Pikes Peak
The 14,115-foot landmark rises abruptly above Colorado Springs and can be reached by highway, cog railway, or strenuous Barr Trail. Choose one ascent mode and understand its acclimatization limits; driving or riding quickly to the summit can still trigger altitude illness.
Artwork inspired by Harvey Otis Young
Pikes Peak or America's Mountain is an ultra-prominent fourteener of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. Pikes Peak's summit, with an elevation of 14,115 ft (4,302 m) above sea level, is the easternmost fourteener in the United States. Pikes Peak is in Pike National Forest, Colorado, with the base located in the town of Manitou Springs, 10 miles (16 km) west of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado, in El Paso County, United States.
Choose one ascent mode and understand its acclimatization limits; driving or riding quickly to the summit can still trigger altitude illness. Look east across the plains as well as west into the mountains—the peak’s cultural power comes from its position at the Front Range edge.
- Landmark
- 14,115-foot Front Range landmark
- Approach
- Rapid ascent magnifies altitude effects
- Allow
- 3–5 hours
Quick guide
- Interpretive pair
- Geology that rewards a longer look
- Closing move
- the process that formed the visible landform
Four deliberate moves through Pikes Peak
- Choose
- Choose highway, railway, or trail
- Look for
- Look east across the plains
- Look outward
- Compare eastern plains with western mountains from the summit.
- Confirm
- Highway, railway, closures, wind, and cold change independently.
Good to know
Highway reservations, railway tickets, summit closures, wind, cold, and construction can change independently.
Notice these
- The 14,115-foot landmark rises abruptly above Colorado Springs and can be reached by highway, cog railway, or strenuous Barr Trail.
- Look east across the plains as well as west into the mountains—the peak’s cultural power comes from its position at the Front Range edge.