Pikes Peak Again...it looked great...at the start

October 1 and time for the second trip up Pikes Peak, and the last 14er hike, of the season.

This was also the first opportunity to get Herb out since last year's bout with GBS laid him up for most of the year, literally; bed, wheelchair, walker, etc.

But this isn't a story about the challenge Herb had in getting to the top, because it really didn't seem to be that difficult for him. He took the lead, set the pace and basically motored to the top.

It may have been the prospect of the world famous Summit House Donut's. He was a cop after all, and being a connoisseur of deep fried dough is part of the job description, at least as TV programs have lead us to believe.

This is a story about how fast conditions can change.

The hike up started at the Devils Playground about 3.5 miles and 1500' below the summit.

We didn't get the normal early start because on October 1 the opening time for the Pikes Peak Highway changes from 7:30am to 9am. This meant that once through the gate and going 16 miles up the road we didn't hit the trail until 9:30am.

The sun was out, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

About halfway up I took this picture, which showed the first cloud of the day in the background over the summit. This shot was
taken at about 10:15am

This wasn't a surprise as there was a 10% chance of thunderstorms after noon in the forecast.

The only change in the normal trail up was going to be going around the boulder field above the road in the background. Herb felt his balance was not what he wants it to be in attacking a scramble and this boulder field is a scramble in places (four points of contact).

This would mean traveling along the side of the road, which is forbidden, but we were going to play the ADA (American with Disability Act) Card, if stopped.

Guess what...we got stopped and guess what Herb played the card.

Kent Chaney, The Ranger, gave us a pass. You may wonder how I remember or even got his name...read on.

We decided to try the boulders at the very top and get

off the road, as "The donuts were calling and we had to go"...really we had to go.

An apology is owed to Ansel Adams to the usurping and modifying of one of his famous quotes. Oh, and also to Flo of Progressive Insurance commercial fame.

Besides Herb and Marlys moving through the snow and boulders, look at the cumi's forming to the north over Woodland Park in the background.

At this point it is a walk of about a block to the Summit House and the actual summit.

Even though summer vacations were over, the summit was crowded. Even Detroit Diesel had a couple of there semi-tractors up there doing a high altitude test run.

But hey, the sun was still out and the group was real happy to have topped out.

Finding someone to take a picture is pretty easy at the summit sign.

Again I bring your attention to the cumi's in the background and their vertical development.

BTW: you may be asking "Whats this thing with cumi's and cloud's?" Those of you that have read some of the first posts to this blog know that at one time, I was an avid hang glider and paraglider pilot. Cumi's are the manna from heaven for soaring pilots as they tend to mark the top of a thermal, the engine of un-powered flight.

Back to the pictures. Usually it is a trade-off, e.g. you take my groups picture and we will take yours. An interesting observation was that every camera handed to me to take a group's picture was actually a iPhone, not a purpose built camera. I have to confess that I too am split between using a phone camera and our Sony camera. The shots on this post are split about 50/50 .

Now to get to the restroom and then some of those donuts.

After a bit of a rest, and of course 8 of those world famous Summit House donuts, we headed down.

The cumi's are no longer the puffy white cotton ball fair weather clouds of the hike up.

As you can see in this picture they are now dark. This can be a sign of the moisture accumulating and ultimately a sign of possible precip.

Also many times when moisture starts moving around in the cloud an electrical charge builds up. When if reaches a certain point...boom, lightening and its accompanying thunder.

About five minutes after taking this picture...boom.

There is a good rule of thumb that says, if you can hear the thunder you can get hit by the lightening.

We are completely exposed! No where to go other then a retreat to the Summit, but that means going higher and being a even better lightening rod.

We kept going down hill, wanting to get to the east side of the mountain and get some rock and other stuff between us and the storm. Don't know if this strategy was the best, but it was the plan.

Along the way the cumi's started dropping precip, graupel in this case. Graupel happens when precip can't decide if it wants to be hail or snow. I guess since precip is not self-aware (meaning it doesn't recognize itself in a mirror) it probably has more to do with the temperature. Speaking of which, the temp was dropping as the moisture pulled the heat from the air...the sun no longer warmed us.

The thunder was being heard more often, but so far the lightening seemed to be staying cloud-to-cloud (most common lightening).

We were screwed!

Lightening is what makes Pikes Peak one of the most dangerous mountains in the US according to Backpacker Magazine. The moisture rolls in from the SE and is pushed up against the front range where is condenses (clouds) and ultimately can build into a thunderstorm with its inherent lightening.

As we are hot footing it down, along comes Kent. His salutation is "Get into the truck".

Yahoo! Off to the Summit...again. Kent needs to get folks into their cars or the Summit House as this electrical storm moves in...people standing exposed are the lightening rods.

We jammed into the Tundra and off we went. Stopping every time we meet other hikers where Kent tells them to get their thumbs out and hitch a ride either to the bottom or the top.

At the top Kent gets on the P.A. and tells folks to take cover. One hiker that had just summited walks up to the drivers window and her hair is standing on end. Folks that is not a good sign!

Summited for the second time of the day.

Off we go with Kent down the mountain to our car at the Devil's Playground (so named because of the way lightening can jump between rocks during a storm). He is stopping at each group of hikers along the way telling them to get a ride.

Those who have hair (sorry Bill), that is not somehow held in place, look like somethings out of Discovery Channel show experiment, as it is standing up.

We get to the car and it is surrounded by a dozen women that have just come up from the Crag's Trailhead. They were thinking about crowding into it, because Herb had not locked it, and it is the only shelter beyond a couple of culvert (metal) going under the highway.

We offered to take three down with us and told the others just what Kent was telling everyone, get out your thumb.

After what seemed like too much discussion three of them climbed into the Subaru, even into the third row seating...wait a minute there is no third row in a Outback.

The curving road down the mountain did not sit well with the third row and eventually we needed to stop for a oral donation to a nearby tree.

It was decided to rotate the third row passenger.

I think the third row also accused Herb and I of "bantering". What's that all about?

By the time we got to Woodland Park the upper mountain was very angry looking, enclosed by dark clouds and with cloud to ground lightening. A good place not to be, if not in a car or a building.

As we are heading down we see a number of motorcyclist heading up, I am not sure if that provides any protection or just a faster moving target. Since lightening travels at just about the speed of light (186K miles per second, as I recall), I don't think a motorcyclist, even at speed, would have much of a chance at out running a strike.

As for our riders, they were from around the country, so they get a bit of a pass, but we are from around here and know this can happen. Thanks Kent.