Location: Pike National Forest, from Colorado Springs to Cripple Creek/Victor, Colorado, USA
Category: Chronicles → Paths of Revelation
Access Level: Initiate
Winding like an ancient serpent across the rugged backside of Pikes Peak, Old Stage Road—known to locals as Forest Service Road 368—cuts a solitary path through the heart of the Rockies. This historic dirt and gravel trail, born in the fevered days of the Colorado Gold Rush, once carried stagecoaches laden with dreamers and fortune-seekers from the plains of Colorado Springs upward into the mining boomtowns of Cripple Creek and Victor. Today, it stands as a challenging 4x4 route and off-road haven, climbing steeply through ponderosa pine forests, aspen groves, and spruce-fir woodlands, offering breathtaking vistas of the peak's southern flanks and the sprawling city lights far below.
The road begins near the elegant shadows of the Broadmoor area, twisting upward in relentless switchbacks—potholed and rutted in places, demanding respect from high-clearance vehicles or sturdy mountain bikes. For roughly 15-20 miles (depending on your chosen segment), it ascends over 3,000 feet, rewarding the bold with panoramic overlooks, hidden pullouts for quiet contemplation, and access to Pike National Forest trails like those leading to Saint Peter's Dome or Gray Back Peak. Wildlife stirs here: elk grazing in meadows, birdsong echoing through canyons, the occasional whisper of wind through timeless trees. In autumn, aspens blaze gold; in summer, wildflowers carpet the edges. Yet the trail's raw beauty carries a warning—steep drop-offs, narrow passages, and seasonal closures after snow or rain remind travelers that the mountain yields to no one lightly.
To those attuned to deeper currents, Old Stage Road feels like a threshold veiled in dust and pine scent—a place where the veil between mortal striving and higher realms thins. Here, amid the solitude of high-altitude air, seekers have long found clarity: the grind of ascent mirroring life's unrelenting quests, the summit views evoking sudden revelations of cosmic order. In the chronicles of The Mortal Testament, this very trail served as a proving ground for Joshua Bach, the free-spirited catalyst whose adrenaline-fueled mountain bike rides in these shadowed slopes (as glimpsed in early revelations) forged his burning fire for truth and purity. Pedaling against the steep grade, far from society's "matters of consequence," he touched something primal—an echo of divine defiance, perhaps, like Zeus claiming the heights or ancient prospectors chasing illusory gold that masked greater treasures.
For initiates exploring the Holy Universal Doctrine, Old Stage Road endures as more than a recreational byway. It is a living artifact: a rugged vein pulsing with the mountain's ancient energy, where solitary journeys invite introspection and unexpected encounters with the sublime. Venture here at dawn or twilight, feel the road's vibrations beneath tire or tread, and you may sense it still—the watchful presence of Pikes Peak, guardian of secrets both earthly and eternal, awaiting the next rider to ascend and awaken.
