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Pikes Peak

One-line summary: a 14,115-ft fourteener whose entire visible mass is a 1.08-billion-year-old Mesoproterozoic anorogenic A-type granite batholith — accessible by paved toll highway, the highest cog railway in North America, or a 13-mile Barr Trail slog — and the summit that inspired "America the Beautiful" in 1893.

Pikes Peak

One-line summary: a 14,115-ft fourteener whose entire visible mass is a 1.08-billion-year-old Mesoproterozoic anorogenic A-type granite batholith — accessible by paved toll highway, the highest cog railway in North America, or a 13-mile Barr Trail slog — and the summit that inspired "America the Beautiful" in 1893.

Scope note: this template covers steps 1–3 of the adventures pipeline (identify, support Maxine's research, shape goals). The deliverable webpage

  • video at step 6 is Maxine's own work — don't scaffold it here.

Links & Maps

Official:

Maps:

Reference & background:

Three ways up (read before choosing)

This is the single most important planning decision. The geology and the view are the same; the experience is completely different.

(1) Pikes Peak Highway (drive, paved, 19 mi to summit).

  • Pros: Stop-anywhere flexibility — pull off at the Bottomless Pit, Glen Cove, Devils Playground, every overlook. Take photographs at each life zone (montane, subalpine, alpine tundra) as the road climbs through them. Drive faster down if anyone is feeling unwell. Reasonable cost. Best for the geology nerd because you can stop and look at outcrops.
  • Cons: You're driving — Chris is busy steering through 156 switchbacks above timberline, not looking at scenery. Some drivers find it stressful (no guardrails on many sections above 12,000 ft). Cars overheat, brakes overheat; rangers force brake checks on descent at Glen Cove (mandatory ~140°F threshold). Not as visceral an ascent experience as the cog.
  • Best for: the geology-anchor option. This is the recommended choice for the Maxine trip given the curriculum is geology.

(2) Pikes Peak Cog Railway (rack railway, 8.9 mi to summit).

  • Pros: Hands-free for everyone — all three of you watching, not one of you driving. Narration from the conductor. The mechanical interest of the rack-and-pinion system itself is significant (it's the highest cog railway in North America; max grade ~25% on the line). Reopened 2021 after a $100M complete rebuild — new trains, new rails, new station, new everything. Climbs through the same life zones the road does but on a fixed corridor.
  • Cons: ~$50–$70/person/round-trip, fixed schedule, fixed 30–40 min summit time, no flexibility to descend early if someone feels bad mid-ride, sells out.
  • Best for: an alternate-day option or if Maxine is interested in the mechanical engineering of the railway. The rebuild story (one of the most expensive cog-railway rebuilds in history) is itself a topic.

(3) Barr Trail (hike, 13 mi one-way, 7,500 ft gain).

  • Pros: The real experience. You earn the summit; gradual ascent gives some altitude adaptation; you see all the life zones up close.
  • Cons: This is a hard hike for an experienced unacclimated 12-year-old. Even split as a 2-day with overnight at Barr Camp (10,200 ft, reservable), the summit-day continues to 14,115 ft after sleeping at 10,200 ft, which is a 4,000-ft same-day ascent. Considered borderline appropriate for the cohort; would want a serious training-hike history first.
  • Best for: a return trip when Maxine is 14+ and has done multi-day backpacks. Not the right choice for the first Colorado trip.

Recommendation: Drive the Pikes Peak Highway up, with at least two stops on the ascent for geology. Drive down. If we want the cog experience too, book it for a different day at slower pace (or a different trip).

Must-See / Big Items

Priority order assumes the highway-drive option, one full day, with summit access midday or earlier.

  1. The summit itself + new Summit Visitor Center — the building opened in 2021, replacing the cramped 1963 structure. Modern interpretive exhibits (geology, weather, Katharine Lee Bates), cafeteria, gift shop, bathrooms (a relief at 14,115 ft), and 360-degree wraparound views from interior glass on bad-weather days. Outside boardwalk gives the four-point summit walk: views NE to Denver (on a clear day, ~70 mi), W into the Sangre de Cristos, S to Cripple Creek and the Wet Mountains, E to the high plains.
  2. Pikes Peak Granite outcrops everywhere above ~10,500 ft — coarse-grained, salmon-pink to red-orange granite with characteristic K-feldspar crystals up to 2–3 cm. The summit talus itself is freshly weathered Pikes Peak granite — pick up any rock at the summit and you're holding a 1.08-billion-year-old anorogenic A-type granite. Pull off at any of the upper switchbacks; the outcrops have classic A-type textures (perthite, riebeckite or arfvedsonite amphiboles in some phases).
  3. Devils Playground (~13,000 ft) — granite tor field on the broad alpine plateau ~mile-marker 16 on the highway. Named because lightning bounces between the rocks on stormy days (a literal observation, not folklore — and the reason to be off the summit before noon). Best alpine-tundra walk and the best granite-weathering exposure on the mountain.
  4. The Bottomless Pit overlook (~13,200 ft) — a 1,000-ft cirque carved into the granite, visible from the highway, with Pikes Peak's NE face as the headwall. Classic glacial cirque — last glaciated during the Wisconsin (~25,000–15,000 ya). Discuss with Maxine: how do you read glacial vs. fluvial erosion at this elevation?
  5. Glen Cove (11,440 ft) + mandatory brake-check station on descent — the rest stop / cafeteria / restrooms ~halfway up. The downhill mandatory brake check is at the same spot; rangers point an infrared gun at each car's brakes and any over ~140°F is held until cooled. This is also where altitude effects start to show up for the unacclimated, so it's a reasonable "check-in" stop on the way up too.
  6. Crystal Reservoir (~9,200 ft) — alpine lake on the highway with full unobstructed Pikes Peak summit view. The gift shop here has surprisingly good geology guides. Best photograph of the summit-from-below on the highway.
  7. Crowne Pointe / Crystal Creek Reservoir / view N to Cathedral Peak — multiple highway overlooks under 10,000 ft that are forested montane life zone; useful for the "let's photograph each life zone as we ascend" exercise.
  8. The Pikes Peak Highway doughnut (at the Summit House) — yes, really. The summit cafeteria bakes its own doughnuts at altitude (recipe modified for the boiling-point difference at 14,115 ft, which is ~187°F vs. 212°F at sea level). They are part of the actual culture of the mountain. Get one. The novelty is also a real lesson on cooking at altitude.
  9. Sunrise from the summit (cog or highway, very early) — the highway opens at 7:30am summer (book the first reservation); the cog has occasional 4am sunrise specials in summer. Pre-dawn at 14k is genuinely cold but the sun coming up over the high plains hitting the granite is the iconic Pikes Peak photograph.
  10. Manitou Springs base + the soda springs — Manitou Springs at the mountain's base has the natural mineral springs the town was built around. After descent, walk the historic district, drink from at least one of the eight named public springs, eat lunch. Decompression activity.

Stretch goals (do if time allows):

  • North Pole - Santa's Workshop (theme park on the highway at ~7,500 ft) — a 1956-era kitsch piece of Americana, the model for Knotts Berry Farm-style "destination" attractions. Skippable but a real piece of Cold-War-era American leisure culture.
  • Cog Railway museum / shop in Manitou Springs — free, small, interesting if we don't ride the cog. Hardware from the 1891 original construction is on display.
  • Pikes Peak International Hill Climb course-walking — the IHC runs the highway every June. If we're there in mid-June, the practice sessions are watchable; if outside that window, you can drive the course and read the markings.

Research angles for Maxine

The research is hers — list questions to investigate and sources to start from, not answers. Pitch above grade level.

Hook into Maxine's current interests: (ask before finalizing — what is she into right now? bend the questions to that. If she's on a physics / mineralogy kick, push the A-type anorogenic granite question and the contrast with subduction-zone (I-type) granites. If she's on a poetry / writing kick, push the Katharine Lee Bates "America the Beautiful" thread and the place-poetry-from-altitude angle. If she's on an engineering kick, push the Cog Railway rack-and-pinion mechanics and the 2017–2021 rebuild story. If she's on a biology / ecology kick, push the alpine-tundra vegetation and the krummholz timberline thread.)

Questions worth chasing:

  • Science (igneous petrology):

    • Pikes Peak Granite is an "A-type" granite. What does A-type mean (originally proposed by Loiselle & Wones 1979)? What distinguishes A-type from I-type (igneous-source, subduction-related) and S-type (sedimentary-source) granites? What does the "A" stand for, and is "anorogenic" the right term or controversial?
    • The Pikes Peak Batholith is 1.08 Ga (Mesoproterozoic). What was North America doing at 1.08 Ga? (Hint: this is post-Mazatzal orogeny, late in the Mesoproterozoic, ~200 Ma before Rodinia assembled.) The batholith intruded into older Proterozoic crust — what was that older crust?
    • The granite is K-feldspar megacrystic, often with 2–3 cm orthoclase crystals. Why are the crystals so large? What does crystal size tell you about cooling rate (vs. a fine-grained porphyry or a glassy obsidian)?
    • Pikes Peak granite contains riebeckite / arfvedsonite (alkali amphiboles) in some phases — these are sodium-rich amphiboles that indicate the magma was peralkaline (Na+K > Al in molar terms). What does that imply about the magma source and the depth of melting?
    • Compare the Pikes Peak granite (1.08 Ga, anorogenic, A-type, intruded into old crust) to the Enchanted Rock / Town Mountain Granite (also 1.08 Ga! — see Enchanted Rock doc). Are they related? Are they part of the same continental-scale Mesoproterozoic anorogenic magmatic event? (Look up the "Granite-Rhyolite Province" of North America.)

  • Science (geomorphology):

    • The summit was glaciated; the slopes and high cirques have classic glacial morphology. Identify a moraine, a glacial striation, a cirque headwall, a tarn on the mountain. When did the last glaciation end here (~15,000 ya)?
    • Periglacial features: even where there's no glacier today, alpine freeze-thaw is reshaping rock at 14k. Look for frost-shattered talus, patterned ground (sorted polygons of cobbles), rock glaciers (slow-moving ice-cored rock streams). These are visible from the Devils Playground overlook.
    • Why is the summit a broad rounded plateau and not a sharp horn (like the Matterhorn)? What does that tell you about the relative roles of glacial erosion vs. weathering on this particular peak?

  • Science (altitude physiology):

    • At 14,115 ft, atmospheric pressure is ~430 mmHg vs. 760 at sea level — 57% of sea-level pressure. Partial pressure of oxygen drops proportionally (PO₂ ~88 mmHg vs. 159 at sea level). Why does that affect humans so dramatically given that the percentage of oxygen in air is still 20.9%?
    • What is AMS (acute mountain sickness)? What's the difference between AMS, HACE (high-altitude cerebral edema), and HAPE (high-altitude pulmonary edema)? What's the Lake Louise score and how is it used clinically?
    • Acetazolamide (Diamox) — what's the mechanism (carbonic anhydrase inhibition; renal bicarbonate excretion; respiratory alkalosis → compensatory hyperventilation)? When does it work, and is it appropriate for a pediatric patient on a single-day ascent?
    • Water boils at ~187°F at the summit instead of 212°F. The Summit House had to adjust the doughnut recipe. Why does altitude change boiling point, and what other cooking adjustments are needed at 14,000 ft?

  • Science (alpine ecology):

    • Krummholz is the German word for "twisted wood" — the gnarled, ground-hugging form spruce and fir take at the upper edge of timberline (~11,500 ft on Pikes). Why does timberline exist at all, and why is it at ~11,500 ft here vs. ~10,500 in the Rockies further north?
    • The alpine tundra above timberline supports cushion plants, Rocky Mountain pikas, yellow-bellied marmots, white-tailed ptarmigan, and bristlecone pines (some of the oldest organisms on earth). Identify three signature alpine plants and one alpine animal during the summit visit.

  • History:

    • Zebulon Pike never summited the peak. In 1806 he tried and failed, declaring it "impossible to climb." Edwin James, a botanist with the Stephen Long expedition, made the first recorded ascent in July 1820 — and the peak was briefly called "James Peak" before "Pikes Peak" won out. Trace the naming history.
    • Katharine Lee Bates rode a wagon to the summit in July 1893 and wrote "America the Beautiful" that night in her Antlers Hotel room in Colorado Springs. The poem was published in 1895 and later set to Samuel Ward's tune "Materna." Read the original 1893 manuscript draft vs. the published 1904 final — what changed?
    • The Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1858–1859 ("Pike's Peak or Bust!") — gold was not actually found on Pikes Peak; it was found on the South Platte and tributaries 70+ mi north near Denver. But the marketing slogan stuck. What does that tell you about 19th-century western boosterism, and how does it map onto the actual Cripple Creek gold rush of 1891 (which was on the slopes of Pikes Peak)?
    • The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (since 1916) is one of the oldest motorsports events in America. The course was originally entirely dirt; it was paved completely only in 2011 (forced by the National Forest after lawsuits over erosion). Who has held the record, and how did the move to fully paved + electric-vehicle dominance reshape the event?
    • The Cog Railway was originally built 1889–1891 by Zalmon Simmons (yes, the Simmons Mattress founder) after he rode a mule to the summit and decided there had to be a better way. It ran continuously from 1891 to 2017, when it shut down for the $100M rebuild and reopened May 2021. Why did the rebuild take so long?

  • Writing:

    • Katharine Lee Bates' poem deserves a real read. The original 1893 draft was four eight-line stanzas; she revised it twice (1904, 1911). Find all three versions. Compare them. Argue for which is the best version.
    • Write a short essay (500–800 words) from the summit: what did you see, how did your body feel, what did you not expect. Use the form of a letter (write it to someone specific). Bates' poem was effectively a letter from this place — what's yours?
    • Read John Muir or Edward Abbey on alpine experience and write a paragraph in deliberate counter-style (i.e., what would you say differently than they did?).

  • Math:

    • Pressure-altitude math: atmospheric pressure decreases exponentially with altitude, roughly P = P₀ × e^(−h/H), where H ≈ 8.4 km is the scale height. At what altitude is pressure exactly half of sea level? Does Pikes Peak's actual 57% match the formula?
    • Boiling-point math: the Clausius-Clapeyron equation gives boiling point as a function of pressure. At 14,115 ft / 430 mmHg, what should water's boiling point be? Compare to the observed ~187°F at the summit.
    • Slope / grade math: the Cog Railway has a maximum grade of ~25%. Express that as an angle in degrees. Compare to typical road grades (4–8% on the highway) and to the steepest paved roads in the world (Baldwin Street, NZ, ~35%).
    • Vertical-gain math: the Pikes Peak Highway gains 7,400 ft over 19 mi. What's the average grade? Where is the steepest section (look at the highway profile)?
    • Hill Climb math: the IHC course record is currently held by Romain Dumas (2018, Volkswagen ID.R electric prototype) at 7:57.148 over 12.42 mi. What's his average speed in mph? Average power output (Wikipedia lists vehicle stats — work it out)?

  • Art:

    • Photograph each life zone as you ascend: lower montane (~7,000 ft, ponderosa-Douglas fir), upper montane (~9,000 ft, spruce-aspen), subalpine (~10,500 ft, Engelmann spruce + subalpine fir), krummholz (~11,500 ft), alpine tundra (>11,500 ft, treeless). Build a five-photograph life-zone series.
    • Pikes Peak granite makes a salmon-pink rock. Note how its apparent color shifts at different times of day; compare to the redder Fountain Formation sandstone at Garden of the Gods (which is sedimentary debris weathered from a similar granitic source). Build a paint-chip / hex-code palette for "Pikes Peak granite freshly exposed" vs. "weathered granite tor on the summit" vs. "Fountain sandstone reworked from granite."
    • Sketch the Bottomless Pit cirque in profile from the highway overlook — labeled diagram with headwall, scree slopes, tarn (if present), terminal moraine if visible.

Starting sources (not exhaustive — she'll find more):

Observable field goals

Goals Maxine can verify or document in the field at step 5 (confirm & document). Concrete things to look at, count, measure, identify, or photograph — not vague "learn about X."

  • Photograph Pikes Peak granite in fresh outcrop at three different elevations (e.g., 9,000 ft, 12,000 ft, summit). Note: K-feldspar megacrystic texture should be visible at all three; document any color or texture variation.
  • Find and photograph one example of a K-feldspar megacryst at scale (with a coin); measure the longest visible dimension. Bonus: photograph a perthite texture if visible (intergrown Na+K feldspar).
  • Document the life-zone transitions on the highway ascent by photographing a representative tree/plant at: (a) ponderosa-pine montane (~7,000 ft), (b) spruce-aspen mid-montane (~9,000 ft), (c) subalpine spruce-fir (~10,500 ft), (d) krummholz limit (~11,500 ft), (e) alpine tundra above timberline. Note the elevation of each photo.
  • Identify and photograph one example of glacial geomorphology visible from any highway pullout (cirque, moraine, glacial striations on bedrock, tarn). Bottomless Pit overlook is the strongest candidate.
  • Identify and photograph one example of periglacial geomorphology (frost-shattered talus, sorted polygons, rock glaciers). Devils Playground is the strongest candidate.
  • Record vital signs at three elevations: (a) Manitou Springs base, ~6,400 ft; (b) Glen Cove, 11,440 ft; (c) summit, 14,115 ft. Measure resting heart rate (60-sec count, twice), respiratory rate, and use a pulse oximeter (cheap on Amazon) for SpO2 if we bring one. Plot the trend.
  • Note atmospheric pressure at the summit if any digital display shows it, OR use a phone barometer app to read it and compare to the calculated value (~430 mmHg).
  • Eat a doughnut at 14,115 ft. Document the boiling-point/cooking-adjustment story from the Summit House menu or staff.
  • Identify the summit "America the Beautiful" plaque and photograph it. Note any quotes from the Katharine Lee Bates poem displayed at the summit.
  • At Crystal Reservoir on the descent, photograph the summit-from-below view with the calibration phrase: "this is the same granite I just stood on, eroded into the lake basin over 10⁹ years."
  • If the Cog Railway is the chosen option: photograph the rack-and-pinion mechanism at the train's mid-car under the floor (visible through the floor windows). Note the gear ratio and rail geometry.

Suggested itinerary

Designed as Day 2 or Day 3 of a 5–7 day Colorado Springs + Denver trip — never Day 1. By Day 2 we've slept one night at ~6,400 ft in Manitou Springs / Old Colorado City and walked Garden of the Gods (~6,400 ft); the body has begun acclimating.

Highway-drive option (recommended):

  1. 6:30 am — wake in Manitou Springs lodging. Vitals check: how did everyone sleep? Headaches? If anyone has a real AMS-style headache or didn't sleep at all, postpone the summit to Day 3 and do Florissant or Royal Gorge today instead. There's no prize for going up with a sick kid.
  2. 7:00 am — light breakfast (carbs, not protein), water, electrolytes. Eat lightly — altitude + heavy breakfast = nausea.
  3. 7:30 am — drive to Pikes Peak Highway gate (~25 min from Manitou). Be there at gate opening.
  4. 8:00 am — enter the highway. Plan to stop at: (a) Crystal Reservoir (9,165 ft), photograph summit from below, life-zone shot (subalpine); (b) Glen Cove (11,440 ft), bathrooms, vitals check, geology stop, life-zone shot (krummholz / treeline); (c) Devils Playground (~13,000 ft), tor field walk (5 min, no more — already in thin air), periglacial features.
  5. 10:00 am — arrive summit. Park, walk to Summit Visitor Center. First moves: bathroom, bottle of water, then 20-min slow circuit of the outdoor viewing platforms. Eat a doughnut. Take photos. Maxine vitals + SpO2 reading.
  6. 11:00 am — start descent. Stop at Devils Playground for the granite-outcrop sample work that wasn't possible on the way up. Stop at Glen Cove for the mandatory brake check + a real snack (now lower; food appetite returns). Stop at Crystal Reservoir for the summit-from-below calibration photo.
  7. 1:00 pm — exit highway at the bottom. Lunch in Manitou Springs at a soda-fountain or historic café; walk the springs themselves (the eight named public springs in the historic district are free to taste).
  8. 3:00 pm — back to lodging, mandatory downtime. Everyone is more tired than they expect.
  9. 6:00 pm — easy dinner, no alcohol for anyone, bed by 9.

Cog Railway option (alternate):

  1. 7:00 am — wake, breakfast as above.
  2. 8:00 am — walk to Pikes Peak Cog station in Manitou Springs (or short drive). Check in.
  3. 8:30 am — board train, ~70-min ascent through life zones with narration.
  4. 9:40 am — arrive summit. 35–40 minutes on the summit (cog-imposed). Doughnut, photos, summit center, vitals.
  5. 10:20 am — board train, descent.
  6. 11:30 am — back in Manitou. Lunch + springs + downtime as above.

Family roles:

  • Chris leads: logistics, reservation system, driving (if highway), altitude monitoring (every 30 min on the ascent: how do you feel? — honest answers only). Owns the descent-decision authority (turnaround is non-negotiable if anyone is genuinely unwell).
  • Heather leads: the Katharine Lee Bates / America the Beautiful thread and the cog-railway-history thread if we ride it; photography of the life-zone transitions; making sure water + snacks are circulating.
  • Maxine drives: the granite-petrology field notes (texture, color, megacrysts), the life-zone documentation, the vitals + SpO2 log, the doughnut review. Pre-trip: she reads "America the Beautiful" and decides whether to bring a copy to the summit (yes; reading it at 14,115 ft is part of the deliverable for her own video).
  • Solo vs. both parents: both parents — single-parent management of a summit-day with a 12-year-old at altitude is poor risk math. If the day pivots to a turn-back at Glen Cove, both adults handle the decision and the kid is reassured by consensus.

Practical visitor tactics & altitude rules

  • Day 1 of the trip is not summit day. Need at least one full night at ≥ 6,000 ft first. Two is better.
  • First reservation slot of the day, every time. Weather on Pikes Peak builds clouds and thunder by 11 am – 2 pm in summer. Sunrise to mid-morning is the only reliable summit window May–September. Once we're up there, the air clears the worst headaches faster on the descent, so don't linger past the lesson + doughnut + photos.
  • The summit is for ~30–60 minutes. That's it. Studies consistently show AMS gets worse with longer summit exposure, not better, for the unacclimated. The plan: stand on it, see it, eat the thing, get back in the car.
  • Hydrate aggressively — 3+ L per person over the day. Altitude diuresis (the body dumps water at altitude) plus dry air plus exertion = dehydration sneaks up. Pee should be clear or pale.
  • Watch for symptoms in this order: (a) headache (most common, often delayed by hours); (b) nausea or loss of appetite (especially morning of day 2 at altitude); (c) trouble sleeping; (d) lethargy or irritability in a kid; (e) shortness of breath at rest. Any (a)+(b) or any (d)+(e) = descend now.
  • Drive descent rule: brakes can overheat catastrophically. Use engine-braking (low gear) on the descent rather than riding the brake pedal. Stop at the mandatory brake check at Glen Cove; don't argue with the ranger if they want a 5-min cooldown.
  • Lightning: if storm cells are visible from the summit anywhere within ~20 mi, descend immediately. The summit boardwalk is the worst place in Colorado to be in a thunderstorm; Devils Playground is the second worst (literally named for the lightning behavior).
  • The summit photograph that matters is the geology one, not the "we made it" one. Plan that photograph before the altitude headache sets in.

Connections

Combines well with:

  • Garden of the Gods — the day-before companion (sedimentary cover eroded from the same granite basement). Pair them and do Garden of the Gods Day 1, Pikes Peak Day 2 or 3, never the other way.
  • Florissant Fossil Beds NM — 45 min W; lower-altitude (~8,200 ft) recovery-day option if Pikes wore everyone out. Eocene lake-bed sequence on top of the same regional uplift.
  • Cripple Creek — historic gold-mining town directly SW of Pikes Peak, ~1 hr drive. The gold deposits are Tertiary volcanics on top of the Pikes Peak granite basement; the relationship between today's Pikes Peak granite and the gold is the geology tie-in.
  • Royal Gorge — ~1.5 hr SW; Precambrian basement granite (related to Pikes Peak Batholith timing) exposed in a river-cut gorge. The same kind of rock from a totally different geomorphological angle.
  • US Air Force Academy, Peterson Space Force Museum — non-geology Colorado Springs anchors for weather-fallback days.

Feeds into home projects / future adventures:

  • Compare with Enchanted Rock — same age (1.08 Ga) and possibly same magmatic event as the Pikes Peak Batholith. North America's Mesoproterozoic anorogenic Granite-Rhyolite Province crosses the continent. Map it.
  • Compare with the McDonald Observatory and Davis Mountains — Tertiary volcanic terrain, completely different geology, also at high elevation (~6,800 ft). Same fly-style trip planning, much lower altitude.
  • The altitude-physiology thread can extend into a unit on respiratory physiology, hemoglobin oxygen dissociation curves, and erythropoietin (the kidney's altitude-adaptation hormone — same molecule as the doping drug).
  • The Katharine Lee Bates thread is a natural anchor for an American-poetry unit (pair with Whitman, Dickinson).
  • The Cog Railway engineering thread → rack-and-pinion mechanical systems → wider transit-engineering unit.

Open questions / still to research (Chris's side)

  • Pediatrician conversation about Diamox for Maxine for the summit day — dose, timing, side effects (parasthesias, increased urination, taste changes with carbonated drinks), interaction with any current meds. The Wilderness Medical Society guidelines support pediatric use; verify with our pediatrician anyway.
  • Pulse oximeter — buy a $20 fingertip unit before the trip. Cheap, useful baseline data.
  • Highway vs. Cog vs. both — recommend Highway as the primary geology day; consider Cog as a separate fun activity on a different day if it fits. Booking deadline for Cog: ~3 weeks out for prime times.
  • Time-window for Cog if booked: the 8am train is the safest weather-and-altitude choice. Verify available departure times and book the earliest.
  • Verify the timed-entry highway reservation window — slots tend to release ~30 days ahead but check pikespeak.us for the actual booking calendar.
  • Check seasonal closures — Pikes Peak Highway is technically year-round but gate closures above Glen Cove are routine in winter and not uncommon in shoulder seasons for ice/wind. Don't fly to Colorado in March and assume the summit will be reachable.
  • Weather check 48 hours out — Mountain Forecast (mountain-forecast.com) for the summit elevation. Lightning probability over 30% = don't.
  • Decide whether anyone wants to climb a non-Pikes 14er on a future trip (Mount Bierstadt, Quandary, Bross — the "easy" 14ers) as the follow-on hobby. Mount Blue Sky (formerly Mount Evans) is a separate doc; that's a similar drive-up 14er and might be a useful alternative day.
  • Pre-trip read: get Maxine the Wikipedia Pikes Peak Granite article + the Loiselle & Wones 1979 abstract + the Bates poem all printed. Three pages, total.
  • If Maxine wants the "America the Beautiful" plaque photograph, confirm its current location at the new (2021) Summit Visitor Center.