANGER!

and, you all, we saw three bikers and a runner hitting the pavement. i have no words for the fitness-obsessed people that live here.

it took about 30 minutes to get from the start of the park {that sign} to the very top. it was about 70 when we left denver at 4:40 a.m. at the summit at 6? 39. 39 degrees! i had packed a sweatshirt, which b had made fun of. neither of us were laughing when we got out of the car. the winds were raging at 50 miles per hour and we could see our breath. when i couldn't open the car door on my own, i realized we were very unprepared.

one of three photos i snapped at the top. amazing, right? we should have heeded the warnings on the sign. both of us were instantly affected by the complete lack of air and ran around the top like total whackos. literally, you could not breathe, the gusts was blowing even b around and while there are some walls up as wind protection it was a cyclone no matter where you stood. we were out there for approximately two minutes.

after a quick respite in the car, we jumped out and had another visitor shoot a photo. this was the best one. check that hair!

one of the reasons we got to mt. evans so early was because we read that the animals are out and about in the morning. they were right! we didn't see a mountain goat, but we saw a deer, a fox {walking on the highway at the base of the mountain} and this cute little guy! i rolled my window down and yelled "work it!" and he looked right at me. too cute. 

i think this shot of the helicopter illustrates how deep the mountain range goes. doesn't it look like we are in a foreign country?

and a win for self photography! just a couple of turns down from the summit and 20 degrees warmer and weather more supportive of a good hair shot.

mt. evans, i'd recommend it! just don't forget your snow jacket, winter hat and oxygen tank.