The Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway is a 8.9 mile cog railway operating from Manitou Springs to the summit year-round, conditions permitting.

Below: Here comes the Cog Train, ready to take the two RV Gypsies up Pikes Peak.

Below: The Cog Train passed Crystal Lake on the way up Pikes Peak.

Below: Scenery out the window of the Cog Train as it chugs its way up Pikes Peak.

Below: Oil Creek Mine in the far distance

Automobiles can be driven to the summit via the Pikes Peak Highway, a 19 mile road that starts a few miles up Ute Pass at Cascade. The cog train passed over the curvy road. This road, which until October 2011 was unpaved after the halfway point, has steep, twisty slopes, and a series of switchbacks that are treacherous at high speed, called "The W's" for their shape on the side of the mountain. The road is maintained by the City of Colorado Springs as a TOLL ROAD.

At the peak, the partial pressure of oxygen is only 60% of that at sea level, so a faster rate of respiration is required by those not regularly at high altitudes. Those familiar with altitude training know that prolonged exposure to the reduced pressures of high altitudes will produce more red blood cells to offset the lower oxygen availability. For the unacclimatized, altitude sickness may develop in those who are sensitive or who over-exert themselves.

Conditions at the top are typical of a high alpine environment. Snow is a possibility any time year-round, and thunderstorms are common in the summer, bringing hail and wind gusts occasionally of over 100 mph. (Actually, some pea size hail did fall upon Karen while she was on Pikes Peak, but the hail only lasted about one minute). Lee was inside buying donuts that turned out to be very stale; guess that's why the doughnuts were on sale.

Pikes Peak was the home of a ski resort from 1939 until 1984.

Below: The two RV Gypsies reached the summit of Pikes Peak - 14,110 feet.

Below: The view from the summit of Pikes Peak

Below: Even people with their dogs got really close to the edge.

Pikes Peak - America's Mountain: The Inspiration for America The Beautiful, Penned by Katharine Lee Bates

Below: Karen Duquette at yet another Great Continental Divide sign

Below: Lee Duquette checked out the view below.

Below: The Manitou Cog Train on the summit of Pikes Peak.

Below: The laughing clip art dude told Karen Duquette to "Watch out - there's a cog train right behind you!" OH MY! - DUH! - It was the back end of the cog train.

Below: Karen Duquette safely back on the cog train and headed back down Pikes Peak.

Below: The camera is NOT crooked - the Cog Train TRACK IS SLANTED. The Manitou Incline averages almost a 40% grade, gaining 2,011 feet in elevation over a length of approximately 1 mile with the maximum grade being 68%.

Below: Nearing the bottom of Pikes Peak, the scenery was no longer all rocky, and had more trees.

Below; Wildlife on Pikes Peak: One of the most magnificent creatures seen at these elevations is Colorado's state mammal - the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep.

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