Blogs from Pikes Peak, Colorado, United States, North America

Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog railway is world’s highest cog railway. Cog rails use cog wheels to climb steep slopes, are different than conventional ‘adhesion’ type rails. This train runs officially from 1891 and has a very good safety record. You’ll never get bored on this three hours trip toward the peak for ever changing landscapes from temperate region to Alpine Tundra. Every layer has its unique features. As you move upwards nature unveils its hidden treasures. Let’s have a look from beginning of the journey up to the summit 14,110 ft in pictures. Photo credits: Saad Haider... read more

Wednesday, 25 June, 2014 After a hearty breakfast we drove through old Manitou Springs to the depot of the Manitou and Pikes's Peak Cog Railway. Parking was pretty tight, but the attendants were experienced at fitting all the vehicles into the parking lots. Sean and I browsed through both gift shops in the depot before it was time to board the train. We boarded about 20 minutes before departure time and I turned the camera over to Sean to take pictures during our ascent. He did pretty well, I think. There were a few small waterfalls on the way up and lots of trees and Colorado granite boulders. Once past the tree line, we could see nearly to Kansas. We saw several yellow bellied marmots around the rocks near the summit. Once at the top, elevation ... read more

Well how was that for a little excitement ??? I'm thinking it was just a little too exciting for me but thank goodness Mr. John was ready, willing and able to come out and rescue us so we didn't have to spend the entire night in the middle of a cow pasture out in the middle of nowhere. I was so delriously tired when we arrived at the Wal-Mart in Woodland Park, Co last night that I didn't even notice how nice it was. When I got up this morning and took a peak out the window I was really surprised. This Wal-Mart was fancy, it had stacked stone from the bottom to the top and then entrance looked like the inside of a log cabin. It kinda felt like we had slept at the Ritz ... read more