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5-09-07
Day 5 started off pretty interesting. After leaving the Hampton Inn in Pueblo, we hit IHOP for breakfast and gassed up. While I was in the station getting some coffee, I came back out with cones behind our car still parked at the pump. Apparently the lady in front of us wasn't paying attention and the gas overflowed. The fire department was supposedly called after we were pushed out of our spot in neutral. So, on to Pike's Peak. The drive there was pretty incredible too, very scenic. Pike's Peak was visible well before we even entered Pueblo, but this was the first time we could see it in daylight.
Skipping well ahead, after a very cool drive on the way to Pike's, we finally arrived. It was $20 for us to get in, but well worth the price. I'm not one for heights, AT ALL, but I'm very glad I decided to do this. We started to climb right away through the tall pines.
There were a few sharp turns with no railings which made me white knuckled. In no time, you could see for miles and miles until the horizon just ran out of space. It was pretty awesome, but also made me pretty uneasy with the thought of skipping over the edge. After we climbed quite a bit (can't remember how high), we turned a corner and it opened up to this AWESOME lake. This is called Crystal Reservoir. Honestly, I would have been happy just staying at this place the entire time. What a sight.
If you look pretty close, you can see a fisherman on the bank on that little jet out.
Zoomed in to 40mm.
We decided to walk down to the lake since all the shots from up top are probably a dime a dozen on the internet. I'm sure there are many from the lakside too, but I also wanted to see just how crystal clear the water was. This one was just starting on the path down.
Yeah, there are alot of pictures from this lake, but I just couldn't decide on which ones to throw in and leave out. After I took this picture, I noticed that ring high up in the cirrus surrounding the sun. If I hadn't seen this in the LCD, I might not have ever even noticed. I was just amazed by the sight in front of me to look up.
This is called a 22° sun halo. It is caused by glints of millions of ice crystals in the cirrostratus haze. I have seen many pictures on the internet of this atmospheric phenomena, but have never personally witnessed it. The closest I have ever seen was a circumzenithal arc, but that is just a tiny little thing in the sky. This was the first time I have ever seen this, pretty cool stuff.
Looking back over the reservoir.
Ok, back to the road. After climbing a bit more, we decided to pull off for a bit and grab some more shots. If my memory serves correctly, I believe this is somewhere around 8,000 feet.
Back on the road, I tried to snap a shot of the next elevation sign. Came out a little blurry, but you get the idea. Right about now my ears were really popping.
Up the road a little futher, there was another spot to pull off next to some sort of building with a green roof. Any Pike's Peak aficionado would be able to name what it is right off the top of their heads. Anyway, we are getting very close to our furthest point up. There's the Cruiser! Poor car. That thing went through some torture today. I'm not so sure the Cobalt would have been any better though. Hey, make fun of me if you need to, but that car saved us a TON on gas.
This shot is sort of a point of reference. Notice the sudden lack of pines as it nears the top and the ground WAAAAYYY down below. We are getting up there, fast.
As we keep climbing, the snow becomes deeper and deeper. I didn't get any shots of the really deep stuff at the top which was at least 10', but this was a pretty stark contrast with the 70° temps back at the bottom. I think right about now the temps are in the lower 40's/upper 30's.
One of the many steep turns without railings. A few of the times I could literally look out the window and look down the very steep cliffs. I just can't believe there aren't any railings up there. Supposedly they also have races up there in the summer. Count me out.
Even closer to the top. Seventeen of the nineteen road miles were open today which put us well above the timber line. This view was just awesome.
I think that sign should be changed to 2. There is no way I'd go 15 up those roads, but that's just me.
Panned back to the right. That's the reservoir way down there. I'd say we had risen just a tad in elevation.
A little further up the road, we ran out of pavement. Now it was just mud, and that made it even worse. Now I was really freaking out. I could just see us sliding right off now, especially on the way back down. Luckily we both were thinking the same thing so we turned it around. That was just getting a little too dangerous for my liking. This is now on the descent.
Back toward the very bottom, no more snow. Man, what a ride. We both got some very nice shots all the way up. Storms were on the nil the rest of the week so we just keep plugging north. Tomorrow we are on to the Badlands and the Black Hills.
On the way to our next stop, I saw a very rare sight: more virga. Kidding aside, I thought it looked pretty neat with the sunburst at the top. It turned even better later on but I was driving and to be honest, I was kind of tired of taking pictures for the day.
Ok, now I've heard that certain people were questioning my decision to take this vacation. Apparently I need to save my money for bigger and better things, which may be true I suppose. I just have to say, when will I EVER get the chance to do this again? Now is the perfect time, in my HUMBLE opinion. I'm single, I'm young, and I can do whatever I want to. Chances are I'll never be able to see what I saw thus far ever again. This is MY vacation. I hope everyone gets the chance to take at least one every year. I decided to do this. Maybe it wasn't a good idea, I don't know. I guess I'm just different than other people, but I don't think that's such a bad thing. I don't conform to others peoples' "way of life" because they think it's the right way to live. It's not that big of a deal at all really, but I just have to say that I really don't like others questioning all of my decisions in life. I hear it a little too often. Anyway, enough of that. Tomorrow has even more in store.