Rocky Mountain High

Posted byTrail RockerPosted inUncategorized

This morning Barbara and I took the cog-train to the top of Pikes Peak.  Pikes Peak is my favorite place in the entire world.  I have been to the top every way a person can.  I have taken the cog-train up, twice now, I have driven up and down the road more times than I can remember and I have even climbed the peak twice.  In addition, I have ridden in a limousine to the top with my mom and one brother.  What a ride.  Back in 1975 and 76, I even worked the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, on July 4th, with my cousins.  Great memories!   

When we arrived at the summit this morning I was so excited that the wind and the cold didn’t bother me.  At the summit the temperature was 25 degrees with a wind chill of 5 degrees, but I hardly noticed.  I walked around the summit like I was walking on air.  I felt at home as this is a place that always makes me feel that “Rocky Mountain High”.  I took several photos, marveled at the views and then went into the summit house to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate with Barbara before the return trip to Manitou Springs.  The trip to the summit is almost nine miles long, with an elevation gain of 1.5 miles and at one point the train climbs a slope of 25 degrees.  The train uses between 60 and 70 gallons of diesel during its accent of the peak and less than one gallon on the decent back to Manitou Springs.  I know that I am getting up in the years, but there is still that young man in me that hopes someday soon I will get the chance to scale the summit one more time.  Back at the trailer I think to myself, when will I get the chance to go back to that place where I most feel at home?         

Our train at the Manitou Springs Station.
Reflecting in my photo.
The Manitou Springs station.
The summit in view.
Big Horn Sheep.
The song America the Beautiful was written after a visit here.
In the lower right of this photo you can see the Cripple Creek/Victor gold mine. This is the richest gold mine in the state of Colorado. This mine opened in 1890 and today it still extracts approximately 1,000 pounds of gold per day. The ore is in altered and brecciated volcanic and volcanoclastic rocks of Oligocene age and predominantly quartz latite composition. The Cripple Creek volcanic complex is surrounded by Precambrian gneiss, granite, and quartz monzonite. The gold occurs as disseminated micrometer-size free gold and as gold-silver tellurides, or telluride minerals. Gangue minerals include pyrite, quartz, and fluorite.
The continental divide in the distance with a frozen lake in the foreground.
The continental divide in the distance.
The new summit house. It’s only been open since July.
Our train at the summit.
This is a welcome site when climbing the peak. It lets you know you made it. The feeling of accomplishment is amazing.
The last few feet of Barr Trail before reaching the summit.
The previous generation of cog-train. I rode this train in 1974.
Their 26 ton snow plow.

Published by Trail Rocker

I am a retired professional geologist who loves hiking, photography and travelling with my lovely wife Barbara.

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