History Short: Pikes Peak

On November 15th, 1806, Lieutenant Zebulon "Zeb" Pike was leading an expedition toward the headwaters of the Arkansas River. He had been ordered to explore the Louisiana Purchase.

A high peak began to appear through their spyglasses. A few of Pike's men went with him in an attempt to climb the high peak that they had spotted. They spent two days climbing rocks and wading through waist-high snow to a summit.

It was only then that Pike realized that the massive peak they had originally seen was still at least 15 miles away!

They returned to camp nearly frozen, and later continued their journey to explore other areas of the Louisiana Purchase. They were the first expedition to reach the Rocky Mountains in what is now Colorado.

Brave explorers!

Since 1916, Pikes Peak has perhaps been best known as home of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, also known as "The Race to the Clouds." It's an annual automobile hill-climb race from the base to the summit. The public road that temporarily serves as the race course measures 12.4 miles, and has over 156 turns (many with treacherous drop-offs) and ascends over 4,700 feet. The record time for driving up Pikes Peak is just under 8 minutes.

Racing up Pikes Peak requires bravery too. Although, Zeb would likely scratch his head, wondering why anyone would want to do it!