After deciding to cut my thru hike short (very short, unfortunately), I took a half day’s rest and then I went up Pikes Peak the following day! 14,115 feet!
Of course, after 4 days on the CT climbing Mt Antero, Mt Shavano, and Tabeguache Peak I was not likely to climb Pikes Peak with my own legs. So, I played tourist and took the Cog Railroad up from Manitou Springs. 🙂
Three years ago it was being refurbished, so I had to settle for driving my Jeep up Pikes Peak. This time I sat back and crammed into a train full of people in the middle of an pandemic. 🙂
But I needed the rest and it was better than crashing at a hotel for the day. So, I got on and slowly made my way up the side of the mountain. Although it was faster than using my feet.
Saw a marmot checking out the tourists and then some Big Horn Sheep grazing.
We saw a vulture and eagle fighting over some food, but I wasn’t able to get any good photos of it.
As we neared the summit, we passed some things called ‘automobiles’. 🙂
Then the new Summit House came into view. It hadn’t existed three years ago (although they had started construction around the summit in preparation).
Getting off the train, I started to explore the summit with all the other tourists.
The new summit house was nice, but still under construction.
I made sure to locate and step on the actual summit. It’s one of the few 14ers that I found an actual benchmark on. It does also have one of the nicer summit signs I’ve found on top of a 14er. 🙂
The ruins of the original summit house were interesting. Not sure where it was the last time I was up there, since I don’t recall seeing it. Maybe it was buried in the basement of the summit house they demolished after building the newest one.
Unfortunately, they didn’t give us much time on the summit before the train started down again. It would have been nice to have a bit more time, but not at the expense of having to walk down the mountain. 🙂
On the way down the train had to stop for a herd of Big Horn Sheep that were blocking the tracks.
After a day of rest, I decided to climb, Mt Elbert for the 2nd time the next day. The weather report was a bit iffy looking, but hopefully it would hold out enough for me to get to the top of Elbert once again.
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