** This thread discusses the Content article: Pike's Peak **



Guard rails are good.
Especially at 14,000 feet.
Apparently the people that built the road to the top of Pike’s Peak thought guard rails
were optional. The drive to the top is extraordinarily
beautiful and I can see why it is the most visited mountain in North
America. As you drive up the narrow,
winding roads you get a sense of how small you are and how hard it must have
been for the pioneers crossing the Rocky Mountains. Our books teach us that Lewis and Clark left
their boats and many of their supplies behind, trades with the local Indians
for horses, and crossed the mountains on horseback. Looking across the landscape I wonder how a
horse could make it across. These are
some big mountains.






On the way up we passed a snow drift about 4 feet tall where
people were stopping to carve their names.
We also passed Devil’s Playground, a rock formation where lightning
tends to bounce around during thunderstorms.
Then came the treeline at 12,000 feet – no more trees. When we started the temperature was in the
80s. At the top – 34 degrees! When you reach the summit you’ll find a
lookout, of course, and a plaque explaining how Zebulon Pike discovered the
mountain (although he never actually made it to the top). There’s a gift shop and a small restaurant
where you can get a famous Pike’s Peak donut.
We got ours for free with this coupon. You can also hike on the boulders around the
summit. There are a couple of really interesting
places to go – one is a metal triangle on an outcropping. The boys had fun rubbing their hair then
holding their hands close to the railing and watching the spark jump from their
hands to the metal rail. They didn’t
realize at the time that they were essentially playing with lightning. A storm was brewing and the charge in the air
was really building up. Dangerous.




Not long after the boys made it back from their hike it
started to snow. I mean really
snow. As we made our way to the car a
local runner asked if we were heading down the mountain and if he could hitch a
ride to Devil’s Playground where his car was parked. He was about my dad’s age and dressed in
running tights and a lightweight jacket.
By that time it was freezing cold and snowing so hard that we could
barely see the road, so he climbed in the back of the van and we set off. Turns out our hitch-hiker was a marathon
runner doing some high altitude training for the upcoming Pikes Peak Marathon. His name was Bill. He was a retired Navy engineer who had once
lived in a Memphis suburb just 10 minutes from our home. Small world!
His grandchildren are homeschooled too and he had lots of great tips and
suggestions for our trip. The best tip
had to do with hiking in the area.




I didn’t feel very good on top of the mountain. In fact, I was so dizzy and my vision was so
blurred that I couldn’t hike with the boys.
I wasn’t sure if it was altitude sickness or my own illness, and I didn’t
want to say anything because I didn’t want to scare anyone. There were EMTs running around the gift shop,
so I figured if I passed out somebody would notice sooner or later. Earlier we had considered hiking from Devil’s
Playground to the summit. Thank God we
didn’t. For one thing, the longer we
were there the worse I felt, and it wasn’t just me. Later Mason got sick too. Halfway down the mountain we had to stop for
him to puke. If we had hiked up we would
have gotten caught in that snowstorm unprepared. Yuck. So,
although we were eyeing the trail on the way up saying, “Oh – we should have
done that,” we were glad we didn’t in the end.
Bill told us it was best not to
hike at altitude unless we’d had about 3 weeks to get acclimated. Later we tried an easy hike at about 8000
feet and again I had the same trouble.
Maybe I just hadn’t had enough time in the high country to hike, but it
wass so amazingly beautiful I just couldn’t help myself. I kept trying. My best experience…hiking the Flatirons. I’ll tell you about it soon.