BANNED FROM PIKES PEAK

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.

This is a place I had been dying to visit for months as it is described as the most visited mountain in the USA and the second most visited mountain in the world.

 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 needed to hear no more. And the operators of the park are perfectly correct in adopting that policy, for on researching the matter today, I learnt for the first time about something called High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) which according to Wikipedia, is a life threatening form of non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema (

fluid accumulation in the lungs) that occurs in otherwise healthy mountaineers at altitudes typically above 9,000 feet. It states that HAPE remains the major cause of death related to high-altitude exposure with a high mortality in absence of adequate emergency treatment. According to the attendant at the park, while children over 7 months can start breathing again when affected, it has been shown that babies below that age never do.

The information caused us to get cold bumps  all over for after all we are from a country (JAMAICA) where the highest mountain is just 7,400 feet so such concerns are never raised. 

 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