Pikes Peak

Colorado Springs, CO

August 5, 2015 Wednesday

Pikes Peak is the highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The ultra-prominent 14,115-foot (4,302.31 m) fourteener is located in Pike National Forest, 12.0 miles (19.3 km) west by south (bearing 263°) of downtown Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The mountain is named in honor of American explorer Zebulon Pike who was unable to reach the summit.

........

After a long driving on the hair-raising road, finally, we are at the summit of Pikes Peak !
I lived in Colorado for 18 years and this was the first time for me to have stepped on the most famous summit of our nation.

Immediately found by us was The America The Beautiful Monument.
On the metalic plaque, there is the poem (lyrics) of "America The Beautiful."

Note: A separate webpage had been composed by me to cover this story of "America The Beautiful" that has direct relationship with Pikes Peak. I did not know the story until today when I searched for the origin of this monument !! Thank you guys from California. To read the legendary story, please Click Below.

http://www.snucmaa.us/snumc1965/bbs/zboard.php?id=freeboard&&no=10244




Far beyond Young-Hye, in the distant hazy horizon, is the Great Prairie (or Plains) of the western US.
Immediately behind her is the foothills of the Rockies.
The city of Colorado Springs is not visible, yet it is just under shadows of the mountains.



Are they reading the poem?



Here's a close up of the "America the Beautiful" by Katherine Lee Bates.



Here, over the deck, you can see the rails of Pikes Peak Cog Railway reaching the summit from below.


The Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway (also known as the Pikes Peak Cog Railway) is an Abt rack system cog railway with 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in standard gauge track in Colorado, USA, climbing the well-known mountain Pikes Peak. The base station is in Manitou Springs, Colorado near Colorado Springs.

The railway is the highest in North America by a considerable margin.
It was built and is operated solely for the tourist trade.

As of 2006, the railway owns enough equipment (railcars and snow plows) to run six to eight trains per day from mid-May through mid-September. During "off-peak" months (mid-September through mid-May), anywhere from one to five trains are run per day, with additional trains added if there is sufficient demand. From 2006, the railway began year-round service. Winter service varies according to demand. (Photo from the Internet)
 






At the summit. Two rail cars arrived and people are getting off the train. Many of them will get dizzy and short of breath.






Located at 14,110 feet above sea level, could this be the highest fully-stocked gift shop of the world?



Did this Rocky Mountain Big Horn sheep try to bite the young man's hand?



Whenever a picture is about to be taken, everyone gets busy for something else.



Finally, we got it made. Anyone missing ??



Do you see a tint of pink in the ground? Pikes Peak is composed of a characteristic pink granite called Pikes Peak granite. The color is due to a large amount of potassium feldspar. It is thought that the granite was once magma that crystallized at least 20 miles (32 km) beneath the Earth's surface, formed by an igneous intrusion during the Precambrian, approximately 1.05 billion years ago, during the Grenville orogeny. Through the process of uplifting, the hardened rock pushed through the Earth's crust and created a dome-like mountain.

While hiking around Pikes Peak, we encounter large granite cliffs, peaks, or boulders just like we see at the mountains around Seoul. They do have pinkish tint when looked carefully, while in Korea, they seem to be grayish.
In the next few pictures, you can definitely see pinkish colors in the mountain slopes.



A view to the west from the summit.



A view to the north.



Weathered granite rocks in the north face of the mountain, showing pinkish tints.



A huge nature made parking lot at the wide flat summit plateau.



At the Half Way House (Glen Cove). There is a check point where brake temperature is measured. The long descent from the summit heats up the brake. Mine was measured at 400 degree and was told to rest for 45 minutes at the "half way" gift shop here.
Do you see pinkish color in the mountain slopes ?



They sell bags of "gold-flake-containing" sand. Then you pan the sand in this artificial stream to separate the gold.



No one in our group seemed to be interested in gold panning. It was a very nice day to stay outside.



We stopped at the last and lowest gift shop at Crystal Reservoir.
There are three gift shops on this highway. "The Summit House" at the summit, second at the "Glen Cove Inn" at the midstation where we stopped to cool the brakes of our cars, and the lowest one is this "Crystal Reservoir Gift Shop".



A distant Pikes Peak over the Crystal Reservoir. We drove the top of entire western ridge of the peak from right to left.






We were on time at 7:00PM for the dinner at my house in Castle Rock, midway between Denver and Colorado Springs.
Dr. Song, the president of SNUA Rocky Mountains Chapter, and his wife, and also Mrs. Chong, a friend of my wife were there to prepare the dinner for us.



They didn't have much time to stay over. There lodging in Estes Park is about 2 hours away.