Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1889-04-26
On Pixies Peake'S TOp.


TO stand on it's summit Tho opportunity
came when reached Manitou. watch may
be briefly described as Saratoga distributed
along the sides OF an extremely picturesque
ravine
Colorado Springs Is the wostornmost
verge OF tho vast pains that strctoh
from APPOINT in Kansas, FIVE hundred
miles to the Rockies Manitou, s.. miles
further west is whore the slope
of the great chain noticeably be-
gins. This charming watering place is
easy of access being on branch Of the
Denver and Rio Grandc ra lroad, which
seems TO be ubiquito Is in Colorado, travers-
in the mountains in every direction and
penetrating the romantic heart of the
Rockies. Every foot of ground here is a
miracle Of beauty and grandeur. The whole
region has been tho scene OF mighty
primeval convulsion and the long period
OF quiesence is in strict proportion To tho
visible magnitude of tho activities OF which
this region was once the theatre. Rocks
whose massiveness would require all our
modern cnginery to stir were sported with
as mere toys, and feeing like loan lecSs
thousands of feet into air aud there left
balanced as silent witnesses of apower that
awGs the observer. one might vel fancy
himself in a workshop where whole words
had been made
At Manitou we are all ready as far above
the sea level as is Mt Washington, bat
Pixies Peak towers 5000 feet higher still
and | might "a well say right mere that next
summerGn losJDthe tourist will be able To as
cend 10 the summit by means of n railroad
similar To that up Mt Washington. The
road is now under construction and will be
a model of its kind We are really too near
10 realize its tire height Not far from
Manitou, not from the Garden of the
Gods" not even from Colorod do Springs,
does one gain just conception Of the lofti
ness of tn 5 re gal mountain. IL is only
when you are fifty miles TO the south beyond
Pueblo, following the curves of the Arkan-
sas, as you littyour eyes 10 the north and SEQ
the great peak shouldering Its way into the
/ clouds, as lar above the general level Of the
! Rockies as they are above that of the plains
that its real supereminence dawns upon
your mind.
For rough outline plan, begin at tho At
lantic and slope two thousand miles Of con
tinent at such an angle that the end Of the
last mile shall be six tho sand feet above
/ sea level, or on "a limo with the top OF Mt
/ Washington. THIS is our pedestal. Now
take twelve miles and elevate it until the
end of the last mile is Gig II thousand feet,
or one and a half miles ayove the top of our
| pedestal or two and n half miles above sea
! level This gives You Pixies Peak.
| To obtain the general appearance of the
range, fancy some giant to have picked up
| from his CYclopoln workshop mountains, the
1 first handful like the familiar Storm King
! at the opening Of the Highlands of the Hud-
! son. each later handful of successfully lar z
/ er size, and to have dropped them in tiers
| whose SUBMITS recedc each 800 feet above
| the one immediately in front of it. Remem-
/ Der he begins at the top of platform al
/ ready 500 feet high When he drops the
/ fourteenth handful, and your eye has glanced
| upward, first more than mile TO the top of
| the platform. then more than IA quarter of "a
/ mile to the first line of SUBMITS, then half a
| thousand feet at "a glance, till the thirteenth
/ Is reached your sight will at tbat moment
rest upon the snow cap that sits on the
bald head Of the Monarch of the Rockies.
This towering height is reached by a hard,
! broad road for two miles and "a mere trail,
! just wide enough for the feet of a horse and
at a distance looking like a cobweb line, for
! ten miles.
'Six o clockr' calls ont the watchman at
| the door Of my chamber. The light is dim,
the air is chill, and the mountain brook un-
/ der the window sings dreamily. Who would
want 10 rise under such circumstances But
! breakfast waits the ponies wait, and the
guides wait, and the members of the party
wait, and perforce we must stir
Soon we are in the saddle, trotting up the
broad road past the mineral springs. Re
cruits join us ~ every fork, and when we
stretch out on the trail there are fifteen of
us, including two guides and one lady.
| the rest on ponies--surefooted all. they say.
| We trust so, for the trail mounts steadily
/ up the steep side of the ravine-so narrow
| the path that the trees have had 10 be hol-
| lowed out to make room for the sides of our
/ beasts. Sometimes wall OF rock cuts of
the track alto yether, and slender bridge
| at a dizzy height clings 10 the face of the
cliff and echoes TO the tread of our pom es.
a thick fog fills the chasm. Out of il nj
1 times peer rocks so huge that from sin gle
] churches NJ fol
| Could one but have leard the crash OF their
fall when they thundercd down tho sleeps
and tore away forests in their path
All tue while the mountain brook that
wooed us in vain TO sleep in the morning
sings on ia the mist below US. Thro gh the
4 whole ascent its music follows u.s. until we
| reach its source in the melting SHOWS at the
very summit sometimes far below, some
\ tines close upon cur right Sometimes di-
rcctiy beneath, again at our left, again about
| the feet of our horses as we ford il. Its
melody varies with the shape OF its channel
and the SD 81 Of its movement at tim IS
swift and narrow and deep, then broad and
| shallow and Drawing over it's stony bed,
then chafng at the attempt of some monster
rock TO bar its passage, and raging and
/ foaming and roaring az it dashe3 to the
right and 10 the left and filings its spray
contemptuously back, then leapng singly in
a long, graceful curve down "a steep descent,
then parting aud leaping again by twos by
! threes, and Joining divisions and rushing on
/ In glee at brief rivally, aud always singing
/ solos, ducts, full chorus in every mood IN
til the note Of the dripping snow becomes
too exquisite for the hearing of dull mortal
ears.
At the Halfway house we dismount close
! to trout pond and beautiful sheltered
cascade. In ten minutes we are again in
the-saddle Soon we reach a wide, level
stretch aud put our horses TO the gallop.
/ The sun bursts upon US and the heavens
ahead are dense blue
Now the trail becomes very steep through
the gnarlet trunks OF deformed forest
where storm after storm has hurled rocks
\ and trees in the wi dest fur. The broken
! line of the or ginal signal service telegraph
! 10 the station at the top tells the story OF
the hopeless attempt OF just one season To
! maintain such connection with the world
/ below. Now all signaling is By hello
( graph-by flashes of light from the top OF
/ Pixies Peak TO the Lowell of the plains at
! Colorado Spr ngs, eighteen miles distant
i When we emerge from the Scared forest
we are above timber line, in the midst Of
lovely and varied wild flowers. Far belo "
I shine the mirror like surfaces Of mountain
lakes The party now seem like Hies cling
/ ing 70 an almost vertical wall ant moving
| obliquely 10 its top. The guide calls Haiti"
/ at the last spring, and again n little further
/ on at stone three miles from the top. At
! the latter place re bid us let the horses