Pikes Peak Highway

The Pikes Peak Highway is the road that turns America's Mountain into a drive-up summit. The route climbs nineteen miles from the town of Cascade, west of Colorado Springs, to the 14,115-foot summit, and the entire road has been paved since the 2010s, a long way from the dirt track that made it famous. Along the way it passes through forest, past alpine lakes and Glen Cove, then breaks out above timberline into a landscape of boulders and tundra. The road includes hairpin turns, steep drop-offs and few guardrails in places, and visitors usually allow about three to four hours for the round trip, longer if they linger. At the top, the summit complex has a visitor center, a gift shop and doughnuts made with a high-altitude recipe. A self-guided audio tour adds narration at GPS-triggered stops along the way.

The highway began as a carriage road in the 1880s and became a toll road for the motorcar age. It is also the home of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, the Race to the Clouds, held each summer since 1916, in which drivers and riders climb the full course against the clock. Watching the race is a bucket-list event for motorsport fans, and on ordinary days you can follow the same line at a more relaxed pace.

Mile markers count upward from the tollgate, and the route changes character with each stage: tight forest bends first, then the open slopes of Crystal Reservoir, then the exposed upper switchbacks above timberline where the road seems to hang on the mountain.

Several stops reward the drive. Pullouts near Glen Cove offer a short hike and a view back toward the plains. Devil's Playground, high on the upper mountain, is a wide boulder field that feels like another planet. At the summit you are above fourteen thousand feet, with thin air and a wide view over the Front Range, and on very clear days you can see the dark line of the plains running to the horizon.

A self-guided audio tour of the highway, available as a downloadable product, adds history, geology and stories at the right points without needing a guide in the car, which is useful for families and for anyone who wants to stop on their own schedule.

Practical advice matters here. Check road status and any reservation or timed-entry rules before you set out, because the highway can close in storms or deep snow, and the city manages the number of vehicles in busy periods. Fill your fuel tank first, keep an eye on your brakes on the descent, and use a low gear rather than riding the pedal.

Photographers should plan around light. Early morning gives soft color on the eastern face of the mountain and fewer cars, while late afternoon makes the boulder fields glow. Wildlife is part of the show: look for yellow-bellied marmots, pikas among the rocks and bighorn sheep on the upper slopes, and never feed them. Remember that cell coverage is patchy on the mountain, so download maps and the audio tour before you leave town and tell someone your plan if you are travelling alone.