Mount Evans and Squaw Pass
4 passes in 195 km, topping out at 868 m
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Why this ride
A proper escape from Denver with roads worth waking up for. A 195 km loop that starts and ends near Denver, about 3 h 33 of riding. The highest point is about 1,850 m. The line favours views over speed.
Roadbook
- Denver
start
Denver earns its nickname honestly: one of the steps of the State Capitol is marked as exactly one mile above sea level, and from the city the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains fills the western horizon like a jagged wall. The city spreads across the high plains at the foot of the mountains, a big, sunny, sprawling place where the snowy peaks are visible from almost every street on a clear day.
It began as a gold rush town in 1858, when prospectors found traces of gold where Cherry Creek meets the South Platte River. The real riches came later, from silver, the railways and cattle, and the mining towns in the mountains, such as Georgetown, Idaho Springs and Central City, still show their Victorian origins. Today Denver is a busy modern city with good food, craft breweries and a lively centre around Union Station and the old Larimer Square.
The rides from here climb fast. Georgetown, an old silver mining town on Interstate 70, is the starting point for Guanella Pass, a scenic byway that rises above 11,000 feet before descending toward Grant. Golden Gate Canyon State Park lies just west of Golden, with winding roads through pine forest and meadows, and the road up Mount Evans, now officially renamed Mount Blue Sky, climbs to above 14,000 feet, one of the highest paved roads in North America. It has required timed-entry reservations in recent seasons, so check before you go.
Altitude changes everything. Bikes lose power as the air thins, riders tire faster and dehydrate easily, and the sun is fierce. In summer, afternoon thunderstorms build over the mountains with lightning and hail, so the golden rule is to be up high in the morning and down by early afternoon. The high passes may be closed from autumn to late spring, and snow can fall in any month above timberline. Interstate 70 into the mountains is heavily congested at weekends, especially on Sunday afternoons heading back to the city.
Denver has fuel, food and every service, and the suburbs to the west, around Lakewood and Golden, are good places to fill up before you head into the hills. Carry water and an extra layer: a hot day on the plains can be freezing at the top of the pass, and the weather can change within an hour.
- Evans
food
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.
- Denver finish