08/19/17 - Day 138 - Denver, CO - Pikes Peak
My friend and I took a day to visit the summit of Pike Peak, a well known fourteen thousand foot mountain about two hours south of Denver, just outside Colorado Springs.
There are a couple of ways to reach the summit, on foot, by car, or by train. We took a car to the top which involved a slow, windy drive. The road was a little more reassuring than the one leading up to Mount Evans as this one actually had some guardrails and fewer sheer drops immediately following a hairpin switchback.
Besides the views, Pike's Peak is well know for a couple of races - a death defying rally race where cars fly up and down the same road I averaged about 15mph on and a marathon where runners run up to and down from the peak. The marathon took place the day we visited. It probably would have taken me a day to walk up the trail leading to the peak - I have no idea how anyone could run up it.
Pikes Peak was also the inspiration for the song "America the Beautiful."
The video here is a decent representation of the panoramic view from the peak.
As per usual, we had more marmot sighting near the peak.
Also ran across some mountain sheep on the way back down.
Snow can fall anytime of the year at the peak, but luckily we ran into a bright, sunny day. I probably could have gotten away with wearing shorts, but why press it?
There are a couple of ways to reach the summit, on foot, by car, or by train. We took a car to the top which involved a slow, windy drive. The road was a little more reassuring than the one leading up to Mount Evans as this one actually had some guardrails and fewer sheer drops immediately following a hairpin switchback.
Besides the views, Pike's Peak is well know for a couple of races - a death defying rally race where cars fly up and down the same road I averaged about 15mph on and a marathon where runners run up to and down from the peak. The marathon took place the day we visited. It probably would have taken me a day to walk up the trail leading to the peak - I have no idea how anyone could run up it.
Pikes Peak was also the inspiration for the song "America the Beautiful."
The video here is a decent representation of the panoramic view from the peak.
As per usual, we had more marmot sighting near the peak.
Also ran across some mountain sheep on the way back down.
Snow can fall anytime of the year at the peak, but luckily we ran into a bright, sunny day. I probably could have gotten away with wearing shorts, but why press it?
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