Pikes Peak carried older names long before it was on a map

The mountain you see from almost everywhere in El Paso County had names long before mapmakers labeled it. Ute people, who lived along this part of the Front Range for a very long time, called it Tava, often translated as “Sun Mountain,” because its height catches the first light of dawn. The peak holds meaning for other tribes of the region as well.

The English name comes from Zebulon Pike, an Army explorer who sighted the mountain in 1806. He never reached the summit, but his name stuck to it. So the peak that gives the county and the city their backdrop actually carries layers of history: the older Indigenous names and the newer one most maps use today.

Knowing both names is a small way to see the place more fully. The same mountain that draws tourists up a highway and a cog railway today was a landmark and a sacred place for the people who were here first, and it still matters to them.

For a careful telling of the mountain’s many names and its history, read History Colorado.