We left our hotel in Parker, CO for a one hour drive to Manitou Springs, CO to ride on the 9:20 a.m. Cog Railway to the top of Pikes Pike. The ride up was very scenic and full of facts about the surrounding area as told to us by our conductor. As we ascended, the weather was warm and sunny with clear views of the panoramic Rockies. It took about one hour to reach the top. The weather was cold (approximately 20 degrees) and windy. The visitor center provided some hot cocoa and lunch. By the time we came back outside, it was snowing near white out conditions with a temperature of seven degrees. We had been warned about altitude sickness and immediately felt the effects upon arrival at the top (14,000 feet). The anecdote for being dizzy and light headed was to move slow and drink plenty of water. It helped! We found warm weather once again once we descended the mountain. We experienced two very different worlds in about three hour’s time.
We learned that the song American The Beautiful was written by Katherine Lee Bates who was inspired by the sight at the top of Pikes Peak when she visited there in 1893.
We have been meeting a lot of nice people from all over the United States, Canada and Europe.
We resumed driving to Durango CO by way of the scenic route which turned out to be the road less traveled! While very picturesque, it added at least three hours of driving time to our trip. The road went through numerous canyons and over mountain passes at altitudes of 12,000 feet. Hairpin turns, no guard rails, sheer drop offs all resulted in many white knuckle moments. Highway warning signs along the way included beware of avalanches, elk, falling rocks, road construction and hairpin turns. Somewhere along the way, darkness descended upon us and there was not another soul in sight. Apparently, the locals knew it was not a good idea to drive this road at night. The last 1 ½ hours in the dark was difficult and we were glad to reach Durango.
We spent the night at Julie and Aaron’s rental home which was very comfortabe and a nice change of pace from hotel living. Durango was a neat town. Too bad we could not spend more time there.
Common themes so far include: vast plains, beautiful snow covered mountains, windy days, mesas, interesting rock formations, many ranches with horses, cows and a few bison, white pickup trucks, Indian culture and long highways that seem to touch the horizon.
We arrived at the Grand Canyon by entering the East Entrance. We stopped at Watchtower for our first look at the Grand Canyon. It was a sunny day with clear skies and the colors on the canyon walls were magnificent. We drove along the South Rim to El Tovar Hotel where we checked into our room. We are staying at Kachina Lodge which is right on the rim trail. The canyon is just outside our building less than 30 yards away. We changed into our hiking gear and descended on the Bright Angel trail. We hiked to the 1 ½ mile Rest house 1131 feet below the canyon rim. There were a lot of hikers on the trail, but not so many that it was a problem. After a short rest, we started back up the trail to the top. We hiked the three miles in about 2 ½ hours. We were tired, but pleased with the hike. Once again, the views were spectacular and different with each turn or switchback of the trail. We were glad to get to our room and clean up after a great first day at the Grand Canyon.
