Courtesy of the Trails and Open Space Coalition
Pikes Peak was sacred to Natives long before white people arrived.
Do you know all the names of Pikes Peak? North America’s 53rd-highest mountain has been inspiring people and cultures for centuries, if not millennia.
The Mountain Ute people, the region’s original inhabitants, call the 14,115-foot mountain “Tavá Kaa-vi” (Mountain of the Sun) because the early-morning sun illuminates the summit first before the rest of the mountain.
The Arapahoe people named the mountain “Heey-otoyoo” (Long Mountain) and Spanish explorers called it “Montaña del Sol” (Mountain of the Sun) and “El Capitán” (The Captain). In 1806, explorer Zebulon Pike named the mountain “the Grand Peak” and “Highest Peak” during his failed attempt to summit the mountain.
Before 1890, when the Board on Geographic Names officially dubbed it Pikes Peak, people referred to the mountain as: “Pike’s Highest Peak” and “James Peak” (in honor of Edwin James, the first documented person to summit the mountain).
Pikes Peak is the name and powerful brand that has had staying power for more than 130 years; however, should a name change be considered?
Tell us what you think. Take our one-question survey at www.surveymonkey.com/r/JT7W7ZK.
Information: www.trailsandopenspaces.org.