Mount Blue Sky Recreation Area & Scenic Byway

The Scenic Byway to Mount Blue Sky climbs over 7,000 feet in its 28-mile length, reaching an altitude of 14,130' feet. Idaho Springs serves as the starting point to the byway, which is the highest paved road in North America! This drive offers visitors scenic views of the Continental Divide, mountain goat and bighorn sheep herds, marmots, birds and apline wildflowers, and the Rocky Mountain Bristlecone Pine trees. The Mount Blue Sky Recreation Area offers easy access to Colorado’s inspiring high mountain environment. Take a short walk to the top of your first 14er! Overlook spectacular views of distant mountain peaks, alpine lakes and glacier valleys!  Walk amongst the oldest living organisms on earth! A drive to the top of Mount Blue Sky will take your breath away, in more ways than one!

The Scenic Byway to Mount Blue Sky is jointly managed with the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Improvements to a section of Mount Blue Sky Scenic Byway (Colo. Highway 5) will impact visitors in 2024 and 2025. Construction will begin in late July or early August 2024 with a temporary lane closure in the project area near Summit Lake. Visitors may experience traffic delays. Starting Sept. 3, 2024, through all of 2025, Mount Blue Sky Highway will be closed to motorized and non-motorized travel (foot, bike, etc.). A public closure area will span from the CDOT gate on Colo. Highway 5 through the project area, above Summit Lake. Access to the Mount Blue Sky summit will only be available from various hiking trails. The area will reopen, as conditions allow, on Memorial Day weekend 2026.

Mount Blue Sky History - Learn about the history of the mountain and the road.

In 2019, Clear Creek County supported petitions by the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and the Wilderness Society to change the name of Mount Evans, which was named after John Evans, the territorial governor of Colorado who authorized the Sand Creek Massacre. After two nation-to-nation consultations, the Board on Geographic Names voted in September 2023 to change the name to Mount Blue Sky. The new name holds significance to the Arapaho who were known as the Blue Sky People and to the Cheyenne who have an annual renewal of life ceremony called Blue Sky. Following the name change of the mountain, the Colorado Department of Transportation changed the name of the state highway to the Mount Blue Sky Scenic and Historic Byway. As of this printing, legislation to change the name of the Mount Evans Wilderness area has been introduced.

Watch this helpful video by Colorado Parks and Wildlife for important information to know before visiting Mount Blue Sky.

At a Glance