Mt. Evans & Bierstadt Traverse
Mt. Evans is a unique place, not just in the United States but all over the world. The mountain itself is more of a gentle rolling hill with a rocky summit, but what makes it special is that you can actually drive to the very top. At an altitude of 14,000 feet (4,300 meters), this is an incredibly high road, and is easily the highest drivable road in all continents except for South America and Asia!
There are of course plenty of hiking trails that lead to the summit of Mt. Evans, but as I came here to acclimatize for another trip I took advantage of the easy access and slept at the summit in my car. The car camping wasn’t too bad, I had paid a bit more for a SUV and laid out in the back and was relatively comfortable. To my surprise there were giant moths that surrounded the vehicle at night, and some were so large that when I went outside they almost hurt when they flew into me. In the safety of my vehicle I went to sleep at the end of July, and woke up at 6am with frost over my windows. I took longer to get ready than I’d like to admit, and got this photo taken of me at the summit of Mt. Evans just below 7am. From here I started my misadventure, and this might be the only climb I’ve ever done where I started at the top of a mountain!
My goal was to do the Mt. Evans to Bierstadt traverse. Both of these mountains independently are among some of Colorado’s easiest 14,000 footers to climb. But the traverse makes things a bit more challenging since you’re nearly at 14,000 feet (4,300 meters) the entire time and have an exposed scramble. The first section involved descending from the summit on a class two trail that was pretty rocky and involved a short hop across a boulder every once in a while. Even though it was easy and there was lots of space, a mountain goat seemed to have left behind some fur here. I wonder if the summer heat made it hot enough that the goat intentionally used these rocks to help take a layer off.
After descending for a bit I came to this flat area that suddenly dropped off into a cliff to my left. This was probably the easiest part of the whole traverse, and after this ended it brought me into the crux of the climb which is the famous Sawtooth. The exposed rock face you see on the left is essentially the beginning of the Sawtooth, and is a class three exposed ridge.
Before I started the Sawtooth traverse, I got an excellent view of Bierdstadt. Bierdstadt barely tops 14,000 feet, and would be my fifth 14’er out of some 50+ that Colorado has to offer. They say that it takes nearly four hours to traverse from Mt. Evans to Bierdstadt, and for me this would be an eight hour day since I had to return back to my car. The views from here were so great that I took a stuck around a bit to do some photography, and was even joined by this marmot.
So my big regret of the Sawtooth was I didn’t take any photos except for this one above of my descent. In the photo below you can see the exposed cliff from a previous photo after I down climbed it. The scramble was pretty easy and straight forward, and I’d say for the most part the exposure was minimal. I’d agree however if you don’t have any climbing experience this may feel uncomfortable for some. Luckily for me I had done several class four and five climbs recently so this felt like a break from the normal routine. The only mistake I made on the traverse was I knowingly went the wrong way thinking it might be easier. The real route sticks to the ridge all the way to the left of the photo. Closer to the center there is some nice gentle green slopes that I thought I’d try to save time. I was able to fly through this terrain, but ultimately lost the benefit when they ended in some steep nearly vertical gullies. I almost turned around but was able to down climb from here and get back on the route.
It was this next decision that led to my misadventure of the day. There had been zero clouds in the sky, but after 9:30 they started to appear which I felt was a bit early and also against forecast. No surprise there! The main goal of Colorado 14’ers is to reach the summit no later than noon and that way by the time the daily afternoon lightning storms start rolling in you’ve already descended a safe distance down. In my case I’d easily make the goal of reaching Mt. Bierstadt by noon, but then I had the problem of climbing back up Mt. Evans to get my car and would be at altitude at a dangerous time. spending the next four hours going back up Mt. Evans, so I had to make a decision to turn around. I was very close to making a u turn but met two other climbers going the opposite direction. Their goal was to hit Mt. Evans which they would reach roughly the same time I’d reach Bierstadt. They suggested I summit Bierstadt and instead of doing the Sawtooth again simply descend to down that mountain and find their car. After they climbed Mt. Evans they would descend and easier route and should be at the car below Bierstadt only an hour after me and they could drive me back. It was an extremely generous idea, and after making sure they were okay with it I took it and continued with confidence of not being struck by lightning. I reach the summit of Bierstadt at roughly 10:30am. The photo I have of me above wasn’t too impressive, but this picture below shows the relatively crowded summit.
From the summit above, I started to descend to their car on an easy trail. For a short time after the summit the trail is a bit rocky but quickly changes into a class one. With the luxury of time, I was able to hang out with a pack of mountain goats I found further below the trail. There were about four of them and they seemed pretty indifferent to me and all the people hiking by.
I wish I took more pictures, but I found the descent down Bierstadt to be pretty beautiful. I was glad I came this way and had a chance to see some mountain at an altitude that supported trees and bushes. The dark green vegetation and small lakes and marshes were a bit unexpected for me. I reached the parking lot and their car at about 12:30 after a leisurely tow hour descent.
I knew I’d be earlier than them, but the problem was there was no way to tell how early or where they were along the route. In the photo above you can see Bierstadt on the right, and the drop to the left is the Sawtooth traverse. Their goal was to return from the grassy ridge on the far left on the photo. I had hoped with my zoom lens I’d be able to see them but never did. I had failed to tell them I had a flight that evening at 11pm, and after waiting several hours I began to get anxious. My stress was exacerbated when some locals told me that driving from here to Mt. Evans took nearly two hours, and that the easy descent the two had planned wasn’t so easy after all and might take them longer than they thought. I’d need two hours to get from here to Mt. Evans, then another two to get to the Denver airport, and ideally I’d be at the airport two hours prior to my flight. That total of six hours meant that I’d have to leave before 5pm, and once it hit 4:30 I was too stressed out to wait. For the first time in my life I had to hitchhike. I hated asking people for help but had no choice, and most were sympathetic but could not offered me a ride. At first I wasn’t so ambitious about asking, but finally I became desperate enough that I went to he side of the road and did the hitchhiking thumbs up.
Once I started this I found a ride almost immediately and made it all the way to Idaho Springs. I was a bit disappointed to find out that Idaho Spring wasn’t the same place where the road up Mt. Evans started, but a town I didn’t even recall driving through. From here I had trouble getting a ride, and after waiting 30 minutes I downloaded Uber but found there were no cars here. Luckily a short time later a wonderful local picked me up and offered to drive me two miles. I was worried about being in an area without service, but figured I should still be inching a long regardless. The good Samaritan changed his mind about two miles and said he’d drive me to the Mt. Evans entrance, and then summit lake, and then the next thing I knew he had taken me all the way to my car. Hitchhiking turned out to be rather efficient, and I reached my car before 6pm and no longer was worried about my flight. Although the situation was super stressful in the end I’m glad it happened. If I had turned around I would have missed out on the summit of Mt. Bierstadt and maybe even more importantly, wouldn’t have seen these mountain goats and bighorn sheep back on Mt. Evans when I returned!
