Pike’s Peak

So I was wondering about this weekend.  I was considering going home for the first time since I came here (January).  I am sure my parents would love to see me, and I have an awesome cousin still in the area.  So I looked it up, and it’s approximately 8 1/2 hours!  Not to mention about $80 in gas round trip.

That’s not too crazy, I thought.  But what else can I do with my time?  What is 8.5 hours in the other direction?  Colorado!

Colorado seems like a pretty cool state.  And I always wanted to visit the mountains.  I’m sure you can guess what famous mountain I discovered that is in the 8.5 hour range (if not, then you are too dense for my blog.  Please escort yourself out the side entrance.)

Well actually, its more like 9.5 hours away, but I think that’s a small price to pay to visit some awesome mountains!  Pike’s peak is right next to Colorado Springs, CO.  Their official site is pretty lame, but useful.

Of course Wikipedia’s entry of Pike’s Peak is better, and they even have a link to the Pikes Peak Marathon.  Oh man that sounds tough!

“the race is considered to be much more difficult than standard 26.2-mile (42-km) marathons. This is attested to by the best times for the round trip being typically just under 4 hours (versus the regular "flat land" marathon times of just over 2 hours). Although the average grade of the slope is 11%, some sections are much steeper because the central portion of the race is actually relatively flat.”

 

 

(several images blatantly stolen from http://www.stevegarufi.com/pikespeaksummit.htm)

I don’t think I could handle a race up a mountain, but I could sure hike that!  The marathon is both up and down Barr Trail, meaning it’s only 12.6 miles to the summit.  I would love to pull a Survivorman up a mountain like this.  Supposedly the temperature difference from the bottom to top of mountain is 40 degrees!

Barr Camp is a neat site, talking about the camp halfway up the mountain, and a little about the trail itself.

Anyway, something like this sounds awesome.  Maybe I will blog about it later if I can make the plans coincide with the 1-week vacation I get this year!