Damo's Diary: July 2005

Facing the Rapids of the Arkansas River

Hi there,

Well after bagging Pikes Peak, I wanted to discover more of Colorado. So I took up the offer of one of my American co-workers to go white water rafting. I went with Jay and Marilyn, leaving at about 6:30am to drive to the rafting location.

It was a day trip down the Arkansas River. We got breakfast and lunch included in our fee. We started in the township of Buena Vista and went just under 29km (18 miles) down stream passing through almost a dozen rapids.

It was a beautiful sunny day, so I slapped on plenty of sunscreen. This was mainly due to the fact I still managed to get sunburnt climbing the summit of Pikes Peak.

The first few rapids were not too bad, but after lunch they became much more difficult. The one photo below is of our raft travelling through one of the rapids after lunch. Our guide called this rapid “Zoom Floom”.

Shortly after passing that rapid we hit some bigger white water which tossed out one of our crew and our guide! I managed to hang on, as did Jay and Marilyn. We were able to rescue our guide, but another raft had to rescue the lady who went over the side.

After that the rapids weren’t quite as violent and continued without incident. We got back around 4:30pm and I was able to purchase the photo of our raft and some tourist souvenirs.

Then we went out for dinner at a steakhouse. You could only order prime rib-eye in weights varying from 8-20oz (230-570g)! It was still a very welcome meal of protein after my couple of days of activity.

Below are some of the photos I took before I left on the trip. Enjoy!

Cheers for now,
Damo

WEB LINKS: www.inaraft.com

This is another attempt at using the panoramic funtion of my camera. Here you can see about 12 of the major peaks in the Rockies. I took the photo at Wilkerson Pass (elevation of ~2,897m[9507ft]).

The hot air balloon on the right was one of many we saw on the way to Buena Vista.

The plataeu in front of the Rockies is known at South Park. I believe this is where the cartoon is based.

Here's a not so good photo of me at Wilkerson Pass on the way to Buena Vista.

Here's a closer shot of the summit of one of the many that make up the Rockies.

And yet another peak. This photo was taken at Buena Vista.

Here's a van with one of the rafts used on our trip.

Finally, here's the photo of us passing through "Zoom Floom". I'm on the left bow, and Jay and Marilyn are on the right bow and centre.

Bagging Pikes Peak

Hi there,

Well what an action packed week I’ve had.

After working flat out for the week training at the Thermo office in Colorado Springs, I wanted to do a bit of site seeing.

I decided to climb Pikes Peak near Manitou Springs. Known as ‘America’s Mountain’, Pikes Peak stands at 14,110 feet (~4300 metres) above sea level! To hike to the top, I trekked to Barr trail. The trail to the peak from Manitou Springs is 13 miles (~21km) long and starts at an elevation of 6,607ft (~2014m). Now for a comparison, Adelaide is around 350m (~1,148ft) above sea level and Brisbane is around 650m (~2,132ft).

For those of you who don’t know, the greater the elevation, the less oxygen there is. This means it’s very difficult breathe when you’re already struggling for breath climbing to the top.

Anyway, I set out at about 5:35am at Manitou Springs. The reason for starting so early was to try and make it to the peak before the unpredictable weather changed. It was a brisk morning, but then again I was leaving right on sun rise!

I made it to the first flat section of the trail (approx. 2.5 miles) in about 70 minutes or so. To get there I had to trek through about 30 or 40 switch backs. GRRR and I thought they were pretty hard; I had no idea what I was in for.

As I got cracking on Barr trail again, I met some folks from the USAF (United States Air Force). Two of them were seasoned hikers, having climbed higher altitude peaks before. They offered for me to hike with them to the peak, I was thankful for the company and to hike with some experienced hikers.

We made it to Barr Camp (3,100m above sea level) at around 8am. I had the ‘lovely’ photo below taken in front of the hut. You can buy drinks and energy food supplies there. The hut is also accommodates overnight hikers. After a 20 minute break we headed of for the half way point at ‘Timber Line’.

Timber Line is just as its name suggests, the point were trees can no longer grow due to the altitude (this is where the ice cap extends to during the winter months). The last shelter before reaching the peak is here in the form of a little A-frame hut. The hardest part of the hike was to come. Timber Line is around 11,500ft (~3,505m) from sea level and about 3 miles (~4.8km) from the peak.

This was the hardest four and a half k’s I’ve ever walked. Out of the trees, the air seemed to be almost twice as thin, making breathing hard. As we got to around 3.2km from the peak, I was at a real energy low. Thankfully JD, one of the USAF guys, had a spare protein bar. So I wolfed it down along with about half a litre of water. I finally got some energy back, and was able to push on. We made our way across several snow melts and numerous switch backs, and I had to take lots and lots of rests to catch my breath.

Finally after almost 8 hours of hiking this ‘flat lander’ made it to the top of Pikes Peak. At the peak, there is a gift shop and a café. This is because there’s a road and railway to the top. But I decided to get there the old fashioned way, and take the shuttle bus down!

By this time the batteries of my camera had died, and I forgot to pack my spares. So I purchased a disposable camera and took some more photos. I also got someone to take a photo of me at the peak. After doing a bit souvenir shopping I went to catch the shuttle, only to find out I missed it by 10mins! I had to wait almost another 2 hours before I began my decent. An hour or so later I arrived back at Manitou Springs and drove back to the motel.

Below are some of the photos I took on the way up. Enjoy!

Cheers for now,
Damo

P.S. Pikes Peak is NOT the highest mountain in Colorado. It is 31st out of the 54 mountains in the state over 14,000 feet, the highest being Mt. Elbert at 14,433 feet.

WEB LINKS: www.pikespeak.com

www.cograilway.com

The trail marker at the head of the trail, the start of my journey.

At the first switch back of many, many to come. Not much of a view yet.

Sunrise over Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs. This was at about 20 minutes to 6.

The sun peaking its way over the horizon.

My goal: Pikes Peak summit seams so far away!

Two massive boulders creating an arch across the trail.

This is Barr Camp. Note the elevation under the deer antlers and long-horned sheep skull.

My view of Barr Trail as I got about half way to Barr Camp.

Well what a great photo!

As we started to get closer to Timber Line, more of these little creeks appeared.

Here's the back of my fellow hikers from the USAF.

This is Timber Line Hut. This is the last shelter on Barr Trail until you reach the summit.

Here you can see the distinct Timber Line where the tundra starts and the trees stop growing.

This is a yellow-bellied marmot. It's beaver sized rodent that lives in the tundra of the Rockies. I almost got a better shot of it, but the batteries went flat in my camera!