Pikes Peak

Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We have driven to Pikes Peak twice before today and taken the Cog Railway once. We decided to drive this time so we could say we did it in the big truck. We where able to come back down using just the engine brake, when we got to the checking station he said my brakes where only 86 degrees. If your brakes are hotter than 300 degrees they make you wait 30 minutes before you can continue down the rest of the way. The route is now paved 75 percent of the way, when we did it back in 2004 only the first 2 or 3 miles was paved. The distance of the route is 19 miles from start to the summit. Good thing we did not wait to go until Friday afternoon, they had a film crew helicopter crash, the crew survived, the pilot is in the hospital but will make a full recovery.

With time to spare we decided to head for Great Sand Dunes National Park. That will be the next post.

Lake View from around 10,000

America the Beautiful

Cog Railway

12,000 foot level

Pikes Peak Highway