I have never in my life
been happier to
be banned from anywhere than I was yesterday.
This was at the entrance to the over 14,000 foot Pikes Peak in Colorado.
According to the information, to get to the peak "....you travel through four life zones from the lush planes and the alpine tundra ( that is, the vast treeless zone lying between the ice cap and the timberline,) while passing cascading streams .... ) At the top you are guaranteed the most scenic view, taking in four states and the snow covered peaks of the Continental divide.
So scenic is the view that it is said it inspired Katherine Lee Bates who wrote the words of 'America the Beautiful".
So, you can understand my excitement on going to the peak yesterday. But we were banned from going to the top and with good reason. On reaching the gate, the attendant asked the age of my grand daughter Madelynn who was in her car seat. When we told him 6 weeks, he told us we could not go to the peak as that altitude is dangerous to babies under 7 months.
So dangerous it is he said, that it could kill her.
We were extremely happy that park attendants in Colorado are so well trained and vigilant.
We were however assured that it was ok to got to Chrystal reservoir, which is just over 9,000 feet .
This is quite a scenic area in its own right with a good view of the snow covered peak, one of the four reservoirs in the area. After surveying that area, we drove over to nearby Garden of the Gods.
This is an over four hundred acre free park with the most stunningly beautiful huge, rocks similar to those which I wrote about sat Red Rocks, but much larger and with a less chiseled look.One gets a feeling of awesome spirituality just looking at these wonderful examples of the power of the Great Creator while Pikes Peak shimmers in the background.
From there we went to the Old Colorado city established in 1859, where we had ice cream and wondered throughout the old city.
UPDATE
The three of us returned
to Pikes Peak in October 2016 and this time we went all the way to the top.
After about 8000 feet
the hills were bereft of trees as apparently that is beyond the tree line. The road
was smooth but narrow and curvy so we wended our way up at around 30 miles per hour. Despite the surrounding
hills being bare, the view was to die for. It was times like this that I wished
I had a really good camera for I would love to remember the scenes from every
angle.
At the top it was really
breezy and freezing and as expected the air was thin and I immediately became
dizzy while my daughter developed a severe headache. While we were in the gift
shop waiting in line to purchase delicious fudge that the area is noted for, a teenage
girl fainted. Lucky for her her boyfriend was quick and got her before she
landed on the ground. I think that is what sent the signal for us to descend.
Despite the air and lack
of oxygen at the top, it was definitely worth the trip.
True, we did not get to
the summit of Pikes Peak, but my granddaughter Madelynn is safe and sound and I had a wonderful day enjoying the beauty in
the fantastic areas around Colorado Springs.
For more photographs
see; http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150275280021823.374603.763366822
4 comments:
and there I was at the beginning of the article thinking you were banned because you were all wearing rasta tams and smoking some big spliffs.
that's a good one.
I had never heard of HAPE until now. So glad the gate attendant was not sleeping on the job!
To Barry's comment - LOL!!!!
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