Pikes Peak Drive & Hike - Colorado

[Sean]

On the last day of our holiday vacation, Cecelia wanted to visit Pikes Peak in the Southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The famous Pikes Peak Highway hosts an annual auto race from the base (7400') to the summit (14115'). Crazy speed demons can cover the 19-mile route in under ten minutes. But we spent a leisurely ninety minutes crawling up the road and making several stops along the way.







One of our stops included a short, high-altitude scramble in a subpeak area known as the devil's playground, where lightning apparently bounces from rock to rock during storms.







Shortly after the 18-mile marker, a ranger had blocked the final stretch to the summit due to high winds and subzero temps. So we didn't quite make it to 14000', but a designated vista point provided a nice, close-up view of the top.





On the drive down we stopped at the Glen Cove store, the highest gift shop in America.

[tekewin]

Cool shots. I'd really like to visit Colorado (in the summer). No altitude issues by driving up?

[CrazyHermit]

Man, those photos are beautiful. Did you get a new camera? Too bad you couldn't get to the summit.

[Sean]

No altitude issues by driving up?

No, we popped some Ibuprofen beforehand and stayed hydrated. The scrambling at 13k was exhausting due to poor fitness, altitude and near-zero wind chill.

[Sean]

Man, those photos are beautiful. Did you get a new camera?

Thanks. I've been using my Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX30 for awhile now. It takes good pictures in same light settings, but mixed light is a problem. I only take a cheap point-and-shoot these days because I have a tendency to drop my cameras, which happened again on this outing. But the Sony is water and shock proof up to 33 feet, so it has so far survived my abuse--much like Cecelia. (By that I mean Cecelia is water and shock proof up to 33 feet.)

My smartphone camera actually takes decent pics with brighter colors, but the Sony is needed for zooming.

Also, I resize my pics and rarely color-correct them, so you're not seeing these in their full glory anyway. I used to have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-SZ7 which took amazing pics for a cheap point-and-shoot. But it had some functional problems, namely it couldn't handle the amount of dust I exposed it to during mountain scrambles. I had to take it apart several times to clean dust off the lens. Eventually the lens wouldn't extend or retract. The Cyber-shot has a stationary lens inside the casing which must be manually slid open and shut. Basically, it's idiot-scrambler proof and has worked great for me so far.

[Girl Hiker]

Tekewin, surprisingly no elevation issues for me. Maybe the smooth road had alot to do with it. When I attempted White Mountain and drove up to 11,000 ft. from Bristlecone, I was so sick and it was a shorter drive. Driving on the Peaks Highway was awesome and I loved every moment of it! It was really too bad we couldn't drive up to the top. The winds were at 70 mph on the way up. The only scary part was the curves along the windy road. I was so looking forward to bagging another 14er, even if it meant cheating a little.

[JeffH]

I think I see a little resemblance in the last two photos.

[Sean]

I think I see a little resemblance in the last two photos.

That probably explains why everyone in Colorado Springs was staring at me with their mouths open.