The Mountain

If you come to Colorado Springs, there is one thing you cannot miss...the mountain, Pikes Peak to be exact.  It looms over the city as a splendid backdrop.  As a native, I am appreciative of this magnificent backdrop on a daily basis. As a tourist, you might choose several ways to enjoy this majestic mountain that Katharine Lee Bates was so inspired by, she wrote "America The Beautiful".  You might go to the top via the Cog Railway or drive to the top or you might tackle the Manitou Incline.  Oddly, this summer, we have done two.

I do not consider myself to be an athletic person in the least.       I am in reasonable shape, free of health issues.  My husband wanted to tackle the Manitou Incline as a health challenge.  In my mind, it sounds like a great thing.  After all, I am a native to the city and it seems like something I should do. On a physical level, it was brutal and there was a point and time that I was cursing my husband's idea.

We made it!  It took us just under two hours to complete the climb which has a distance of .8 miles. Not much, right?  Well in that .8 miles, you gain elevation of 2,000 and climb almost 3,000 steps.  Along the way, you chat with people as most of them are huffing and puffing and gasping for air just like you.  Can't imagine the people that come from sea level!  You get to hear some of their stories.

There was a woman who had had a complete knee replacement.  A man who had had open heart surgery. A couple from Austin, Texas. A man who had memories of it as a teenager. There was also a seven-year-old boy that had the energy and agility to have done the climb twice as he was circling around us proclaiming how fun the incline was. I did not hear that from any of the adults.

In the end, I am very proud that we made it to the top and that we did it together.  I don't need to do it again.  When my husband first posted pictures, I had not sent him any with Moffat and a parent inquired as to where he was.  He of course went.  That's part of my story.

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Moffat at the top of the Manitou Incline