Sunday Drive

[dreinecke]

Took the fetching Mrs. Reinecke back to Mt. Evans so we could finish what we started now that the road was back open.

On the way out of town we bumped into my buddy Trip that I've talked about here before. How did I know it was him - his Plum Crazy 1970 T/A Challenger, of course! He was on his way to a car show. This is an original 340-Six Pack car.





A few of the locals on Mt. Evans:





Mt. Evans is the highest paved road in N America and also boasts the highest Observatory in N America:





I like to hike so I did the last part and got to this:



From the top:



There were a few great mountain lakes. I don't know the temp of the water but I can tell you that it was cold!





And we stopped at this cool bristlecone pine grove:





Mt. Evans is also a BIG testing ground for all auto manufacturers. I saw 2 disguised Maserati, 3 Mercedes Benz - including an S Coupe.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

When I was a cross-country surveyor, we sought those USGS and NOAA benchmark elevations for at least a half day, in order to set our elevations for the entire job, which might cover dozens of square miles and thousands of topological shots. It was amazing how accurate they were, unless there was a pasture around, because cows get a big thrill from mushing the concrete monuments that hold the benchmarks in place. We always knew, because the ones that were disturbed were always at a strange angle off vertical. We never saw the cows shoving them around, but anytime the monuments were off, there was always cattle nearby. Rarely, they are set in living rock, like the one you photo'd. I would bet that the one you pictured is "dead-on-balls" accurate. No cows!

[HomeRacingWorld]

Wonderful photos. Thanks sir!

[munter]

Beautiful scenery. That is one high road, about twice the altitude of our highest road in NZ.

I have often wondered what the "six pack" refers to on the 340, can you enlighten me?

[Rleog]

Is the distant haze due to the fires further west?

[btaylor]

[Audi1]

Nice! I'd like to fish that lake/stream!

Allan

[munter]

Thanks Bob....that clears that mystery up for me very nicely.

[hillbilly]

Awesome pics thanks for posting. A trip out west is on my bucket list. Pictures like that keep the fire burning. Thanks Terry

[dreinecke]

That is smoke from the western fires, sadly. I hope they get those out soon. It hung low though and stayed at about 11k in altitude or lower. It was clear at 14k.

Here's a few more pics:







Small waterfall: