the G sides

Past weekend with my Dad and Mary was great. You’ve seen the skiing pictures but there’s more to do in Colorado than just ski. Although there’s nothing better than skiing…and touring micro-breweries.

Garden of Gods
It’s magnificent. Trails run all through the place - can turn the kids loose and enjoy the scenery. It sits at the foot of Pikes Peak and it’s free. Here we are taking the traditional picture at the entrance. I’m guessing every family that has ever visited Garden of the God has one of these pictures.

Kissing Camels is the name of this rock. You can see why. It’s pretty impressive - over 200 feet high and normally there are guys climbing this. The second picture is of 2 guys on the back side of Kissing Camels about to climb down. Their rope is all tangled up and as I was watching them I had the eerie feeling that neither one of them knew what the heck they were doing.

Pikes Peak
Here’s Dad standing in front of one of the plows on Pikes Peak road. Couple of interesting facts we learned about Pikes Peak. First, Zebulon Pike never reached the summit of this mountain. It’s the 31st tallest peak in Colorado. It used to have a ski resort on the mountain until 1984. The reason it doesn’t now is because the snow is not consistent enough. America the Beautiful was written here as well. Now you have some useless information to bore your friends with.

Here are two guys backpacking in to board. We saw some ski tracks up in the bowl on Pikes. You can completely do this all over the state - hike in/up, ski down backcountry style. It’s just that you better know what the heck you are doing and the mountain. Avalanches are always a threat as well as rocks and trees. You’ve got to be one heck of skier/rider who enjoys the powder and knows your limits. I’m going to do this one day. I need another season or two to get completely to that level.

Dad and I hiked up a ways to get a better view since the summit was closed. At close to 14,000 feet we immediately felt the loss of oxygen. Of course, Dad had the rougher go of it since he lives at sea level. Here’s proof that he made it. I’m pointing to where we live from the viewpoint of Pikes Peak.

Coming down was supposed to be easier!

During the summer and spring…people race down this road. In cars and on their feet. The Pikes Peak Marathon has more injuries coming down the mountain than going up. Just so you know.