The Goldsboro star. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1881-18??, 1882-02-05
CLIMBING PIXIES PEAK.
The Sensations of Traveller Two and
Three-quarter Miles Above Sen Level.

The Sensations Of u Traveller Two and
Three-quarter Miles Above Sen Level.
In letter dated Colorado Springs,
COL, correspondent says: I shook
the sand Of Pueblo off my feet and took
a train for this charming retreat
charming, at least, compared with the
other places that I have seen in Col.
orado. 1t is located at the nearest point
to the base of the mountains, where the
country stretches off into long level
plain. The town is laid out in
squares, and the straight streets are
bordered with shade trees and ripping
streams in irrigating bitches. Public
and private fountains are continually
playing. and the dust is kept from being
whirled into clouds by the prevailing
high winds through the free use Of
sprinkling carts. The town nestles at
the foot Of the giant Pixies Peak, which
! towers IA, 1856 feet above the level OF
the sea. One does not realize the height
of this great dome at a glance on clear
day. The eye must first rest on the top Of
each lower peak, as one rises above
another horizontal distance of twelve
miles. Then as the great peak is seen
lowering above all the rest the spectator
appreciates its enormous elevation.
T, When clouds rest upon the lower peaks,
while the gray giant raises his head into
the blue sky above, the sublimity of the
scene is heightened.
But full realization of the grandeur
VI this mountain is reserved for the man
or w nan who is willing to sit on the
back |of twelve-hand-h high mountain
pony for eleven or twelve hours while
he lazily traverses twenty-four miles of
the very roughest kind of road. i, with
party, tried it,. We went through
marrow canons and gorges, where the
little mountain streams rushed and
tumbled ard roared over the broken
rocks, and we climbed the mountain
sides where the trail was not foot
wide, and the sides in places were SO
nearly perdendicular that great shelving
rocks 1000 feet above seemed ready to
dash themselves upon our defenceless
heads. At times it seemed as if we
would surely be crowded off the
narrow pathway by the projecting
rocks and hurled into the
chasm 1000 or 1000 feet below us. At
any one of hundred different points
our lives depended upon the sure-foot-
ledness of the ponies, not at all in any
skill in horsemanship. Our guides
special instruction was to give the pony
his head and hang on to the pommel.
Here and there great promonotories OF
rock, with 1,500 feet Of perpendicular
walls, stood out like huge sentinels on
our march, and many of them had their
titles of Major, or Captain, or Sergeant.
Gradually the tall, stately pines Of the
ravines gave way to less and less
thrifty growth as We approached the
timber line. Finally there remained
only short, stumpy trees, hardly thirty
feet high, thoAgh probably 100 or 200
years old. After we passed the timber
line we had yet four miles of rocks to
climb, and as I looked up at that long
steep ascent and back over the eight
miles of ravine from which we had just
emerged, my courage, like that of Bob
Acres's began to rapidly ooze away.
Twelve hours of daylight seemed
hardly enough to enable us to
complete the ascent and to make the
return trip; but thanks to, the
faithful ponies and to our persistence
in clinging to the pommels, we at last
reached the summit and sat down. If
drunken man can stand while chairs
and furniture seem rushing around him,
then ! might possibly have stood in
that highly rarifed air. But, like the
drunken man, found it easier to sit
down. AS I dismounted, or, rather,
stepped off, the slight exertion threw
my heart into violent palpitation. My
ears felt as if they were being beaten
upon by mufied trip-hammers, and my
respiration was SO rapid that thought
l must stop breathing just for rest.
After staggering about five feet to the
doorcf the United States signal service
station, where we were entertained with
lunch and cup of coffee, I ventured
out again, but the rarified air and the
great wide world below bewildered the
senses, and my muscles refused to do
even fatigue duty. So / sat and gazed
in almost stupid wonder. learned that
nearly all who visit the Peak experience
similar sensations. IT is kind Of sea-
sickness, accompanied sometimes with
hemorrhage from the nose or mouth.
Many women faint, and some cannot be
restored until they are carried below the
timber line. 1t is an exceedingly dan
gerous trip for anybody who has any
disease Of the heart. The two men at
the signal station, though strong and
hearty, have to be relieved alternately
every month to get the air of the plains,
as they grow irritable and quarrel
some up there, and even get to fighting,
so much does the rarified air accelerate