Colorado Springs: Pike's Peak

On Friday night, we drove into Colorado Springs from the north with the sun setting just as we reached the southern outskirts of Denver. In the dark, we really couldn't see Pike's Peak very well, so our first real view came Saturday morning when we awoke and drove to a local coffee shop.

Although the peak was a constant presence just 12 miles west of town, it never really awed us. Because of our proximity to the peak, we could get no sense for how really big and prominent it is, even though it sits 8000 feet above town. The peak is at 14,000 feet; Colorado Springs at its feet is roughly 6000 feet.

By contrast, our big Cascade mountains are 20-plus miles distant, with only a 6000-foot prominence above the landscape around them, 10,000-foot peaks rising above the 4000-foot general elevation. These Cascade peaks look very impressive by contrast with Pike's Peak. Why is that?

It was not until Thanksgiving Day, when we headed 30 miles east of Colorado Springs in an aborted attempt to hike Paint Mines Interpretive Park, that we could get enough perspective on Pike's Peak to see how truly massive it is. In town, we were just too close to appreciate the mountain. [Aside: Paint Mines is a gorgeous badlands where the local tribes harvested a variety of colors of clay with which to decorate their pottery. When we arrived, it was 25 degrees and squalling snow with 40mph winds: a no-go for hiking.]

In Oregon, we have impressive peaks, but most are in the 9-10,000-foot range with only Mt. Hood exceeding 11,000 feet. The chance to go up one of the myriad of Colorado fourteeners was too much to resist. The highest peak I had been on is Baldy Mountain in New Mexico at about 12,500 feet, a peak I hiked when I was a teenager. To put Pike's Peak in its place in Colorado, it ranks only 20th in elevation!

Hiking Pike's Peak would be an incredible experience if we lived in Colorado and could do it in the summer, but there's no way we would do it in the winter. That left two options for going up: driving up the road on which the famous Pike's Peak Hill Climb auto race is held or taking the cog train from Manitou Springs up to the top. I cannot navigate endless switchbacks in a car and still enjoy the view and Ann and I love train travel, so our choice for going to the top was a no-brainer.

Enter the Manitou and Pike's Peak Cog Railway. The day before Thanksgiving, we booked seats on the 8:41am train in an effort to get up the mountain before the hordes of visitors. The depot is in the town of Manitou Springs, just a 10-minute drive from our B&B in west Colorado Springs. Manitou Springs is an extraordinarily touristy town shoehorned into a very narrow mountain valley à la Gatlinburg, Tennessee, not our cup of tea. Because of the narrow valley, parking is a huge challenge at the railway depot and all the better reason to take an early train.

Pseudo-Bavarian Depot; Swiss Rolling Stock

Impressive Almost Brand New Rotary Snow Plow

Toothed Rack in Middle of Standard Gauge Rails

Cog rails, while fairly common in the Alps, are not at all common here in the US. I believe there are three and I have seen one in action from a distance on Mount Washington, New Hampshire. With only one other cog rail here in the US, this was a rare opportunity to see one up close and to ride it.

Normal friction locomotives lose their traction at roughly a 10% grade, so they are not useful for steep tracks such as this one which averages 12% and tops out at around 25% on Son of Gun Hill. We noticed that this grade made it really hard to stand up during transit; unsecured objects on the uphill seats fell to the floor on the steep bits.

To combat the grade and loss of friction, cog locomotives operate on a rack and pinion system. The rack is a toothed rail fastened to the railroad ties in between the two normal rails. The drive shafts of the motive stock have pinions (cogs) whose teeth positively engage the teeth on the rack and drag the train up the hill (or going down, retard the train to a safe speed).

Geared Up for Cold Weather, Settling in for 70-Minute Ride

The Selfie Queen in Action

How Astoundingly Beautiful is This Woman?

At the depot, when we departed, the temperature was in the low- to mid-20s and who knows how cold up at the summit. We came dressed for cold weather and we were not disappointed. On the way up, we saw several creeks and waterfalls that were totally frozen over. The water in the creeks is rushing so fast in the steeper sections that we could see it flying down the hill under the surface ice.

Check out How Steep This Grade Is

Almagre Mountain

First View of the Real Rockies

Above Tree Line (11,500 Feet); Austerely Beautiful

Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mine,
An Active Open Pit Mine Worth Untold Billions

As we neared the rocky summit of Pike's Peak, I had hoped we might see some Bighorns, but I figured the odds were against us. But as I looked off to the left, I spied the unmistakable white rump and horns of a large ram. I had already snapped off a half a dozen photos before most of the people in the train caught on. Better still, on the way back down, we were treated to a terribly short glimpse of a group of perhaps 8-10 rams, ewes, and lambs on the uphill side of the train.

At 13,700 Feet, a Bighorn Ram

On the Summit, Our Swiss-Made Train Idling

We finally pulled to a stop on the summit after a very smooth ride up. I'm not sure why I expected a cog rail to be more jittery as the pinions on the drive wheels engaged the rack between the rails, but the entire ride was as smooth as friction rail, despite the crazy grade of the tracks.

I also expected it to be really cold on the summit, but I really had no idea how bitter it would be. Departing the train, Ann and I immediately bundled up against the cold and for the moment, the cold seemed bearable. We did not realize, however, that the passenger platform was on the east side of the summit in the fairly calm lee of the hill.

As we climbed the few feet to the actual summit, we emerged from the lee and were blasted head-on by constant 40-mph winds with gusts even higher. At times, it would take all my strength leaning far into the wind to make any headway towards the western and most scenic side of the hill.

One quick tour of the hilltop was all we could manage before we had to seek shelter inside the Visitors Center. I would eventually make three more 5-minute forays outside during our hour on the summit, but longer than that in the wind was too brutal to bear. You remember my washing the windshield in 8F temperatures barehanded back in Wyoming: mere child's play!

I really like cold weather and don't often get cold. If you ever see me with a down jacket on, you know that it is very cold. If you ever see me in a beanie with the hood of my down jacket up, the cold will be brutal. Had I not had an indoor shelter into which I could retreat, I would have had my buff up around my mouth and nose. I cannot think of any prior time where I have been colder than on the top of Pikes Peak. I really needed a windproof lower layer.

Cold AF

The views from up top were astounding. I am told that you can see all the way across Colorado to the east on a clear day, all the way to Nebraska and Kansas, and I believe it. The views of the Rockies to our west were incredible to the point that the photos do them no justice. Even with my camera focal length at minimum of 18mm, I could only shoot about a third of the mountains in view. This was a time that I would have loved to have a super wide angle 14mm lens. Anybody got a spare $2000?

Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods in Center of Photo

Looking at all the Fourteeners to the West

Back to the Ferocious Wind, Look at Fibers on Pom-pom

Braving the Cold for a Single Photo

I was curious at one point about how accurate the elevation app is on my phone. To be able to use the phone, I had to go inside where I could take off my gloves, so I estimate that I was about 15-20 feet below the actual summit. That would make this app plus or minus 15 feet, not too bad.

I have to say that I did truly feel the effects of altitude. They say that at 14,000 feet you only get 60% of the oxygen that you get at sea level and I don't doubt that. I did feel a bit lightheaded at times, a little dizzy at others, and in the oddest sensation, when I was walking from one point on the summit to another, I felt more like I was gliding, rather than walking. It was quite the experience.

The train ride back down to the station was truly uneventful. By contrast to the summit, it felt positively hot down in Manitou Springs at about 40 degrees. We saw several kids at the depot waiting to take the train up. What is notable about this is that they were wearing shorts and their idiot parents let them do it.

I am so glad that we took the train to the top of Pike's Peak. It was surely a high point, pun intended, of our trip to Colorado Springs and well worth the investment of both time and money.