A Rainy Day In The Mountains

My sister Susan has taken quite a liking to Manitou Springs, Colorado, located at the foot of Pikes Peak, which we visited a week or so ago. Therefore, we decided to drive down there again this past Sunday afternoon. It was overcast and gray when we left Denver, and once we got to Colorado Springs, it started to rain. After a brief detour to Colorado City, founded in 1859, to look around, we proceeded on to Manitou Springs, where it continued to drizzle, and the weather over the mountains seemed quite threatening, as seen in the photograph on the left that I took as we entered the city limits.

Manitou Springs is a tourist town, but very quaint. The last time we visited, it was warm and sunny, and the place was filled with tourists. However, this time, what with the dreary weather, it was much less crowded, although there were still a surprising number of tourists walking around the downtown area in the rain. We decided to head to the cog railway, the road to which can be seen in the photograph on the right. It wasn't until I got there and looked around that I realized I have been confusing the Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway with the Manitou Incline, which is located across the street. The cog railway takes visitors to the top of Pikes Peak, while the Manitou Incline used to be a cable car for tourists, but was later converted into a very steep hiking trail, consisting of 2,700 steps climbing over 2,000 feet in less than a mile. It is one of the most popular hiking trails in Colorado. And how could I possibly mix up the two? Easy. I have always been too cheap to take the cog railway up to the top of Pikes Peak, and too lazy to climb a trail that rises over 2,000 feet in less than a mile.

By the time we were about to head home, the weather was starting to clear up, as seen in the photograph on the left. It reminds me of the tales my parents used to tell about vacationing in Ontario at a resort called Britannia, on the Lake of Bays. Some years they said it would rain for two weeks straight. However, the day they left, the sun would come out, signaling good weather to come. Good to see that the Hoyt family luck has not changed over the past 70 years or so. It is also reassuring that there is at least some semblance of continuity in this world.