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You're looking at an image of Pikes Peak on New Year's Eve, when the famed AdAmAn Club puts on an incredible fireworks display from the summit right at midnight. It's an awesome tradition that started in 1922, and yes the club members hike to the top of the peak for this event -- they don't do it the easy way. Imagine hiking to the summit of a 14,000+ foot tall mountain in the dead of winter and one of the shortest days of the year! I personally have never made it to the top of Pikes Peak on foot, although I have summited a (small) handful of other fourteeners. Some of them  are "easier" than others. I put that in quotes for a reason. Ha! Hiking up a giant mountain is not exactly easy!

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I was in the neighborhood of Pulpit Rock today, and it looked so pretty that I stopped for a quick snap from the parking lot of the BMW dealership. There weren't any people on it, which is unusual. Normally you can spot at least one or two hikers up there.

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A wider view of the cave that I mentioned in Saturday's post. It might be a bit of a hike to get up there but I think I'll have to try it this summer, I'm dying to explore that little cave.

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December 12, 2019, hiking in Red Rock Canyon Open Space. Really lovely.

A Man and the Moon

I had numerous errands to run all over town today, and since the weather was nice I decided to bring a camera along. I thought it'd be good to get a shot of Pulpit Rock from the parking lot of the BMW dealership on North Nevada, (yes, even humble parking lots have amazing views here), and I didn't notice the man standing at the summit until I looked through my lens. Not surprising, though -- there always seems to be someone up there. It's a nice hike and the view from atop Pulpit Rock is awesome.

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Some hikers in the Garden of the Gods on April 30th, 2021.

Rock On

I mentioned Pulpit Rock in yesterday's post, but you could only see it as a blurry blob in the background of the shot, so here it is in all its glory. I know it's hard to tell but there are two people atop it. It's a popular spot for hiking and mountain biking. The climb to the top isn't too arduous although you do need to wear good shoes or boots with lots of tread.

Major Miners

At least they look like miners. What do you think? I just noticed this new mural on Pikes Peak Avenue, although I think it's been there since last year if I'm reading the artist's signature correctly. I do like this throwback to the 1930s aesthetic.

02/21/2023 edit: After I shared this in the City Daily Photo Facebook group last night (as I do every night), Pat from A Yankee in Belgrade remarked that they looked more like hikers than miners, and a light bulb went on for me immediately. She was right. It's the AdAmAn Club. Hikers, yes, but not just any old hikers! If you're not from here you probably haven't heard of the AdAmAn Club, but it's definitely worth your while to visit their site HERE and read all about their amazing history.

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A trio of locals in Red Rock Canyon enjoying a late afternoon hike on July 29th.

Hikers Galore and a Great Big Headache

I haven't blogged since Sunday because I've been having some excruciatingly annoying tech problems with my computer here at home. I have a big, fancy (and very fast) computer at my studio, but for most of the week I'm working from home on an older but generally reliable PC. On Monday I downloaded an update to that computer which made it incredibly sluggish. Fifteen or twenty minutes just to launch Photoshop, ten minutes to load a single image, lord knows how long to do a couple of simple edits that would normally only take a few seconds. You get the idea. And since I had a big editing job to take care of first (clients are my first priority, sorry, faithful readers!), I had to get things done and temporarily put the blog on the back burner. Two days to cull, edit and output an editing job that normally would have taken two hours, and enough resulting aggravation to last me a year.

But enough griping! Tomorrow I will try and find a way to fix the bug, but this evening I did finally get to put together an image for you to enjoy. Here are some hikers I captured in the Garden of the Gods on April 30th. I was actually there to photograph a surprise marriage proposal, but my clients hadn't shown up yet so I bided my time snapping a few pictures of this and that. Oh and by the way, she said yes 😊 There's something to put a smile on your face!

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A photo I took while on a walk at the Beidleman Environmental Center on March 12th. It was such a bland picture, I did think it was blogworthy and just let it languish on my hard drive. A good black and white conversion makes this photo a little more interesting.

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I had a busy day and an even busier evening, so there wasn't time for me to go out and take any pictures for the blog. Thankfully I have this nice shot taken on a hike in Red Rock Canyon on December 12th. You can really tell that it was once a quarry.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

I caught this woman embarking on a hike in the Garden of the Gods on September 23rd. As you can see, it was a very nice afternoon. Less than a month later and we're looking at another spate of cold weather and possibly even snow this weekend. Sigh. Of course I love winter, but I love fall even more and I was hoping it would last just a teeny bit longer.

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One last photo from Monday's hike in Cheyenne Cañon. So pretty!

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I took this photo in Cheyenne Cañon a couple of days ago, while hiking with my friend Marie. Did you know that Maxfield Parrish took inspiration from this beautiful landscape? It's a great place for a hike and the views are stupendous.

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More prettiness from yesterday's hike in Cheyenne Cañon. The photo below was taken from the same spot as the one above, but with a wide angle lens.

A Great Day for a Hike

I went for a hike in Cheyenne Cañon today with my friend Marie. Above, a couple who passed us on the trail; below, the view looking the opposite direction. It was indeed a great day for a hike.

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I posted a few pictures of the Section 16 trail earlier this week, but it seems I had forgotten about this one! It's just a cell phone shot but I still think it's blogworthy. Such a pretty place. I can't wait to hike it in better weather.

The Land of the Ice and Snow

One last snap from Saturday's elopement adventure on Section 16. This photo was taken near the bottom of the trail.

Crazy Runners

I mentioned in Saturday's post how I shot an elopement that required us to hike up a treacherously slippery trail to get to the exact perfect spot for the ceremony. On the way back down, I took these pictures of people running on the same slippery trail. RUNNING. This is a flat stretch, but for the most part Section 16 is at an incline. I think these people are just insane! As I was having an extremely hard time that day keeping my footing even at a very slow, careful pace, I couldn't figure out how the trail wasn't littered with the bodies of all the runners we saw. It wasn't until I got these pictures up on my computer monitor and took a close look at their feet that I noticed they were all wearing chains on their shoes for extra traction. I should have done the same!