Pikes Peak
United States · Americas
關於
Pikes Peak or America's Mountain is an ultra-prominent fourteener of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. Pikes Peak's summit, with an elevation of 14,115 ft (4,302 m) above sea level, is the easternmost fourteener in the United States. Pikes Peak is in Pike National Forest, Colorado, with the base located in the town of Manitou Springs, 10 miles (16 km) west of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado, in El Paso County, United States.
Zebulon Pike, a commissioned officer serving for the United States Army, received an order in 1806 by Thomas Jefferson to explore the Louisiana Purchase. Later that winter he attempted to climb the mountain, but the climb was abandoned, possibly due to the mountain's cold weather. The first successful documented hike was by the geologist and botanist Edwin James during his expedition on July 15, 1820. During the Pikes Peak gold rush, the mountain was named in honor of Zebulon Pike in several newspapers, creating widespread popularity.
The song "America the Beautiful" (originally called "America") has been associated with Pikes Peak for about a century. In 1893, the visiting professor and poet Katharine Lee Bates taught a summer course in western Colorado. Bates, who had been suffering from depression, was inspired to write "America the Beautiful", initially titled "Pikes Peak", soon after scaling to the summit in 1893.
內容改寫自 Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。照片來自 Wikimedia Commons.