Summer in Colorado. Cog Railroad to Pikes Peak.
Eleven-years ago on a lark I drove from Boulder to Colorado Springs and then to Manitou Springs to take the Cog Wheeled Railroad to the summit of Pikes Peak. Little did I know that you needed reservations for the cog rail trip to Pikes Peak, and that all trips were sold out for the day. I was very lucky that someone in line before me was unhappy that their party was not all sitting together and turned in their tickets. Once I got on board the train, I realized that I won the lottery since my ticket was for the front seat. This allowed me to set up a tripod and camera to capture images for a time-lapse video for the train ride. So as not to annoy the other passengers on the train I used a small Gitzo travel tripod, my smallest camera body, and a small lens. Going up the mountain I used a 18-200 mm lens at 18 mm. Going down the mountain my seat was now in the rear of the train looking back. For this I used a 10.5 mm fisheye lens. This was a case of being in the right place at the right time!!!
The previous time I tried to reach the peak in my car back in 1976 I failed. The car vapor locked at 13000 feet. I had to coast down the mountain road. When stopped at 10,000 feet for a brake & safety check, the guy commented that my Volvo really ran quietly. Little did he know that my engine wasn’t running. Just glad that there was an incline to keep coasting down. The engine finally restarted at about 8000 feet.
