Heading Up Pikes Peak

[dart4forte]

Have a time slot starting at noon. Should be interesting given we live at almost sea level. I was at Ft Carson on TDY back in 86. When we checked in to our motel we decided to take a little run. I didn’t make it 1/8 mile before I ran out of air. Kicked My arse. We were told later it take one to two weeks to acclimate to the altitude.

 

[72Duster440]

Report back, my parents are there now. Insomnia the first two days and they went up Pikes Peak on the train yesterday and had trouble getting enough air. I'll be there with my wife in a couple weeks. Hoping to hit Garden of the Gods, Pike's Peak and Rocky Mountain National Park for a little hiking, but who knows, we are more or less at sea level too.

 

[dirty white boy]

air up there so thin it'll make a malboro run like a bad rolled joint with a seed in it!!

 

[dart4forte]

Well, made it up and back. The truck ran good. I was a little worried about the tranny. The temps hit around 235 however I made several stops on the way up to let it cool. As far as our physical well being the altitude did have some effects. Shortness of breath, fatigue and muscle soreness. Kinda feels like I had a stress test. The visitor center at the summit is nice. They have a small snack bar. I did have a bucket list first. Ate a $6.00 donut at over 14,000 feet. One interesting tidbit. There’s been recorded weather in the winter of 120 mph winds with temps at -60 below zero. I’ll post some pics later.

 

[dart4forte]

Also drove Garden of the Gods. Pretty cool rock formations. I didn’t think much about it. It’s kinda a city park. We head for Gillette Wyoming tomorrow

 

[plymouth4onthefloor]

Pikes Peak was a highlight of our roadtrip! We love the area

 

[dart4forte]

Report back, my parents are there now. Insomnia the first two days and they went up Pikes Peak on the train yesterday and had trouble getting enough air. I'll be there with my wife in a couple weeks. Hoping to hit Garden of the Gods, Pike's Peak and Rocky Mountain National Park for a little hiking, but who knows, we are more or less at sea level too.

Heres a couple of pics of Ft Carson and south Colorado Springs

 

[ragtopfury]

Drove out there from MD in June. Still had a few snow piles at the summit. Didn't really feel the thin air effect except when I semi-jogged back to the truck. But, at about 10kft, I could no longer look over the edge while driving.

 

[dart4forte]

Drove out there from MD in June. Still had a few snow piles at the summit. Didn't really feel the thin air effect except when I semi-jogged back to the truck. But, at about 10kft, I could no longer look over the edge while driving.
View attachment 1715992118

My wife didn’t like looking over the edge so I hugged the inside lane as much as traffic allowed. Anyone planning a trip up the mountain make sure your vehicle

is tip top in terms of maintenance.

 

[ragtopfury]

. Anyone planning a trip up the mountain make sure your vehicle
is tip top in terms of maintenance.

How'd your brakes do on the decent? Mine were fine at the checkpoimt, but son's truck was at 601* so he was made to park for 20 min. He told the Ranger at least they were not NASCAR red yet.

 

[dart4forte]

How'd your brakes do on the decent? Mine were fine at the checkpoimt, but son's truck was at 601* so he was made to park for 20 min. He told the Ranger at least they were not NASCAR red yet.

No, I ran it down in 2nd gear. We stopped several times so brake cooling wasn’t an issue

 

[dart4forte]

Made it up to Wyoming and SouthDakota. Did the tourist thing

 

[dart4forte]

There was a big Buffalo roundup on Saturday. Was told getting there is a big cluster…..k so we passed. Probably check out some Buffalo tomorrow. We head south through western Wyoming, Utah then into Arizona via Zion National Park.

 

[72Duster440]

We survived the trip to the top, we ended up taking the Cog Railway, I think it was a better decision as we were able to relax and take in all the sights along the way. No issues for me at the top, but my wife was a little lightheaded for a while. We also hiked 2 miles up the Barr trail beforehand, what an amazing trail, I think we are going to go back at some point and hike to the camp. The next day we did about 7 miles of hiking up at 10k feet in Rocky Mountain National Park, it was also a very nice trail, we did a bunch of alpine lakes, Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, Emerald Lake and the Alberta Falls waterfall.

I'll add some pics later