Americans, what do you know about Pikes Peak?

I'm writing a blog post about our visit to Pikes Peak. I've seen it referred to as "America's mountain" and I know it inspired the song "America The Beautiful". I was just wondering if this particular mountain is something American learn at school about? Is the name "Pikes Peak" something every high school graduate is expected to be familiar with?

Yes, we are taught about it at school and everyone knows about it. High schoolers aren't expected to know about it, we just do. The reason is that many of the pioneers moving West carried signs on their wagons that said, "Pike's Peak or bust."As the highest mountain east of the Rockies, it was a goal the settlers went for. It's become part of our mythology about the settling of the West and the Western movement.

The actual migration trails didn't pass nearby, as you probably saw, and the settlers would have gone around it, not up it. I went up the mountain a few years ago and was amazed by the high altitude plants that I had never seen before. I had no idea the view from up top inspired "America the Beautiful."

I grew up in NY and really never thought about Pike's Peak until we moved to Colorado in 1993. I honestly don't recall learning much about it in HS. 

We have taken the cog railway to the top several times. It's nice but I wouldn't go back. I'm not a mountains kind of girl because mountains seem to attract my mortal enemy- SNOW. We loathe each other. 

http://www.cograilway.com/pikes-peak.asp

@DreamerRose  says it for me,  too.  I associate "Pikes Peak or Bust" with the wagon trains going west.  It encapsulated their determination to succeed in the face of so many obstacles - the pioneer spirit.  I know next to nothing about the mountain itself.  

I think I had heard the name as a kid but I wouldn't be able to pick it out of a lineup, even now :lol3:.

Willowy said:

I think I had heard the name as a kid but I wouldn't be able to pick it out of a lineup, even now

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"Hi there!!" - Pikes Peak    

 

I use to live (as a kid) for about 4 years within visual range of Pikes Peak in a small city then (hear its much larger nowadays). Couldn't miss it.

We learned about it in school though I am uncertain of it was taught about at the High Schools in the area or anywhere else in the country. None of the other schools out here in Ca taught much about it other then a brief mention of it in regards to the westward push of the expansion in the pioneer days. I just studied it myself.

Hope you enjoyed your visit.

I was familiar with Pike's Peak from westerns and cartoons that I saw as a child.  I'm not sure it was mentioned in school much.  I was there years ago and I thought it was a beautiful place.  I hope it still is and that you enjoyed you trip!