This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
Summer Break 2022, Part 5
Aug
24
2022
This is the fifth of a series. You can also read about the first part of our trip to Colorado here.
Day 5:
We had 2 main events planned for this day, which started early again. First, Pike’s Peak, which bills itself as “America’s Mountain”.
PP : Pike’s Peak
Pike’s Peak wasn’t too far from the house, I think about 20-25 minutes to get there. We got to the base of the mountain (the entrance gate) about 9:00. Then it was a slowish drive up the mountain. The whole road is 19 miles, but because of limited parking at the top, they make you but a parking pass for the top and it’s for a specific time. We went with the alternative, which is drive 16 of the 19 miles, park at a larger lot, and take the shuttle bus the rest of the way for free. Well, free other tha hte gate admission we paid at the bottom.
The drive up didn’t really need a speed limit, because anyone with a minimum amount of self-preservation would take these curves carefully anyway.
Because of the switchbacks, half the time we were on the inside of the curve (nice) and half the time we were on the outside of the curve (tense). Oddly enough the tense feeling of feeling too close to the edge was there on the way up but not so much on the way down. Either I was more used to driving on the mountainside, or maybe the effort of thinking about braking distracted from the thought of going over the edge.
The lower part of the mountain wasn’t so drastic; there weren’t such cliffs close to the road. But the upper part, which was a few miles long, was nerve-wracking.
I didn’t get a picture of the shuttle buses, but they were school buses, and the drivers were school-bus drivers who took this gig for the summer. I thought it was bad driving a minivan up the mountain, but at least it wasn’t a school bus.
Oh, if you didn’t want to take the shuttle bus, you did have the option of hiking or biking those last 3 miles. One thing that amused me was the sight when we got to the top – a small tour bus that people were just getting out of and they were wearing biking gear. Apparently you can hire a ride up to the top of Pike’s Peak so that you can bike down.
With my driving, then our getting on the shuttle bus and riding the last 3 miles, the total time from entrance gate to walking into the visitor center was 1 hour.
We took a quick tour of the visitor center, then walked around outside. They have a sidewalk that circles the parking lot and lets you see from all sides of the summit. This is what the ground looks like at the top:
The first area outside the visitor center is a popular place for people to go scrambling over the rocks.
If you look closely at the above picture, you can see some people out there, in the center/right section. That’s what I’m calling the closer ridge. Now here’s a picture that I zoomed in on the farther ridge, and I circled where Beta ended up.
And here is a view from a slightly different angle. Lots of good views from the top of Pike’s Peak.
Then we got to the official summit marker, and I couldn’t tell why they chose this particular rock out of all the others lying around to be the summit.
After all, I could have taken any of the other rocks and stacked it nearby and made a slightly higher summit. There must be some reason, but I couldn’t find it. The summit is well marked though, and a popular place for photos, like the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada” sign.
We finished up by stopping at the gift shop and the restaurant. The main attraction there is the donuts, which were tasty. They are supposed to be a special recipe adapted for the high altitude, and rumor has it they will deflate at lower altitudes. So Delta bought an extra donut to take down the mountain and see if that really happens. Here is the before picture, taken right as we got in the van after being taken back in the shuttle bus.
Then begain the drive down, which as I said was not as white-knuckled as the drive up. There was still plenty of opportunities to get into trouble though, like taking this turn too fast.
We were planning on staying out all day and eating the lunch we packed. As we were driving, we were discussing when and where to eat.
Then we came to the brake-check station about halfway down. We failed the test, so we had to pull over and wait 30 minutes, so we took that time to eat our lunch. Everyone has to stop at this shack, due to the stop sign. There a park ranger has a non-contact thermometer that she pointed at the front brake rotor. The threshold is 300 degrees F, and we were just above 400.
There’s a large parking lot, and some picnic tables, and a gift shop area, so it was a nice place to have our lunch. From where we were sitting, we had a good view of the brake temperature check stop. It seemed that vehicles with more than 2 people usually failed, and vehicles with 1 or two people usually passed. Driving down Pike’s Peak is the perfect opportunity for a hybrid or electric vehicle with regenerative braking.
Also, it seems to be on the honor system. As I was watching other people being stopped, I noticed the ranger would tell someone that they failed, then she went on to the next car. There was no one ensuring that we stayed in the parking lot for the 30 minutes. And when we left we didn’t have to go back through the temperature check.
But I had no reason to put anyone in danger, so we followed the instructions. After a few miles, we came to the Crystal Reservoir. It was being remodeled or something, so they had drained it and it was not as scenic as it should have been.
Then we got to the end and left Pike’s Peak. We had aleady eaten our lunch, so our next stop was Manitou Springs, as it was on the way home.
MS : Manitou Springs
Manitou Springs is a tourist town, built upon the several mineral springs that occur naturally there. The springs were natural, but they have had fountain-type things built around them so they don’t seem it.
Our plan was to stop at the town visitor center and get our free cups, then drive to the middle of town and walk to the various springs. The visitor center went fine, but then finding a parking space in town was very difficult.
Manitou Springs likes their parking revenue, and they have a lot of spots, but they were all full. The first lot we tried was full, the street parking around that was full, and I finally found a spot the next block over.
We walked to the first spring, which was just outside a gazebo. It didn’t have much of a taste, just plain water.
Then we walked to the next spring, and it tasted nasty. As we walked from spring to spring (all the rest tasted nasty too), we passed by a lot of downtown shops. Like a good tourist town, there were multiple T-shirt shops, ice cream shops, souvenirs shops, art gallery, restaurants, etc.
It was hot, so we skipped the last two springs because they were farther away, and we headed back to the car, stopping to get ice cream along the way. Some Wife wanted a slushie thing instead of ice cream, so she went to the slushie shop next door, but they were out of ice.
We got back to our house in time to make dinner, and that was it for the day.
And if you’re wondering if the Pike’s Peak donuts deflate when taken to a lower altitude, I’m still wondering that myself. Delta ate that experiment before we got there.
Then it was evening, then morning the next day.
To Be Continued…
The high mountains are for the wild goats; The cliffs are a refuge for the rock hyrax.
Psalm 104:18
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 12:57 pm and has been carefully placed in the Travel category.
August 25th, 2022 at 12:57 am
Do you concur with their brake restrictions?
August 25th, 2022 at 9:18 am
Yes, as a blanket standard it is reasonable. Especially since it is a longer time at that temperature, not just a spike.