On Tuesday, we drove south to Colorado Springs. Our plans for the day consisted of Pike’s Peak and Garden of the Gods.

Pike’s Peak is called “America’s mountain”, because it is very accessible as you are free to drive all the way to the top. It is run by the city of Colorado Springs instead of the Federal government, which is a bit unusual for an attraction of this nature.

There are three options for getting to the top of Pike’s Peak: 1) ride the cog railroad train 2) drive up 16 miles and then take a shuttle the last 3 miles 3) drive up all the way in your own vehicle. We opted for the third option, to drive all the way to the top in our Superduty Truck, and was it called into Super Duty today.

The elevation at the bottom of Pike’s Peak is 7800 feet; the elevation at the top is 14,115 feet. The temperature at the bottom, when we began our climb at 10 a.m. was 85 degrees; the temp at the top was 58 degrees. Before we could begin driving up, there was a booth where you had to stop for instructions (and to pay!). Some of the instructions were to make sure you had at least a half tank of gas, and to be sure to use the gears on the way down so as not to overheat the brakes. I’m pretty sure Joe already knew these things, but I guess they have to tell everyone that for safety.  

The 19-mile long road consisted of many narrow hairpin turns and a number of places where there was a very steep dropoff on the side with no guard rail. 

Was it scary? Here's what I was doing while Joe was driving:

We definitely felt more and more light-headed as we ascended to higher elevations. By the time we got to the top, we were dealing with headaches, queasiness, light-headedness, and noodle legs – all things that higher elevation will do to you. We walked around at the summit (very slowly) and took in all the amazing views. Interesting historical note: the view from the summit of Pike’s Peak is what inspired Katharine Lee Bates to write “America the Beautiful” in 1893. 

 

After spending about an hour at the top, we (and our lungs) were very ready to descend the mountain. About half way down, there is a mandatory stop to test the brakes. After you come to a complete stop, a park official comes out and puts her hand on the brakes to test the temperature. I guess if they’re too hot, they make you pull over for awhile and let the brakes cool down. We got the green light, though, as Joe again did a superb job of driving the truck shifting between gears so that he hardly touched the brakes.

 

After our trek up Pike’s Peak, we drove about 15 minutes to the Garden of the Gods. This magical, paradise-like setting is an amazing area where red sandstone rock formations rise out of the ground to towering heights, in various shapes and sizes, against a dramatic backdrop of Pike’s Peak and brilliant blue skies. Words can’t do it justice, so again, I’ll let the pics tell the story.

 

 

Pike's Peak in background

After we left Garden of the Gods, we headed back north. When we got to Denver, we stopped for a late lunch at what used to be one of our favorite restaurants when we lived there. It’s called Piccolo’s and it serves Italian and Mexican food. That seems like a strange combination, but we had always thought that it was some of the best Italian food and some of the best Mexican food that we had ever had. They did both well. And after 34 years, they’re still doing it well!