Pikes Peak
A 14,115 Foot Summit In The Front Range, The Most Visited Mountain In North America And Among The Most Visited In The World. A National Historic Landmark As The Inspiration For The Song America The Beautiful, Written By Katharine Lee Bates After She Reached The Summit In 1893. · Cascade, Colorado
Pikes Peak is fourteen thousand one hundred and fifteen feet high, stands alone at the edge of the plains where everyone can see it, and is the most visited mountain in North America - which is a function of the fact that you can drive up it. Katharine Lee Bates took a wagon to the summit in 1893 and wrote America the Beautiful about what she saw. There are three ways up now: the nineteen-mile toll highway, the cog railway out of Manitou Springs, rebuilt and reopened in 2021 as the highest cog railway in the world, and the Barr Trail, thirteen miles and seven thousand four hundred feet of climbing that is one of the hardest day hikes in Colorado. A new summit visitor centre opened in 2021. Whichever way you arrive, the altitude is the thing nobody plans for - you can be standing at fourteen thousand feet within ninety minutes of leaving a city at six thousand, which is far faster than a body adjusts.
Pikes Peak Highway, 5089 Pikes Peak Highway, Cascade, Colorado, 80809, United States
The Pikes Peak Highway is open year-round in principle but closes frequently for weather and may only be open part-way up in winter, and it operates timed entry reservations in the busy season. The cog railway runs to a published timetable and sells out well ahead. The Barr Trail is open at all times and is a serious undertaking. The summit visitor centre keeps its own hours. THE MOUNTAIN MAKES ITS OWN WEATHER and closures are common and sudden - check before setting out.