Tips for Pike’s Peak Highway

[SSWIM]

I drove Pikes Peak in my Gen 1 over Labor Day. It’s a paved road and you won’t have any issues with width. I had to take it slow since my kids get carsick easily and I didn’t want to have any clean up issues. Hopefully you don’t get stuck behind some other slow driver. Nice views, but there was never a moment where I was concerned going up or down. Drop down to 1st and 2nd for the descent. Stop at Devils playground for some great pictures and views; views at the top are ruined by all the construction they’re doing. IMO skip the food at the top, snack bar quality at best. Donuts were meh.

They will check your wheel temps at a stop on the way down. I had to stop even though I barely used the brakes coming down. Not a big deal, kids had to use the bathroom.

I highly recommend Garden of the Gods for views and hiking. Marigold cafe has great food and is close to Garden of the Gods.

Cave of the winds is also a great place to visit/tour.

We drove Rampage Road trail but it was really just a dirt road with a lot of switchbacks. Not particularly interesting, so we turned around about halfway.

Unfortunately, I wish I had more time to find other trails but it wasn’t possible this trip.


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Maybe Rampart Range Road???

Sam

 

[Gdog]

speed limits are mere guidelines...

 

[Trick.Raptor]

Gen2 ? Should have hill descent mode, this will save your brakes from overheating. They check them on the way down for overheating. Seems all the cars in front of me had to stop for a brake cool down. Mine were fine.
going up was fine but coming down was a blast. I turned off lane correction, just didn’t like wheel corrections up there.
Last time I was there I couldn’t drive all the way up. Had to stop about 90% of the way to the top and shuttle the rest of the way.

Hill Descent uses the brakes heavily when used so you would most likely overheat the brakes even faster using Hill Descent down a long pass like Pikes Peak.

Lower gears would be the better option.

I haven't been to Pikes Peak recently, the last time I went the pass was still unpaved and I did it with my old Nissan Titan 4X4. At first I thought go down in 4LOW but that was too slow! I ended up going down in 1st and 2nd and by the time I got to the brake checkpoint my brake temps were well within the acceptable temps....

 

[Lacajun25]

Maybe Rampart Range Road???

Sam

Yes, that’s the one.

I got my names all squished up in my head. You enter it just as you exit Garden of the gods. I believe it’s 20ish miles long but the 10 miles that I drove on it didn’t do much for me.


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[JasonSTL]

I drove up Pike’s Peak in a 1989 Honda Accord with 200k on it that I bought for $50, yes $50 back in 2005. No problems at all other than it was low on power. Your Raptor will be just fine.

 

[GunMonkeyINTL]

I drove up Pike’s Peak in a 1989 Honda Accord with 200k on it that I bought for $50, yes $50 back in 2005. No problems at all other than it was low on power. Your Raptor will be just fine.

How was a $50k / 200k mile Accord “low on power”?

I’m assuming that the last $45k of the purchase price was accounting for a turbo so big it had to be mounted in the trunk, and about $25k worth of carbon fiber.

 

[GordoJay]

How was a $50k / 200k mile Accord “low on power”? .

Not $50k. $50. Pikes peak highway is no big deal. Never has been. Unless you’re a flatlander. A hundred thousand tourists drive it every year.

 

[JasonSTL]

How was a $50k / 200k mile Accord “low on power”?

I’m assuming that the last $45k of the purchase price was accounting for a turbo so big it had to be mounted in the trunk, and about $25k worth of carbon fiber.

It was $50, not $50,000. It had $0 in carbon fiber and a bunch of free iron oxide.

 

[GunMonkeyINTL]

It was $50, not $50,000. It had $0 in carbon fiber and a bunch of free iron oxide.

Oh, shit. Don’t know why I saw the K in there. I believe I’d have made it at least a $100 car and put new pads on it.