30 September 2017
Air Force Academy, CO FamCamp
We left Nebraska, yep Nebraska en route to Colorado. We had been warned by some Denver locals to be careful towing thru Denver. We did not have any problems, sure lots of traffic, many lanes, but we drove thru heading “south” towards the US Air Force Academy no problems.
Nice campground, and right across the street from the Fighting Eagles football stadium. Lucky for us they were on the road this weekend in New Mexico.
We are starting to get used to seeing airplanes on display everywhere on these air bases…. Where are all the M60s, M113s, or Hueys?
So we decided to drive up the Pikes Peak Highway, a 19 mile road that starts a few miles up Ute Pass at Cascade. The road has a series of switchbacks, called “The W’s” for their shape on the side of the mountain.
The summit of Pikes Peak at (14115 ft) has a polar climate due to its elevation. In fact the last 1000 feet of the road was closed due to snow just one hour before we got to the entrance (it is a toll road). It was 60 degrees at the entrance. I thanked them for the plowing the snow…and nope…we did not see Bigfoot.
The going is slow up hill, only a couple of guard rails, and steep cliffs, did I say steep cliffs….. believe it. The rule of the road, is traffic going up the road has the right of way. I thought that was odd until we drove it both directions, more on that later.
Pikes Peak is a fourteener (a mountaineering term) . Which is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least 14,000 feet. There are 96 fourteeners in the United States, all west of the Mississippi River. Colorado has the most (53) of any single state; Alaska is in second place with 29. And Denali, is over 20000 feet and it was amazing and I’m glad there was no road to go to the top of it.
At this elevation there is 40% less oxygen, and that is BIG deal… In fact the US Army has a research center there for the assessment of the impact of high altitude on humans. I can tell them, having less o2 is no fun.
So after we paid our toll, it was a nice uphill drive for about 6 miles or so until we got to a lake with a visitor center. What a view of the summit from here…….wow. Bought a t-shirt and continue the slow drive up the side of this huge mountain.
So as many know, my wife is not real fond of heights……but we did drive some sketchy “high” roads in Alaska and she did okay. Well, after maneuvering through the many “W’s”, at points you could not see anything over the very small shoulder of the road. Nothing but air, thin air at that. Ann Marie had to close her eyes, and after a while she was very pale. I was a little worried, but I had to keep my “hips” of the BFT off the shoulder, as there was no shoulder remember, so I was kind of busy.
The wind was hollering when we got to the summit, there was snow and ice everywhere. It was like we arrived in Antarctica.
Oh wait a second, its 2200 hrs, like most bases, I hear the “bugle” playing Taps outside. So lights out for me. God Bless America.
OK, up before reveille this morning and back to writing about it being very cold and windy at the summit. 😉
We bundled up, walked around and took some pictures then went inside the visitor center to warm up. There were many people sitting down in there trying to catch their breath, my wife was not alone.
The views in all direction were amazing and before you know it, we get back in the BFT to head down the mountain in first gear. After a short time I quickly realize it is much easier driving down the “W’s” of the mountain. So, as instructed, I yielded to all up hill traffic and let them put their driver side tires on the yellow line. Ann Marie was better going downhill so the ride was much more tolerable for her.
Many signs along the mountain side to down shift to 1st gear, and not to use your brakes (unless you really have to). Halfway down the mountain, there is a check point, where a guard,”shoots” your wheels with an infrared sensor to check your brake temps. I told him I used my brakes once, and that was to stop right here. I think he heard that before, took our temp and said “yep, 50 degrees, your right” He waved us through, the BFT passed the test!
What an incredible ride, doubt we will do it again, once is enough! Click on our video of our drive up and hold on!
