We woke up in Colorado Springs in time to grab some breakfast and head over to take the Cog train up to Pikes Peak. The depot for the train was not too far from the hotel through a cute little town that had lots of cafes and art galleries and other quaint little shops along one main street.
The Depot was crowded but it was very efficient, the train before ours was just leaving as we got there so we had a bit of time to take pictures, get some souvenirs and see the views.
We boarded the train – we were in the first car sitting facing forward. The car was packed with people including people facing us sitting almost knee to knee. The train slowly climbed it’s way up the mountain for about an hour. We saw lots if views on the way up and some marmots. There were some big horn sheep in the distance that we didn’t get a great view of. Once we reached the top we were at 14,115 feet and I started to feel sick almost immediately – light headed, and nauseous. We worked our way around the viewing platforms around the depot at the top making pictures anyway. It was cold but not overly so.
View from the top of Pike’s Peak
View from the top of Pike’s Peak
View from the top of Pike’s Peak
View from the top of Pike’s Peak
View from the top of Pike’s Peak
View from the top of Pike’s Peak
View from the top of Pike’s Peak with a lake in the distance
View from the top of Pike’s Peak with a lake in the distance
View from the top of Pike’s Peak with a lake
I was still feeling pretty shaky so we went into the cafeteria at the top and got a couple of their donuts and sat on a bench for a few minutes to recover. The train was boarding so we headed back to the train for the trip back to the bottom but not before I told Conrad that “I had almost perished”.
The ride back to the bottom was faster and we did see a whole herd of big horn sheep but too far away to get photos. Conrad has been wanting to get pictures of big horn sheep for years but this wasn’t going to be our chance after all. When we reached the bottom we again saw the antique car people from the hotel, they were just arriving at Pikes Peak for a ride on the train.
Once we returned to the bottom we headed back to the hotel and decided to get some lunch at a nearby pizza place before heading to Garden of the Gods.
We first stopped at an overlook near Garden of the Gods where there is supposed to be a herd of Big Horn Sheep but we didn’t see any.
Garden of the Gods Overlook
Garden of the Gods Overlook
After the overlook we headed into the park proper to a parking lot that we had scoped out the day before where we could hike a circular trail and see many of the large rock formations. We saw some climbers on the rocks and a group of fireman practicing a rescue on the rocks. You are allowed to climb the rocks with a permit.
Rock formations at Garden of the Gods
Rock formations at Garden of the Gods
Rock formations at Garden of the Gods
Rock formations at Garden of the Gods
Rock formations at Garden of the Gods
Rock formations at Garden of the Gods and some climbers on the rocks (white dot in middle and another climber about 100 feet above the first climber).
Rock formations at Garden of the Gods
Rock formations at Garden of the Gods
Rock formations at Garden of the Gods
Rock formations at Garden of the Gods
Rock formations at Garden of the Gods
Rock formations at Garden of the Gods
Rock formations at Garden of the Gods
We were sad that we hadn’t seen any Bog Horn Sheep and felt that we were out of luck as we returned to the car. Just as we reached the parking lot we looked up ahead and across from the parking lot in the distance were a bunch of Big Horn Sheep climbing on the rocks. Conrad loaned his binoculars to a lot of people in the parking lot so that they could also see while I took pictures.
Big Horn Sheep at Garden of the Gods
Big Horn Sheep at Garden of the Gods
Big Horn Sheep at Garden of the Gods
We left the parking lot and wound around to also see balanced rock before we left.
Balanced Rock
Balanced Rock
After we left Garden of the Gods we headed back to the hotel to rest a bit before dinner. We then went to dinner at Carrabas. We had a great waiter and a great dinner. Tomorrow we are headed back to Denver and then home first thing the next morning.