Road Trip (Day 8) - Pikes Peak, 14,100 ft

With a self imposed house arrest in Boulder, CO, things were falling into a rut. So we decided to get bo(u)lder, show some enterprise, rent a car from "enterprise" and roam around Colorado. The plan for Day 8 was to drive to Colorado Springs and see the garden of the gods, pikes peak and the royal gorge.

Colorado springs is the second largest city in CO, situated about 100 miles south of Denver. Our first stop was at the "Garden of the Gods". This place consists of different kinds of rock formations, formed primarily due to the now non-existent river and wind erosion. It was a very small place, but some of the natural monuments were neat, and we saw a lot of mountaineers climbing these tall rocks.

Next we went to Pikes Peak situated at a height of 14,100 ft. The drive up the peak was the most amazing part, with very narrow and steep winding lanes. There are no railings on the road, so a little slip can send you hurtling down 12,000 ft. Also 50% of the road up is unpaved and very dusty. The summit offered some magnificient view of the surroundings, inspite of the gusty wind and hail. Although it was a nice sunny day, the temperature at the top was close to freezing. The drive down was as hard as the drive up. One had to drive in the lowest gear, so as to avoid excessive braking. Infact at a check point, they check the temperature of the brake, and if it exceeds 300F, then you are asked to wait for an hour till it cools. Two hikers from Oklahama City hitched a ride with us all the way down from the summit, and we struck a conversation regarding the 13 mile, 7 hour hike they undertook to the 14,000 ft peak.

In the late afternoon we drove down to the Royal Gorge, a 2000 ft deep gorge cut by the Arkansas river. The world's tallest suspension bridge spanned the two ends of the gorge and the sight from the top was breathtaking. Infact there were people driving on the wooden bridge, and everytime a vehicle passed you buy the whole bridge would start swaying and you would get a creepy feeling that the wood work underneath is cracking. There were lots of fun rides at this place, but since we landed up very close to dusk, most of them were closed for the day.

Here I am writing this blog on Day 9, well behind my schedule to reach LA and start working. I have a feeling that today might be the day when we kiss the Rockies a final good-bye.