Pikes Peak Highway from Manitou Springs

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Cascade Colorado

   Cascade is a small settlement on the western edge of Colorado Springs, at the foot of Pikes Peak, and it is where the toll road begins. The village sits at the entrance to Ute Pass, an old Native American trail that climbs from the plains into the mountains, and the main road to the west still follows its route. At the gate, you pay the toll, check the weather, and begin a climb of nearly eight thousand feet in around nineteen miles.

   Read the complete Cascade Colorado write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Cascade Colorado is where the day begins. Next is Crystal Reservoir.

2. 2. Crystal Reservoir

   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.

   Read the complete Crystal Reservoir write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Crystal Reservoir comes up about 7 km into the recorded legs. Next is Devils Playground.

3. 3. Devils Playground

   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.

   Read the complete Devils Playground write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 26 km into the recorded legs you reach Devils Playground. Next is Pikes Peak summit, climbing 382 m.

4. 4. Pikes Peak summit

   At fourteen thousand one hundred and fifteen feet, or 4,302 metres, the summit of Pikes Peak is a cold, bright, windy platform at the eastern edge of the Rockies, and there is a feeling of having arrived somewhere that is not quite the planet you started on. The air holds about sixty percent of the oxygen you are used to, so walking from the bike to the summit house is enough to make you breathe hard, and a headache or dizziness is common. Take it slowly, drink water and do not rush.

   Read the complete Pikes Peak summit write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Pikes Peak summit closes the day. The road climbs 382 m on the way up to it, steadily. Nothing on this route is higher.