Pikes Peak

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Pikes Peak (formerly Pike's Peak, see below) is a mountain in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, near Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is named for Zebulon Pike, an explorer who led an expedition to the southern Colorado area in 1806. It is one of the 54 peaks in Colorado whose summits are taller than 14,000 feet (known as "fourteeners"). It is not the tallest, however; that distinction falls to Mount Elbert (14,440 feet (4401 m))

Much of the fame of Pikes Peak is due to its location near the eastern edge of the Rockies. Unlike most other similarly tall mountains in Colorado, it serves as a visible landmark for many miles to the east, far into the Great Plains. Driving south on Interstate 25 from the city of Fort Collins, it comes into view over a hundred and thirty miles away. It is notable for its imposing appearance both from the east (167Kb image) and from the west (179Kb image).

Gold was discovered in the area in 1858. Pike's Peak or Bust became the slogan of the Colorado Gold Rush; see also Fifty-Niner.

In July 1860, Clark, Gruber & Co. began minting gold coins in Denver bearing the phrase "Pikes Peak Gold" and an artist's rendering of the peak on the obverse. As the artist had never actually seen the peak, it looks nothing like it. In 1864 the US Government purchased the minting equipment to open their own mint.

Katharine Lee Bates was moved to write the words to the song "America the Beautiful" after having travelled to the top of Pikes Peak in a carriage ride. Former president Woodrow Wilson was a traveller on the same carriage ride.

After a failed attempt to climb to the top of Pikes Peak by Zebulon Pike and his men, Pike claimed that no one had ever, nor would ever reach the top of Pikes Peak.

Today there are three ways in which one can prove Pike wrong. There is a cog railroad which goes to the summit of Pikes Peak from April until December. You can also take the Pikes Peak Highway, a 19 mile road which starts in Manitou Springs and is unpaved after the halfway point. This road is a toll road made famous worldwide by a short film featuring Ari Vatanen driving his Peugeot up the steep, twisty slopes as part of the annual Pikes' Peak hillclimb race. The road has a series of trecherous switchbacks called "the w's"- which look like two sideways w's on the side of the mountain. This road is maintained by city of Colorado Springs. The third route is the Barr Trail, which is suitable if you wish to walk, hike, ride a bike, or pursue one of the oddball feats many have accomplished (such as dribble a soccer ball to the top, walk backwards, or push a peanut with your nose up to the top.) Regardless of how one gets to the top, conditions are not very hospitable. The thin air gives one only 50% of the oxygen available at sea level. Snow is a possibility any time of day or night 12 months a year, and in the summer, thunderstorms are common, bringing "small-pumpkin" sized hail and occasionally 100+ mph wind gusts. Lightning is especially dangerous above treeline.

Pikes Peak was once the home of a ski resort, but ironically, it closed due to a lack of snow. Pikes Peak doesn't receive the massive snowdrops that other mountains and expensive snowmaking was required to make this resort feasible, Unfortunately, the high winds on Pikes Peak would often blow this artificial snow away. ("To Kansas" as one of the former owners of the resort put it).

Originally the peak was called "Pike's Peak", but in 1891, the newly-formed US Board on Geographic Names recommended against the use of apostrophes in names, so officially the name of the peak does not include an apostrophe. In addition, in 1978 the Colorado state legislature passed a law mandating the use of "Pikes Peak" only. Even so, the old name is still often seen.

Pikes Peak is made of a characteristic pink granite, called Pikes peak granite. The pink color is due to a large amount of potassium feldspar. The granite was formed by an igneous intrusion in the Pre-Cambrian age, approximately 1.1 billion years ago, during the Granville orogeny.

Pikes Peak has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

External links

• Live and archived images of Pikes Peak (http://www.pikespeakcam.com/)
• Pikes Peak page at 14ers.com (http://www.14ers.com/photos/PikesPeak/p_pikespeak.html)
• Pikes Peak Web Ring (http://v.webring.com/hub?ring=pikespeak) (Yahoo!)
• Pikes Peak on Bivouac.com (http://bivouac.com/MtnPg.asp?MtnId=9498)de:Pikes Peak