America's Mountain | Pikes Peak Highway

What’s better than hiking to 14,115 ft.? Packing a picnic, turning on your favorite old school jams and driving Pikes Peak highway to the very top of 14,115 ft. Life is good.

"Fear is a reaction, Courage is a decision." -Sir Winston Churchill

I find myself in a mom role every time Jeremy and I take a stroll up big #mountain roads. Grabbing the #cooler out the garage to fill for lunch, packing all our possible needs of clothing layers and hitting the road [I always forget eating utensils].

This day in May was oh so beautiful! The sky was so blue and the clouds were Heaven looking down. My mom calls specific cloud coverage in the sky “Taylor days” from the day, my brother, Taylor passed. The sky was so blue with cotton ball #clouds few and far between. When we buried him, it was a reminder of just how big our God is. Bright as the sky’s blue and giving you the perfect amount of coverage when you need it most.

Today was just like that! Roll the windows down, let the air roll through your luscious locks [sorry if you a bald bish], and feeling the bigness of our God surrounding us.

Pikes Peak #mountain is incredibly majestic. The mountain is one of Colorado's 53 fourteeners and is known for the #PikesPeak International Hill Climb. I don’t see a need for speed myself, so the concept of the Hill Climb race gives me mad anxiety. People volunteer, no, qualify prior, to race up the winding donut disturbed road as fast as they can. Many have died, many will continue to, but apparently, it’s an honor so kudos to them.

ANYWAYS…

We decided to try out the Pikes Peak #Highway. This is the perfect family experience for all shapes and sizes. If you’re not exactly the “Let’s get up and take a hike” kinda person, this is the route to go. If you’re the “Oh I got no money, can you spot me?” kinda person, you should probably stay home. The admission tickets for the mountain highway are $10 - $15 and add up quickly depending on how many people hit the road with you. THE VIEWS ARE TOTALLY WORTH IT! Although you can get these views from many different places in #Colorado, you will never have the same experience of winding back and forth on the perfectly, modern paved road that takes you to the top, or the fantastic feeling you get when you stand at 14,115 ft and can hardly breath because the air is so thin (again, worth it!).

Pikes Peak Highway is 19.26 – mi long with overwhelming forest scenery for the first 12 miles or so and then quickly slaps you in the face with incredible mountain views the rest of the way to the top. FUN FACT: Trees stop growing at around 12,000 ft. due to lack of oxygen, hence the reason you start to see the forest diffuse into large rocks AKA the mountains.

Whilst the winding views up to the top, be on the lookout for places and rock formations you want to stop at on the way down. Make it to the top – then work your way down. The top of Pikes Peak is, not gonna lie, underwhelming. Construction has emerged at the tippy top so hanging off the side is not exactly going to happen at this time. Get to the top, take some pics with the sign, and make your way down.

BE CAREFUL: I did this awesome thing where I set my brand spanking new iPhone 11 pro on a rock with my Sony camera while I posed for an unnecessary picture with the summit sign. I did not realize until about an hour and a half later that I did in fact leave the phone at 14,115 ft. ALL GOOD, someone returned it to the Ranger Station at the bottom. Needless to say, I was FREAKING OUT!

On our way down, we found this bad-to-the-bone rock formation we HAD to climb. Really, you could walk up most of it! The surrounding scenery of the rock formation looked like Ireland. It was so green with dispersed rocks surrounding and had such a sense of peace as you make your way up. When we reached the top of the formation (took like 5 – 7 minutes), and landed upon this quiet, calamity of a view, I couldn’t help but take in every inch of it, without going too high up of course [again, I’m a chicken shit!] Sitting there was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Feeling so present and yet so free in the bright blue, breezy sky had me LIVING MY BEST LIFE.

The highway gate closes at 5 which means get the heck up out of there so everyone can leave on time. Don’t be a contributor to people working longer hours than they need to! We made our way down, took in all the exquisite views and proceeded to pull into the Ranger Station so this phone forgetter could pick hers up. All-in-all, do the drive to Pikes Peak Highway and down. If you are someone like me who grew up in a little cow city, the views will not disappoint! It will leave you speech-filled with many great memories to remember for a lifetime!

DON’T FORGET

“Live through love, learn through patience, and accept kindness with gratitude”

:Liv