Pike's Peak and Garden of the Gods, CO

Welcome to Pike's Peak!

First glimpse of Pike's Peak.

As we started out, we were told that the area past

12,000 was closed due to high winds.  Here

is a shot of the valley below.

Lucky for us, they opened the road the

rest of the way to the summit.  We are now

above the timber line.

Check out the rock climber on the top

right.  Pike's Peak is a favorite of climbers

 and bicyclists.

Up a little over 12,000 feet.

That's the road we will drive on next.

Made it to the summit!

It was 36 degrees and the winds were howling!

I could not walk to the sign, so Bill did.

I was hanging on for dear life to the parking sign.

These were the switch backs we drove

up on.  Now it is time to go down!

A few more switch backs.

Note there are a couple of reservoirs

on the top left.

Wind and water smooths the stones, but ice

splits large rocks into rubble.

We took a short ride through Garden of the

Gods in Manitou Springs, CO.

I love the red rock formations!

Enjoy the view.

This red monolith against the blue

sky with the wispy clouds is beautiful!

Reluctantly, it was time to say good bye.