- Location
- Colorado
- Current protection
- Mount Blue Sky Wilderness (Arapaho National Forest); Denver Mountain Parks
- Status
- No active campaign
- Tier
- Tier 2 · National Monument
- In the book
- Not featured in Undiscovered America
Why should it be a National Park?
Mount Blue Sky, long called Mount Evans, rises to 14,264 feet west of Denver, and the highest paved road in North America climbs nearly to its summit, past Summit Lake and through bristlecone pines that are among the oldest living things in Colorado. Mountain goats and bighorn sheep graze the tundra beside the road.
A century ago Denver wanted it as a National Park, and the Park Service's own inspector came back impressed. Renamed in 2023 to honor the Cheyenne and Arapaho, it deserves its place beside Rocky Mountain.
The history of National Park Campaigns
Denver pushed for a Mount Evans National Park from 1916 to 1919. Rep. Benjamin Hilliard and Denver Mayor Dewey Bailey sponsored the effort, bills went to Congress in 1916, and Horace Albright inspected the area in 1918 and wrote a favorable report. No further action followed, and the city built its own mountain park and a road to the summit instead.
- Distinct National Park attempts
- 1 (1916–1919)
- Other designation attempts
- 1 (1980 wilderness)
Sources
- National Park Service, Suggested Areas Resumes (1957)
- Wikipedia, List of proposed National Parks of the United States
- 1916
H.R. 9220 and S. 3587 are introduced, and on February 25 Rep. Benjamin Hilliard introduces H.R. 12276 for a Mount Evans National Park.
- October 1918
Horace Albright inspects the Mount Evans area and files a favorable report that December.
- July 1919
Director Stephen Mather conveys the report to Mayor Bailey; no further action follows.
- 1980
Congress designates the Mount Evans Wilderness.
- September 2023
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names renames the peak Mount Blue Sky.