We visited Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs. It has some interesting twisty roads, a cog railway, and a view that apparently inspired the “America the Beautiful” anthem.
The Pikes Peak Highway entrance:
Entrance station, which has a timed entry window:
Viewpoint:
Big Foot Crossing:
Crossing an empty dam, that is being updated:
Gift shop:
Big Foot:
“America’s Mountain”:
Historic Glen-Cove Inn:
Which contains a gift shop:
And café:
We got lunch from the café, eating outside:
View:
Continuing up the mountain:
A stop for a walk up a peak:
Further up, a view of some lakes:
At the summit, a cog railway car arriving:
Cog rails and a nice view:
The view inspired the “America the Beautiful” anthem:
The summit visitor center:
Café:
We tried the famous high-altitude doughnuts:
Of course, another gift shop:
Info displays:
Outside again:
The remains of the first summit house:
The visitor center:
A selfie by a cog rail car:
Another cog railway car arriving:
View:
Heading down the mountain, using manual gear to avoid using the brakes other than on corners (and not even then for several):
The winding road and views:
Fun switchbacks:
Timberline:
A mandatory brake check, where they used a heat sensor to tell people to let their brakes cool down if they were riding them down the hill, as these people in front of us were. Our brakes were 111°, which is within the normal range for flat driving, excellent for mountain driving:
