Saturday, July 25, 2009

Day 40: Aurora, CO

Today was set to be our first day in a while as real tourists. First stop? Mount Evans

Mt Evans is the highest paved road in North America, a staggering 14,264 feet above sea level. Dave and Pickle were worried about our getting altitude sickness, but were optimistic that our weeks of acclimating to Denver's 5000 foot elevation would help. We loaded extra clothing and water into the car (dehydration exacerbates altitude sickness symptoms) and set off.

From the interstate, we saw something that resembled a UFO.

We started at just about 7,600 feet. At 10,000 feet we turned onto Mt Evans Rd and started the real climb. At 12,800 feet we stopped at Summit Lake to take pictures.

Dave and Pickle were like mountain goats, and flew all over the rocks.

Jillian and I were a little slower, not really having proper footwear and for the first time noticing a distinct shortness of breath.

The first lake behind us was just over a thousand feet below us.

We also noticed a little kid having serious trouble with the altitude, and throwing up near the bathroom. After making sure she was getting some attention, we got back in the car and drove upward.

Another 1400 feet higher up, we pulled into the parking lot. It was very foggy and windy. We took shelter at the ruins of the Crest House.

The ruins had been a gift shop and restaurant for some time, and at one time had been the highest building in the world. It had caught fire in a propane explosion and burned down.

We also caught sight of a Marmot.

We actually saw quite a few cyclists climbing this road, which we thought was very impressive. Never were able to snap a picture, though.

Just as we were about to climb the last few steps to the top of the summit a park ranger came out to let us know lightning was in the area. We retreated to the car, just in time for hail.

After the hail had cleared off, we started back down the mountain, spotting cyclists who had apparently climbed through the hail.

On the ride back down we decided that if we weren't going to be able to finish our actual trip to Oregon, we'd settle for riding the tandem up to the top of Mt Evans, even if it took us all day.

We returned to Denver just in time to go to a Rockies game. The seats were less than $10 a piece, making this the least expensive fun activity we'd done all trip. They even let us bring our own snacks into the stadium, meaning Jillian spent the entire game downing pistachio nuts.

Then it was back to Dave and Pickle's house, since they needed to get some sleep for their plane trip the next morning. Dave and Pickle were leaving for Guatemala in the morning and we were lucky we'd been able to make it to Denver before they left. We'd be dropping them off at the airport and then house sitting for a while while the bike was broken. At the same time it was a sad reminder that we hadn't made it to Pickle's house nearly as fast as we wanted.

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