Colorado Springs & Pike's Peak

We are on our way to the International Airstream Rally in Gillette, WY, having left our home in the North Texas Airstream Community on June 2. We stayed overnight in an RV/trucker Wal-Mart parking lot in Childress and then camped the second night at a free city RV park in Dumas, TX. Nothing cheap about us. After traveling through a little corner of New Mexico, we arrived at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs on day three and remained in the famcamp for three nights. On Saturday we had lunch and fellowship with friends, Dick and Ann, who used to live in Northern Virginia near us. Ann was one of Gloria’s favorite teaching pals.

On Sunday we worshipped at the famous Air Force Cadet Chapel, an architectural marvel. We then chugged our way around many treacherous switchbacks and up the precipitous paved and gravel, 19-mile road to the stately summit of historic Pike’s Peak, which reaches over 14,000 feet. Midway, we stopped and enjoyed sunshine, brisk breezes, and a sumptuous picnic packed by Gloria. The higher we climbed the colder it got. Remnants of snow adorned the surrounding cavernous mountainsides.

Gold was discovered in a volcanic cavern on the side of the great mountain just before the 20th Century, and this sparked the last gold rush in the lower 48 states. After the Native Americans, early explorers, and miners groped their way up the scenic mountain on mule back during the 19th century. A cog railroad was added in 1891 and is still operative. It has thrilled millions of passengers who have viewed spectacular vistas, thousands of acres of aspen trees, and cascading streams on their way to the summit. This is the highest reaching cog railroad in the world and operates year-round.

Pike’s Peak is called America’s Mountain largely because Katharine Lee Bates traveled to the top via carriage in 1883 and was so enthralled by her view of the Rockies and rolling plains that she wrote the words to “America the Beautiful” in 1883, which was actually a poem meant to celebrate the 4th of July. There are two huge plaques at the visitor’s center on top of the mountain commemorating her words and acknowledging her achievement. The tune is attributed to Samuel A. Ward. This hymn has remained popular through the ages and is sometimes highlighted at sporting events instead of our National Anthem.

The weather changes rapidly on Pike’s Peak and winds can reach 100 mph. Huge black clouds gathered as we took our last photos, and we were glad to get down off the mountain before the rains came.