Pikes Peak Highway

Driving

by Plot Along: Rockies

The Pikes Peak Highway is the 19-mile toll road that climbs from Cascade, Colorado, to the 14,115-foot summit of Pikes Peak. This is "America's Mountain," and the view from the top inspired Katharine Lee Bates to write America the Beautiful in 1893. The road gains about 6,700 feet, breaks out above treeline into bare alpine tundra, and switchbacks the last few miles up a face of pink granite to one of the easiest 14,000-foot summits to reach anywhere.

It's also a motorsport landmark. Every summer the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, the "Race to the Clouds," sends cars and bikes flat-out up these same curves. It's second only to the Indy 500 as America's oldest auto race. The whole highway was paved by 2011.

A fee road, open year-round to a point that depends on weather. The upper switchbacks close for snow and high wind. Watch your brakes on the descent, where there's a mandatory brake check, and expect thin air and sudden weather at the top.

Learn more: en.wikipedia.org

1
Mildred's Cafe
A longtime diner in Cascade at the foot of the mountain, the traditional breakfast stop before the toll gate and the long climb up Pikes Peak.
2
Pikes Peak Toll Gate
The entrance station and toll gate west of Colorado Springs, where the toll road begins its climb. The starting line, in effect, for the 19 miles to the summit.
3
Crystal Creek Reservoir
A high mountain reservoir with a visitor center, gift shop, and a classic reflected view of the peak ahead. The first big scenic stop on the way up.
4
Halfway Picnic Area
A shaded roadside picnic ground roughly halfway up the highway, a place to pull off among the pines before the road climbs onto the bare alpine switchbacks.
5
Glen Cove
A historic mid-mountain stop and inn at around 11,400 feet, near treeline. The last shelter before the road climbs onto the bare alpine switchbacks, and the site of the mandatory brake check on the way down.
6
Devil's Playground
A famously lightning-prone saddle above treeline, named for the way static makes rocks and hair seem to dance before a storm. Bristlecone pines and big tundra views near the 16-mile mark.
7
Pikes Peak Summit
The 14,115-foot top, with the Summit Visitor Center, the cog railway terminus, and the panorama across the plains and the Sangre de Cristos that inspired America the Beautiful.

Mildred's Cafe

Pikes Peak Toll Gate

Crystal Creek Reservoir

Halfway Picnic Area

Glen Cove

Devil's Playground

Pikes Peak Summit