Day 8 & 9: Onward…to The Garden of the Gods!

Thankfully, our luck held on and we were able to squeeze through these storm systems with only a little bit of rain. That night, when we were watching The Weather Channel in our hotel room, we came to find out that a tornado had passed right through the area that we drove through and another tornado formed nearby our route.

I would 100% recommend arriving early. We were in the parking lot right when they opened and by the time we were ready to leave, this area was getting quite congested.

No matter how crazy the weather may have been the day before in Wyoming, in Colorado Springs the next day, the skies were clear again and the heat was back. Once in the garden, the towering rocks did offer chunks of shade, but it was still a hot morning. We spent some time walking on the paved paths that weave through the rocks and we saw many people already climbing up the sides of these formations. We continued on paths that allowed you to climb up the rocks and we hiked on one of the longer trails that takes you towards other rock formations, including an arch, and this area also offered dreamy views of the valley and Pike’s Peak.

You can see the snow-peaked Pike’s Peak in the distance.^

Speaking of Pike’s Peak, I had read multiple times about the road that goes to the very top of this mountain and we had even looked into the tram that you can ride to the top. However, due to us hiking in the morning and wanting to begin our drive back home that afternoon, we would not have been able to catch a ride, which meant that we would need to drive ourselves. This may sound simple enough, except there was a large obstacle- my mom does not appreciate heights. Throughout the entire week, actually, I had been trying to convince her that we needed to go to Pike’s Peak and each time we discussed the topic, we never conclusively came to an exact decision. But, for whatever reason, maybe because parents will truly do anything for their kids, when the time came and we were pulling out of the Garden of the Gods’ parking lot, I typed in the Pike’s Peak address into the GPS and Mom didn’t object.

In case you are not familiar with Pike’s Peak, here are a couple quick facts provided by Wikipedia:

-The Pikes Peak Highway is a 19-mile (31 km) toll road

-The summit is at an altitude of 14,115 feet (4,302 m)

As this 19 mile journey to the top of the mountain began, the road was fairly level and it was surrounded by trees and an occasional lake on either side.

At this point in time, Mom was okay with the drive. As we began to pick up some elevation, we came upon a little hut that sat in the middle of the road. Here we were told briefly about the conditions at the top of the mountain (of course the day we went there were high wind warnings) and we were additionally advised that the vehicle’s air conditioner must be shut off and the windows opened if we wanted circulation, since having the air on would overheat the car. Also, we were told that we needed at least half a tank of gas in order to make it to the top and then back down again..haha..I could feel Mom starting to give me a “look” at this point.

The road continued to climb onward and upward, emphasis on the upward, and the amount of ground on either side of the road was continually shrinking. Soon, the trees that were at one point lining the road disappeared and instead the shoulder of the road became one to two feet wide and the guardrails soon disappeared as well. Conveniently, just as the guardrails became nonexistent, the road became tight switchbacks. At this point in time, Mom was extremely quiet and definitely not enjoying the drive nearly as much as I was, but she was also concentrating on driving and not looking out at the view, which I appreciated. The view however was most definitely worth the trip. We could see mountains, trees and lakes and that was not even from the very top. Around mile 16, Mom had had quite enough and we decided to pull off at an overlook, get some pictures and then turn around. When I stepped foot out of the car, I was nearly blown back into it, due to the high winds. It was absolutely great and although the narrow roads were a little freaky, I still loved every minute of it.

This was roughly around mile 14.^

^On the left, you can see the foot-wide shoulder. In the distance you cannot see the road, but you can see a u-turn sign, signaling that there was another switchback

On our descent, we once again were treated to wonderful views and we, all too soon, came back to the little hut sitting in the road. We were once again stopped by an attendant in the hut who reminded us to have our air conditioner turned off and he informed us that our car needed to be switched into the lowest gear possible, otherwise our brakes would overheat. The attendant also took the temperature of our brakes while we were sitting there, apparently if the temperature of your car’s brakes exceeds a particular degree, then you are required to pull off into a parking space and wait until the brakes cool down again. Luckily, we aced the brake test, although up until this point our car was not in its lowest gear, so the brakes were beginning to get a little toasty.

If you ask me, I would most definitely say that driving up Pike’s Peak is worth your time and money. If you ask my mom, she would most definitely say that this road still haunts her dreams and that I owe her big time for dragging her to the top.