Devils Playground is the name of a stack of weathered pink granite boulders beside the road, on the shoulder of Pikes Peak at around 3,900 metres. The wind, frost and violent temperature swings of the high country have broken the rock into jumbled tors and slabs, and the effect is a landscape that looks half-built by a bored giant.
Up here the trees are gone and the vegetation is the tough, ground-hugging sort that clings on above timberline. You may see marmots on the rocks and, with luck, bighorn sheep on the slopes. The air is noticeably thin, which makes your head swim if you walk quickly and costs a motorcycle engine a visible slice of its power. The summit is still about four hundred metres of climb above you, and the final miles are the exposed ones, with hairpins and open drop-offs and a view over the Great Plains to the east that goes on far beyond reason.
Riding the highway is a long job: nineteen miles, plenty of low gears, and a descent that tests brakes and nerve in equal measure. Use engine braking, not your front disc alone, and take the rangers' warnings seriously, because overheated brakes are the commonest problem on the way down. Check the forecast before leaving Cascade. Snow can fall at any time of year at the top, and the road closes when conditions are bad. Fog can hide the edge, and cold wind will find any gap in your gear.
At the summit the visitor centre sells hot drinks and the famous high-altitude doughnuts, which are a small reward for the climb. Fuel is not available on the mountain. Cascade-Chipita Park has a few small shops, and Woodland Park, about ten kilometres off, has proper petrol stations, so top up there. Allow plenty of time, because the speed limit is low and the pull-outs are tempting, and reserve some energy for the descent, which takes concentration.