My Father and I decided to head to Mount Evans for this morning’s sunrise. We left town around 4:30am and it wasn’t until we were near Idaho Springs that we spotted a sign that said Mount Evans would be closed from 9am-2pm for a bike race. Knowing that we didn’t want to be rushed or compete with all the bicycle traffic, we kept driving to Loveland Pass. Arriving at the pass 30min later we started hiking along the Continental Divide towards one of the peaks. The views on top were spectacular and I was surprised to see so much snow! Normally this late in the Summer there would be only a few pockets of the white stuff but not this year. Along with the wonderful views we saw plenty of flowers (Alpine Sunflower, Skypilot, Blue Columbine etc) as well as abundant wildlife (Ptarmigan, Pika, Yellow bellied Marmot). Even though it was an extremely early morning the views and fresh air definitely made up for the lack of sleep.