flickr/Amy Aletheia Cahill
19.4 miles:
50 minutes
Sentinel of the Front Range, 14,110-foot Pikes Peak towers above the landscape at the edge of the Great Plains. A 19-mile road ascends to the summit, where in 1893 the magnificent views inspired Katharine Lee Bates to write “America the Beautiful.”
Beginning in a forest of aspen and pine, Pikes Peak Scenic Road climbs ever higher as the trees gradually thin out, the view opens up and the road seems to meet the clouds. At the top, a wide-open vista takes in distant mountain peaks, while turnouts along the way offer views of such colorfully named formations as Devil's Playground and Bottomless Pit.
