Path of the Month: Mount Evans by foot, not car |

Path of the Month: Mount Evans by foot, not car

When I crested Pikes Peak for the first time, sweaty, dirty and smelling like a tube sock forgotten in a duffel bag for weeks, the first person to greet me was a woman carrying a donut from the summit gift shop.

"You HIKED up that?" the woman said between bites. "You know you can drive up, right?"

The question struck me as a little sad. Mountains, I said, cannot, and should not, be experienced from a car window.

And yet, had I been standing on the summit of Mount Evans, I wouldn't blame her for asking it.

Mount Evans is the other 14er to offer a drive to the top, or close enough that it would definitely be cheating to say you've climbed it if you did it from your seat to the top. Evans may be one of the more famous mountains in Colorado, but it's also one of the strangest.

Pikes Peak offers two great routes, including the Barr Trail, one of the most unique 14er routes in Colorado. It's pretty, relaxed varied (and it's the only one that offers a place to buy Skittles halfway through the hike). I've done it three times and enjoyed it every time, despite running it once on a hot day.

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But the problem with Evans is there's no good way to get to the top. Evans, unlike Pikes, lacks a classic, easy-to-follow route to the summit. It's worth doing, of course, as of right now, it appears to be one of the few 14ers close to Denver that isn't on fire.

One of three possibilities is what I did on June 17. I did the Mount Evans Ascent. That's a run up the road to the summit.

I thought the race was fun. But I also know I'm a little weird. There are many other half marathons — and that's basically what the Evans Ascent is, even if it is a little longer at 14.5 miles — that don't make you climb 4,000 feet and start at 10,200 feet. Running this race just to bag a half marathon is like hunting for a great white shark just so you can say you've caught a fish.

Still, it is a way up Evans, and it is a beautiful route, if you don't mind the cars passing by you on the way to the summit.

No? OK. I don't blame you. You can do what I did my first time up Evans. That's the west ridge via Mount Spalding. You start that hike at Summit Lake, which was my favorite part of the race, and find the trail that winds up and over Mount Spalding. The trail to Spalding is straightforward, as long as you concentrate on staying on the path. But once you climb Spalding, you'll have to pick your way across segments of rock that somehow form a jigsaw puzzle that will dump you out on a hiker's path that winds you around to the tourist trail to the top.

The Spalding route isn't easy. It's not too hard, either, but you'll have to do some route finding, hunting for cairns and a bit of scrambling. I found it fun, but it's not a route that you'll want to attempt for your first 14er. Evans' sister peak, Bierstadt, is a much better choice for your first one.

I climbed Bierstadt, in fact, my second time up Evans, via the Sawtooth Ridge that connects the two peaks. The Sawtooth, once you scramble over the crux, dumps you out on that hiker's path and takes you to the tourist trail. I've always thought the Sawtooth was a bit overrated as far as a traverse goes. The four "classic" traverses between 14ers are all much harder, and Sawtooth is tougher than Longs but not by much. It's an enjoyable scramble and looks worse than it is. But the Sawtooth is not for beginners either. It's a route that's hard to find and offers some decent exposure and scrambling. It's also a nasty descent through some thick willows.

These are the three routes I've taken, and I think these are the best ways to head to the top. But there is no real "best" way. Maybe you'll find one on your way to the summit.

Dan England is the Adventure and NextNC editor for The Tribune. He can be reached at or (970) 392-4418.