Pikes Peak

[wswebster]

Not with the Montana or our SOB MH. I was just wondering how many have made the drive and how was it. We'll be in the area in Sept. DH would rather take the Cog Train but I think I'd rather drive and take some pictures.

[jimcol]

Nothing to it as far as driving goes. On the trip down you will need to use your transmission to keep from over heating the brakes. We have gone to the peak both ways, cog and vehicle. I think I preferred the car for scenery and ease of schedule.

[awaywego]

As jimcol says, nothing to it. Great drive. Here are the photos.
http://travel.webshots.com/album/74902387zvmgMH

[footloose]

Ah, that brings back memories of our trip up Pike's Peak in 1995. When we were about 3 miles from the top, Dick said the brakes really weren't right and we'd better go back down. To put it mildly, I was not a "happy camper" thinking we might not have brakes. We inched our way down in first gear. I have a fear of heights, so I didn't see much of the view -- my eyes were closed the whole time. We took it immediately to a Ford dealer and they said we needed a new master cylinder, which they installed. We set out again, but Dick was still concerned about the brakes. We found out in Albuquerque that it wasn't the master cylinder at all. Once the wheels and brake drums were taken off, it was discovered there was no brake lining whatsoever on one side -- it had worn down to bare metal. It turned out that the parking cable had frozen on and burned the brakes out. And we had driven over the Rockies like this!! It appears that the trailer brakes were what saved us as we descended the mountains. Ah those were the days of our first year of full-timing. I know you won't have those kind of problems. What I saw of the views, it was really quite beautiful. Have fun and enjoy!
Sharon

[Waynem]

We were there about 3 weeks ago. We took the COG. It allowed me to sit back and enjoy the ride. The scenery on the drive, I have heard, is better than the COG, but the COG was interesting. We had a good tour guide/driver of the COG.

[adelmoll]

We have done both and prefer the drive... The only reason we took the COG last time is because the road wasn't open yet.. We went thru 10 ft snow drifts on the train and it was so cold when we got to the top that we couldn't enjoy the view. That was in April of 2009. We drove it in October and it was an awesome view with all the fall colors.

Helen