Pikes Peak is Bust
by Cara DeGette
Page 1 of 5

Two women, one mountain, one environmentally damaged gravel road, hundreds of tourists - and all they got was a greasy donut.

The challenge: 14,110-foot Pikes Peak. The reward: A seven-minute wait in line for a greasy ARA Services donut.

One recent, sunny June day, my trusty intern Anna and I set out to wrestle the big one. Our mission: to witness firsthand the wisdom of our city politicians who - after 45 years worth of professional recommendations to cease and desist - continue to sanction massive environmental degradation caused by dumping hundreds of thousands of pounds of gravel on "America's Mountain" every year. We also wanted to get a feel for the dirt road that recently hosted what was hyped as the 75th Pikes Peak Hill Climb, a one-day-a-year road race that is universally accepted as the sole reason why the mountain is still unpaved. We felt our trek was also timely, since the the Hill Climb guys are more frequently referring to Peak's namesake - a failed explorer who never conquered the mountain - as "Unser Mountain," after, of course, the New Mexico racing family best known for winning the Indy 500 and dumping snowmobiles in wilderness blizzards.

The day was promising. Loaded with Pringles and water, we winded our way up Highway 24, past two of America's great tourist traps - the Manitou Cliff Dwellings and Cave of the Winds. A big white truck passed us, thick black smoke belching from its behind. But the oily stench only briefly clouded the lush green of rain-soaked mountains and the vivid blue of the sky that, I'm told, is finally emerging from the haze that the mighty Philippine volcano Pinatubo cast around the world when it erupted eight years ago.

Yessiree, we were feeling fine. Out of the office for a day on assignment to amble to the top of the easternmost 14'er of the United States on top of which, nearly a century ago, the lesbian poet Katharine Lee Bates was so dumbstruck she promptly sat down and wrote "America the Beautiful."

I personally delight in living in the shadow of Unser Mountain, and gaze at it daily from my living room, while driving around in my car, walking around and during lunchtime office breaks. Among my prize possessions is a photo of my Aunt Sue and Uncle "Mutt" standing next to their old jalopy taken at the historic Glen Cove Inn, 11,425 feet up the mountain, when they made their daring ascent with my grandparents in the 1920s.

But as Anna and I turned left off Highway 24 and passed Santa's North Pole on our way to the tollgate, I began to rack my brains: I've written about Pikes Peak, er, Unser Mountain before - mostly about the politics that have shrouded the mountain in controversy for decades. A lifetime Coloradan, with plenty of generations in this state before me, I'd always assumed I'd been to the top of the Peak. But now I wasn't so sure. I distinctly remember summers spent exploring Red Feather Lakes, Rocky Mountain National Park and Mount Evans, Grand Lake, Independence Pass, Maroon Bells, Dinosaur National Monument, Glenwood Springs, Durango, the Silverton railroad and, of course, Mesa Verde. But Pikes Peak? I don't think so.

In fact, most of my friends and acquaintances in Colorado and Colorado Springs either vaguely report it's been "years" since they've driven up the mountain. More frequently, they say they've never been and never plan to.

Two years ago, when researching a story on the Pikes Peak Highway, nearly every single City Council member interviewed reported that - despite being the stewards of the famous mountain since the U.S. Forest Service handed over the lease agreements in the early 1950s - the same was true for them.

"I usually go to the Crags," said Mary Lou Makepeace, then a council member, and now the mayor. At the time, Makepeace said she would "certainly" take a stand if it was found gravel on the highway was causing environmental damage. Consider this a reminder.

Continued on page 2...

Cara DeGette is the news editor of the Colorado Springs Independent, where this article originally appeared.
1997 The Colorado Springs Independent
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Colorado Springs, CO 80903
(719) 577-4545

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