Pike's Peak or Bust



This is the train going up in front of us.



After we got back from the zoo, we grabbed our sweatshirts and headedout with Jeff for our adventure to the top of Pike's Peak.  We decided to take the cog train up to the summit.  You can also drive it, but without guard rails all the way up, it was better to take the train.

First, we drove to the train station to make sure we knew where it was, and then we went back into downtown Manitou Springs to get lunch.  Manitou Springs is a cute little town with lots of restaurants and shops. We found a nice place where we could sit outside.  Jeff and I got burgers and the kids got french dip sandwiches.



At the summit

The train you ride to the top is not a steam train; it looks more like a trolley to me.  It's called a cog train because in addition to the rails, there is a cog wheel under the train that meets the cog grooves running in between the tracks.  The seats are wooden and to be honest, not very comfortable.  I sat on my sweatshirt and used part of it as a back cushion.

Because we were going to climb from about 6,000 feet to over 14,000 feet high, we all drank lots of water on the way up.

It's a beautiful ride to the top.  The train doesn't go very fast.  Along the way up, you can see the remains of two trapper cabins dating back to the 1800's.  We also saw some bighorn sheep and marmots after we cleared the timberline. 

Once you get to the top, you have about 25 minutes to check out the observation deck, get snack at the snack bar, or buy some souvenirs in the gift shop.  They have freshly made, warm doughnuts in the snack bar and I had to buy some for the ride back.  It's a beautiful view from up there.  It was only 53 degrees at the top, much cooler than the 80 degree temperatures at the bottom.

The ride down is the same as the ride up.  We saw more bighorn sheep and marmots on the ride down.  The sheep were running along the rocks, which was great to watch.