Pikes Peak Trip Report

“A long overdue trip report for my trek up Pikes Peak in July. Feel free to critique.
Hikechick's Colorado 14'er Site”

“Booo Hoooo! I can climb a freakin mountain but I'm not bright enough to get that html thingie to work. Oh Phil, violin, anyone out there?

Here's the link:

http://hikechick.tripod.com/hikechickscolorado14ersite/id7.html”

“Mountainchick get's a clue. . .take 2:
Hikechick's Colorado 14'er Site”

“Wooo Hoooo! I am no longer mountainchick. . . I am now "the enlightened one!". . . who is talking to herself way to much right now. he he”

“Well done hikechick.

It was fun to read through your narrative. Nice photos. I like the first one the best. -

Good job on the site too. I bookmarked it for the landscape map being developed.”

“Great report and photos HC. I especially liked the part about the burgers and fires at the top. That's always been one of my hiking fantasies- usually after the 3rd day of ramen. That was an inspirational site; I have a bunch of Montana trips/pics I should post somewhere, but I have take some time to figure it out.”

“Great report! I'd like to do some backpacking in Colorado next summer.”

“WOW Mountainchick! LOVE those views! I gotta git to Colorado soon.

The temps here in Louisiana today were around 90 with humidity in the high 80s. Makes ya homesick, don't it?

BTW I sent you a return email re fall hiking, give me a shout back when ya get a chance.”

“Wow! Awesome views! Thanks for sharing and great name there! :)”

“Great report and pics mountainchick. I went out there in March to do Pikes Peak as part of a LNT course. Weather turned real bad and we ended up in the Black Forest area. Wish I could have made it!!”

“Nice!”

“Loved your pictures! You did great hiking up to the top. It's so barren up there.”

“Nice report, gee it looks different than when I was there...

Pike's Peak in Iowa

Sorry I couldn't resist - it was the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread.”

“Great Trip, Mountainchick! My brother climbed that trail this May, and got stuck on the top when afternoon thunderstorms started at 10:00am that day. I climbed it via the Bar Trail (7400 ft elevation gain) last year. I've been on the Banana Rock trail which you used to access The Devil's Playground ... lovely area & great access to west slope points of interest! We are looking at the Lost Creek Wilderness 24 mile loop for our next sojourn.”

“Way to keep us up on Colorado hikes! I love that back way up Pikes Peak. I did it once in March (very little snow) and couldn't eat my lunch when I stopped on the ridge above Devil's Playground. On the way up I'd been thinking "you're doggin'it! You used to climb mountains faster than this!" That was the worst altitude sickness I've had. I'd driven up from Texas the day before.

Keep posting, you're cool.”

“Very nice mc. I love the names they gave all those places. They show something about how those early folks felt about those mountains.”

“Pikes Peak 2002????”

“2002! 2003! 2004! ect. . . blah, blah blah”

“Mountainchick do you ever have a problem with altitude sickness? I read on another thread that Diamox (acetazolamide) works well. Ever use it?”

“Yep. 2 weeks ago while coming down off of Grays Peak I got extremely sick. My head felt like it was going to explode, I became quite dizzy and I was nauseous. By the time I made it back to the trailhead, I could barely stand up. I have never taken medicine for it but I might consider packing some. I would hate to feel that bad on an ascent. It would have been enough to make me turn back.”

“I hiked a portion of Pike's Peak a couple years ago. It was a very memorable occasion. I hiked solo, which was a nice change in itself. I took the Severy Creek Trail (which I think may now be closed) from Crow Gulch (~8000ft)to Glen Cove(~12,000ft). It started in Aspen groves and was fairly level terrain, being from flat Illinois I thought I was going get off easy. As I started climbing out of the Aspens and into pine trees, the hiking got harder. Now, I'm not in super shape, but I don't think of myself as in terrible shape either. I think the combination of thinning air and uphill climbing (two things I'm not used to) really got to me. I was out of breath the whole time. I even stopped for about 30min to eat lunch just below treeline and I caught my breath a little but as soon as I started hiking again I sounded like I had just sprinted 5 miles or so. Once I got above treeline the temperature cooled quite a bit and it wasn't much further to Glen Cove. I saw only one other hiker the whole trip. It ended up taking me about 5 1/2hrs to hike about 6 miles. I haven't been back to colorado since, but looking back, I would gladly put myself through it all again to spend some time up there in complete solitude. It was definitely a moving experience.”