Pikes Peak

Friday, May 27

Our only planned visit today was to visit Pikes Peak via the Cog Railway.  We had reservations for the 1:20 PM train.  You have to make reservations to guarantee yourself a seat.  If you just show up then you might get put on a standby list and may or may not make the train!  You also get a reserved seat.  We changed ours so that a family of 4 could sit in the same area.  No big deal for us.  The train was a bit late leaving as they were putting the standby people on.  These folks didn't get to sit together. 

The train runs via 4 350 horse diesel engines.  Our motorhome has one 339 horse diesel engine so that train is powerful.  It also has a cog wheel that grabs onto the rails (similar to clock works).  Here is a pic  -

The entire round trip takes about 3 1/2 hours with up being slower than down.  You are not allowed to stand in the aisle so you can't really get good pictures of things on the other side of the train.  We did enjoy the trip.  There is a couple who lives up the mountain during the summer and maintains the reservoirs and pump station for the water district.  It is a long way from anywhere and their names are Darryl and Diane. 

When we got to the top it was really, really cold.  The wind was really blowing so it was even colder.  Would you believe that people hike up to 14,110 ft?  And in the snow.  Here is one of those crazy people. 

The view from up there was really pretty but there was a lot of snow on the ground.  We took a couple of pictures and then went into the gift shop to have a cup of hot chocolate and donuts.  While we were eating our donuts we called Terry to reminisce about being up here.  Back in June 2004  we drove up Pikes Peak with Terry & Lydia during a visit to Denver.  I found the picture.  This first picture I took today.  The second picture was taken in 2004, the last picture was taken today.  Notice the difference in the amount of snow between May and June and 2011 and 2004.

After our visit to Pikes Peak we made our way back to the Academy and did a little grocery shopping.  On the way back to the campground we took a scenic route.  During this time we saw the first wildlife we have seen.  There were a couple of deer by the side of the road.  It looks like they are losing their winter coats.

When we finally got back to the rig we had a late dinner.  I had fixed a meatloaf and it had been in the crockpot all day.  I quickly made the side dishes and we ate.  All in all it was a good day.

Enjoy the pictures -