Pikes Peak & Garden of the Gods

Jim really wanted me to drive up Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs so we did so. The scenery was beathtaking. I think Pike's Peak is just over 14000 feet. Here is a description from Wikipedia.com: It is named for Zebulon Pike, an explorer who led an expedition to the southern Colorado area in 1806. At 14,115 feet (4,302 m)[1], it is one of Colorado's 54 fourteeners. Drivers race up the mountain in a famous annual race called the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. An upper portion of Pikes Peak is a federally designated National Historic Landmark.

I love seeing Aspen trees in the forground. How about this with the mountain in the distance!

We went way above this elevation sign. We think we were at 13000 ft or better, when we turned around.

Part of the way up, the road is dirt until you get into the "alpine" area which is above the tree line and then the road is paved again.

Here we are going higher on the dirt road, soon to get to the alpine area!

This is the road in the alpine area. There is snow on the side of the road and when you drive around a turn the wind & rain hits with some force,

This is part of the view from the road in the previous photo.

This is looking back at the hairpin turns we came up in the Jeep. You have to look closely to see the road as a ribbon below. It was here that I freaked out, having this "height problem". I just was very afraid. The visuals were just so frightening for me. Jim did a three point turn on this road to take me back down off this mountain, thank goodness. I had to hide my head while he turned the Jeep around. We were very close to the parking lot of the furthest, if we had only known. I guess it was just around the next turn. Due to a snow storm the night before, we were not allowed all the way to the summit. They had everyone turn around at about 15 Miles, 2 miles short of the summit. This is a close-up shot of the raod as it makes a hairpin turn, going back down the mountain.

Jim is throwing a snowball at the Jeep & me. This is just back into the timberline coming down.

This is me at Glen Cove, a lodge part of the way up the mountain. They had a cafe inside along with lots of souveniers.

One of these scenes whichshows one of several lakes, which can be seen from the top.

Here is another article from Wikipedia: The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), also known as the The Race to the Clouds, is an annual automobile and motorcycle hillclimb to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, a distance of 19.99 km (12.42 miles) over 156 turns, climbing 1,439 meters (4,721 ft) from the start at Mile 7 on Pikes Peak Highway at 2,862 meters (9,390 ft) on grades averaging 7% over both gravel and paved sections. (Note: You could find a movie of this on Youtube.)

Garden of the Gods

Now to show you some of the red rock formations in the Garden of the Gods, which is near Pike's Peak. It reminds me of the red rock in southern Utah, especially Zions Park.

This is near the entrance & called, "Balancing Rock."

How do you like the angles these rocks have? They look like they will slide down at any minute!

This particular rock reminds me of Needles National Park near Mount Rushmore!

They don't show very well but these rocks are very narrow & thin & stacked together.

This is one of the park's signature rock formation called "Kissing Camels." Can you figure out why? Along the road to and from Pikes peak are some more spectacular red rock formations. The whole area has a unique atmosphere.