Peak Summits & Tornados

First things first: did you know that the plural of "tornado" can end in "dos" or "does"? I've chosen the former in the name of efficiency.

Anyway, much to my chagrin, I never wrote the final installment of my Western escapades. I had previously ended with my arrival to Jackson, Wyoming. Which WAS sort of the end, but I tacked on one more chapter... the highest paved road in North America: Mount Evans. 

You can read about it here.

So why mention it? Well, for one, I meant to discuss it yesterday on the two-year anniversary. But, also... I recently discovered something unbelievable. 

Quick backstory: On my descent down Mt Evans I passed a cyclist accident. In writing about it after the fact, attempting to provide my readers with closure, I performed a google search including things like "evans" "accident" and the date I was on the mountain "july 28". No news on the cyclist (which is probably good news), but non-cyclist news was HUGE!

Get this: on July 28, 2012 there was a TORNADO on the mountain. The second-highest ever recorded tornado (at 11,900 feet) in US history (missing this highest ever recorded by only 100 feet). UNBELIEVABLE!

According to the National Weather Service, the tornado touched down at 2:51 pm, so I was off the mountain long before that (I had woken at 5am specifically to avoid afternoon weather on the mountaintop)... but crazy to think if I had gotten a late start, and was basically stuck on the mountain on a bicycle with a tornado nearby! Yeesh!

So here is the tornado:

I biked on that road just a few hours earlier.

Link to the news coverage.

And here is a map from the National Weather Service pinpointing where the tornado touchdown occurred. Compare that to the Google Earth image from my actual GPS data... holy crap.

Yeah, so that barren spot, about halfway up the image. At the base of that, on the left. That's where it was. And look at that road! No cover or protection anywhere! Yikes!

According to my GPS, I started my ride at 6:45am and total elapsed time (including breaks for food, photos, etc) was 6 hours and 13 minutes. So I was completely done by 1pm and elbow-deep in cheeseburger by probably about 1:15. By the time the tornado showed up (almost 3pm), I was probably back in Denver already. But still... that's today's lesson, kids: whether hiking or biking, plan to hit your summits EARLY to avoid weather & other potential problems.

Anyway, if you haven't yet - feel free to check out my Mt Evans story - it might be my single proudest accomplishment on my bike. I'll get back to the "here and now" tomorrow...