Ridgecrest Scenic Overlook

By denver-gazette August 12, 2016 | updated 10 years ago

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Things To Do

Motorcycle-riding Off-road-vehicles Sightseeing

Ridgecrest Scenic Overlook is a dramatic viewpoint that looks across Ute Pass to 14,115-foot Pikes Peak from the Rampart Range near Colorado Springs. Ute Pass, referring to the deep valley below, is not a pass but a deep canyon carved by Fountain Creek along the Ute Pass Fault. The overlook, fenced by a stone wall, is on the Rampart Range Road, a 60-mile gravel road that runs from the Garden of the Gods to Colorado Highway 67 north of Devils Head. The scenic viewpoint makes a great stop to take photographs of Pikes Peak and to enjoy a picnic lunch. The overlook was built in the 1930s by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers. The area south of the overlook was burned in the fierce Waldo Canyon Fire in 2012.

Pro Tips

The Rampart Range Road (Forest Road #300) traverses the rolling crest of the Rampart Range for 60 miles in Pike National Forest. The gravel road offers great views, backcountry hiking, cross country skiing, primitive camping, and mountain biking. The lower road from Garden of the Gods to the overlook is usually rough, dusty, and impassable in winter since it isn’t maintained.

Rampart Reservoir Recreation Area north of the overlook is a popular place for camping, picnicking, boating, fishing, and hiking. Camping is at Meadow Ridge and Thunder Ridge campgrounds. A good mountain bike ride is the 12-mile Lake Shore Trail around the 400-acre reservoir.

A good hiking adventure is 1.4-mile Rainbow Gulch Trail (#714), which begins on Rampart Range Road north of the overlook and heads east to Rampart Reservoir. The 2.8-mile round-trip hike descends a shallow valley filled with ponderosa pines and wildflower-strewn meadows.

If you’re heading up to Ridgecrest Overlook from the Garden of the Gods, make sure to stop first at Balanced Rock near the start of Rampart Range Road. The 300-ton rock, composed of 300-million-year-old Fountain sandstone, is a popular marvel of erosion. Just up the road above Balanced Rock is another balancing rock to the left.

Recommended season(s): Year-round.

—Stewart M. Green

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