Not many reservoirs cost an entry fee for the road, but then not many are on the way up a fourteen-thousand-foot mountain. Crystal Reservoir sits in a granite bowl partway up the Pikes Peak Highway, a small, still lake edged with spruce, with the slopes of the peak rising behind. It is the first place on the climb where the world feels properly alpine, and a good moment to take a breath, check the weather, and look at what the sky is planning.
The road itself is a famous one, nineteen miles of switchbacks and sweeping granite country that runs from Cascade up to 14,115 feet. It has been fully paved only since the early 2010s, which cheers motorcyclists and disappoints people who liked the gravel. Below the reservoir the bends are tight and well banked, through aspen and pine; above, the trees thin and the road gets steeper and more exposed. The speed limit is modest, rangers watch, and they will check your brakes and temperature on the way down. It is a road to savour, not an apex hunt. Mornings are best: afternoon thunderstorms are routine and lightning on an exposed peak is no joke.
History runs deep here. Zebulon Pike never climbed the mountain that bears his name, but gold miners and tourists did, and a carriage road led to the summit in the nineteenth century. In 1893 the poet Katharine Lee Bates climbed up and found the view that inspired America the Beautiful. The Pikes Peak hill climb, the Race to the Clouds, has run since 1916, and every summer the road becomes a testing ground for fast cars and bikes. Cascade, at the foot, is a small place with a few shops, and the Pikes Peak toll gate sits just above it.
Woodland Park, about eight kilometres away, has petrol and cafes, and Colorado Springs is down the hill. Fill up before the toll gate. Pack a jacket, because the temperature at the top can be thirty degrees colder than at the bottom, and bring water. It is a calm place, even on a busy day.