Colorado Springs - Pike's Peak

After Garden of The Gods, it was hard to imagine another natural feature which could have such unrivaled beauty. Such a place exists, though, in Pike's Peak.

Pike's Peak as seen from Garden of The Gods...

I first laid eyes on Pike's Peak in 1976. I was heading to the Philmont Boy Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. We had flown into Denver from New York, and our bus trip to Philmont took us past the mountain. But that was it. We got to see it.

From a distance.

This time, though, I would actually step foot on it. I've lost count of all of the television shows I've watched about it, so I was excited to finally get to the top.

We decided against driving to the summit and, instead, decided to take the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, which runs out of the small town of Manitou Springs:

The Cog Railway...

Believe me when I tell you that the effects of altitude sickness are very real...

The Cog Railway offered a leisurely, if not somewhat protracted, trip to the top of the mountain. When we got off the train, it was pretty obvious that I had started to succumb to the effects of altitude sickness. I had a bit of a headache, and a bit of dizziness, and all I wanted to do was sit down. But, of course, being my first time here, I wasn't going to spend it sitting down.

Despite the hour and 15 minutes it took to ascend to the summit, once we got there we were treated to some pretty spectacular views:

 

Believe it or not, you can see Kansas in this photo...

The Cog Railway train at the summit of Pike's Peak...

While at the summit, we treated ourselves to some bottled water (served in aluminum cans due to the altitude) and yeast-free doughnuts (again, due to the altitude). But it seemed just as I was getting over the effects of altitude sickness, it was time to board the train for the trip back to Manitou Springs.

In hindsight, should I ever have the chance to visit again, I wouldn't take the train. It's too expensive, too uncomfortable (the hard plastic seat digs into your butt-cheek if you're in an aisle seat), it takes too long and there's no bottled water water to buy at the train station (unless you want to buy a "collector" aluminum bottle for $37). There are a number of companies which will get you to the summit in comfort, and you'll actually have time to explore the summit for a bit longer than you do when you take the train.

So, it's definitely worth the trip to the summit, just choose your transportation wisely...