Monday, September 1, 2008

Pikes Peak

Ok... so we have lived here for 7+ years now and have never taken the time to go to the top of Pikes Peak (14,000 ft) so on Saturday we loaded up the van, and headed up the mountain, It's about a 3 hour round trip up and back, and I have to admit that I got a little nervous after we got to about 12,000 ft. the drop off from the road was a LONG way down.




Once we go to the top you could definitely tell that the air was a LOT thinner, even for us who are used to breathing at 6,500 feet. The brochure that they gave us said that at that altitude you were breathing 1/2 the oxygen that you get at sea level.




The view was spectacular, It was kind of disconcerting to see some of the clouds floating below you... the were also some amazing cloud formations, that looked totally different from where we were at.




There is a gift shop at the top (of course there is) we learned that they get over 500,000 visitors a year, and since it was a Holiday weekend there was probably 100+ people there, we got some doughnuts and fudge, as a reward for making the trip.






I took some pictures but they don't do any justice to the magnitude and grandeur of the view.



If you get out this way, it's definitely worth the trip, we plan on going back in October to see the Autumn leaves on the way up... to bad we've missed it all these years.

3 comments:

Tricia said...

What fun... love the pics! We'll definitely need to do that next time we come out!

Mirm said...

1/2 the oxygen you say. I feel that way just climbing up and down my stairs. I used to be in shape when I had brothers close by that I wrestled to the ground. Now is the time to preserve my oxygen. Glad you made it though!! What in the world would you of blogged about?

Rachel said...

wow - that place is breathtaking