One of the problems with this blog is that if you don't load your pictures in the right order you can't move them if you want people to be able to click on them to expand them. I missed this picture when I loaded my other pictures so as you can see it is out of order but I can't move it or you wouldn't be able to expand it. The other pictures below it are in the right order.
Peg and me at the summit. We had gone to 12,000 feet on the Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park and I had no ill effects, at 14,100 feet I did. I wasn't dizzy, at least no more than usual, :-) but I was light headed and I had to rest after walking just short distances.Today we went to Pike's Peak. It's only a few miles west of Colorado Springs in fact you can see the peak from Colorado Springs. The peak is named for Zebulon Pike who never went to the top of the mountain. He was a lieutenant in the army, his men did go to the top, so old Zeb got his name on the peak since he was the lieutenant in charge.
One of the views on the way up to Pike's Peak. This is at about 10,000 feet, but remember you are starting at 6,000 feet, the altitude of Colorado Springs. 
Part of the road up to the peak. Most of the road is black topped. This is at about 12,000 feet. Remember Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park is the highest continuous road in the U.S. at a little over 12,000 feet. This one as you could see from my out of order picture above goes to 14,100 feet, but it is not continuous, you must come back down the way you go up. One of the rules of the road is that the cars going up have the right-of-way and you should see how we all hug that middle line even though the road is fairly wide. 
For those who don't want to drive up, there is this option, the cog railroad. We were going to come up this way until we found out it cost $32.00 a person. It still cost $10.00 a person to drive up but I'm glad we drove up. I think we got to see more and of course we could stop at the pull offs to take pictures and see the views. Many people choose to come up on the train because when we were there they announced that the train was arriving with 300 people on board and would the people who walked up please move their back packs from the entrance. I can't even imagine walking up, not even in my younger days.
View of Colorado Springs from the top. Note the smog, it is not haze. There is a large area for parking at the top but when we got there it was hard to find a parking space there was so many people already there and I mean hundreds. They are making a killing at $10.00 a person. The sign at the gate says this is not a National Park telling you, you can't use your Golden Age Pass. No, but it is a National Forest, Pike National Forest, I wounder who is getting the money?
I took this picture to emphasize the smog. We were actually above the smog even though this picture looks like we weren't. The whole valley in both directions, north and south was covered with this smog. Notice from the pictures at a lower elevation that you can't tell that, that is what we are living in.
A plaque of the song, America the Beautiful. I have always felt that this should be our national anthem. I don't like the Star Spangles Banner as our national anthem because it is a war song and we are suppose to be a peace loving nation. However, in this day and age I'm not sure our politicians know that.
An interesting sign about Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. Actually because of the smog and the way it ruins the view the most interesting part of the drive is the road getting there and back. It is a good road and as I said mostly black top but the part that isn't is a good wide dirt road and fairly smooth. The drive down is interesting. They tell you to put your car in it's lowest gear or you will over heat your brakes. Being from the mountains of Pennsylvania I was well aware of what happens if your brakes over heat, they don't work. The road has more U-curves in it than a snake. You can't go over 10 miles an hour around them. I kept my car in 1st gear almost all of the way down. If I tried to put it in second I had to use my brakes so I kept it in first even though it seemed like I was crawling and the motor was racing. I pulled over many times to let cars go by that were in more of a hurry than I was. About half way down there is a check point were they stop you and check how hot your brakes are. If they are too hot they tell you to pull over into the parking lot and let them cool off. The car in front of me was told to pull over. When he checked mine he said 202 degrees, good job go on. My brakes had to be cool because I hadn't used them. Believe me in 1st gear you don't have to use your brakes even on a steep slope except when you go around a U-curve where you can see your tail lights. :-) Even after you get out of the park it is still a long way down to the 6,000 feet level of Colorado Springs. I still ran into signs saying 10% slope use lower gear.
It was a great trip, we really enjoyed it and it wasn't nearly as scary as Peg was afraid it would be. Here is a link to the Mt. Evans sight http://www.mountevans.com/. It is an interesting story about the competion between Denver and Colorado Springs for the tourist and about the trips to the top of high mountain peaks.
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