These 2 14ers are right outside Denver, so it was an easy drive. In the summer, you can drive all the way to the top of Mt Evans. This time of year, the road is closed about a mile below the top at Summit Lake. On Monday they are closing the entire road for the winter. You can still hike it, but the route is much longer.
Our route was 8.25 miles and took us 9 hours to complete. We didn't walk slow at all, we just purposely took the more difficult route along the ridge which resulted in a lot of scrambling up and down rocks. Most of the day was spent on class 3 scrambles, and although that took time it made the trip a lot more fun versus just pounding out the mileage. We parked at Summit Lake, hiked up to a saddle below Mt Evans and then descended into the valley between the 2 peaks. We hiked up to the ridge and followed it all the way up to Mt Bierstadt. From Bierstadt we crossed the "sawtooth" and then followed the ridge all the way over to Mt Evans before returning to our car.
We had some good theological discussions along the way. We also quoted lines from the movies The Princess Bride and the Three Amigos and each gave our thoughts on Lost. We even got our own flyby from 2 F-16s. As we traversed the ridge approaching Mt Evans, 2 F-16s "buzzed the tower" and flew right over us. We could see one of the pilots in the cockpit - that's how close they were. Due to the time, we safely assumed they were part of the flyby for the Air Force - Navy game. It was pretty cool to be on top of the world and get buzzed by 2 F-16s.
Setting out - sunrise illuminating Mt Bierstadt, route we descended
Route taken off Mt Evans road down to valley
Scrambling up to the ridge that we followed to Mt Bierstadt
Photos from Mt Bierstadt summit, looking at the sawtooth route
The sawtooth (1-2), looking back at the sawtooth (3-6), misc pictures
I had a lot of fun on this trip. I didn't feel uncomfortable at any point due to the exposure or terrain. The pictures make it look a lot more difficult then it really is. I would recommend this route to anyone who wants to have some fun on otherwise easy and straightforward peaks.