There is a small irony in stopping at Evans on the way to Mount Evans. The town, on the South Platte River just south of Greeley, and the mountain west of Denver were both named for John Evans, the second territorial governor of Colorado. The mountain was officially renamed Mount Blue Sky in 2023, partly because Evans was governor when the Sand Creek Massacre took place in 1864, when US troops killed more than two hundred Cheyenne and Arapaho people, most of them women, children and old men. The town has kept its name.
Evans itself is a growing town of over twenty thousand people on the flat plains of Weld County, one of the richest agricultural counties in the country, with fields of corn, sugar beets and onions, cattle feedlots, and oil and gas wells. When the wind blows from the feedlots, you will know it. The South Platte runs along the eastern edge of town, lined with cottonwoods, and offers a bit of green in an otherwise dry and open landscape.
As a food stop, Evans and neighbouring Greeley offer a mix of American and Mexican food, from diners and burger joints to taquerias and family-run Mexican restaurants, reflecting the large Hispanic community that has worked in the region's farms and meatpacking plants for generations. A breakfast burrito smothered in green chile is a Colorado classic, and it will keep you going for hours.
The ride from here to Mount Blue Sky is a long one, across the plains to Denver and then up into the mountains. The road to the summit of Mount Blue Sky is the highest paved road in North America, climbing past timberline to over four thousand metres, with tight switchbacks, no guardrails in places and thin air that affects both rider and engine. It is usually open only from late spring to early autumn, and reservations have been required in recent years. Squaw Pass Road, now known by its new name, Juniper Pass Road, is another beautiful ride through forest.
Evans has fuel, supermarkets and all the services of a growing town. Fill up here, eat well and drink plenty of water; the altitude and the dry air at the top will dehydrate you quickly.