Pikes Peak, Colorado

Pikes Peak, as seen from Colorado Springs Airport
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pikes_Peak_from_the_COS_airport.jpg
Author: Phillip Stewart


Pikes Peak is the mountain visible from Colorado Springs, Colorado. At 14,115 ft (4,302 m), it is one of the fifty-four mountains in Colorado to exceed 14,000 feet, and the easternmost of them all.

Pikes Peak is part of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. It is located 10 miles (16 km) west of Colorado Springs as the crow flies, and 37 miles (60 km) west of the city by road. The peak was originally called El Capitan by early Spanish settlers, and was renamed Pike's Peak after Zebulon Pike, the 19th explorer of southern Colorado. Today the name is spelled without the apostrophe.

View from near the summit of Pikes Peak
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2005-05-13_Pikes_Peak_Highway.jpg
Author: Glenn Harper


Pikes Peak comprises mainly pink granite rock. Its color is due to the high content of potassium feldspur. The mountain was pushed up some 1.05 billion years ago, during the Precambrian period.

Visiting Pikes Peak, Colorado

Today it is possible to drive all the way to the summit of Pikes Peak on the Pikes Peak Highway. From Colorado Springs, head west on Midland Expy. When you reach the traffic lights at Cascade, turn left and take Fountain Ave. Continue on Fountain Ave until you see Pikes Peak Highway on the left - it has an arch with the name Pikes Peak Highway over it. Follow the highway to the mountain.

View from Pikes Peak Highway
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:View_From_Pikes_Peak_Highway.jpg
Author: DrunkDriver


Pikes Peak, as seen from Garden of the Gods
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pikes_Peak_Simese_Twins_GOG.jpg
Author: Beverly Lussier

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