Category: Colorado

The switchback road to the summit of Pikes Peak is owned and kept up by the City of Colorado Springs.  It's a toll road.  We paid and then a few miles further up, we noticed a booth on the other side with a line of cars.  We wondered if the City charged again for coming down.  The down booth, it turned out, is a brake check.  If you're overheated, a guy tells you to pull over until the brakes cool down.  Geoff knows how to drive in the mountains and didn't ride his brakes, so we didn't get busted.  We thought going down the switchback curves was less scary than going up. 

It's not too hospitable an atmosphere up there above the treeline, so I'm pretty sure people would have paid to get back down if they'd had to!  Only 60% of the oxygen available at sea level, plus snow, thunderstorms in the afternoons (possibilities of hail, wind, and lightning any time of the year).  The temperature rarely goes above 40.  (I think it was a little warmer the day we were there, but it was quite windy.) Here you can see the afternoon black clouds rolling in. 

Here are some things we learned about this 14,115 foot mountain.

 It isn't a National Park or monument.  A small upper portion was designated as a national historic landmark in 1961.    

• It was discovered by explorer Zebulon Pike, but he never made it to the summit.  Someone named Edwin James was the first to do so (in 1820).  

• Gold was discovered in the area in 1858 and "Pike's Peak or Bust" became the slogan of the Colorado gold rush. 

• There is an annual car race called "Pikes Peak International Hill Climb".  (Only two of the people in our car cared a thing about this race.  They sat in the front seat.  They were father and son.   The other two of us thought that the sharp curves were quite treacherous enough at safe speeds.) 

  Note:  In a comment on the original post, Geoff sent a link to a video of a car taking part in this race.  It was scary just to watch.