I have driven up a few times. I have also flown in close proximity in one of these:
We flew into Buckley Air Force Base the day before. We were delivering this brand new CH-53E to the Marines in Tustin.
Got up early, made sure all the important stuff was still working and launched.
Incredible flight. The picture above was taken by me about 40 miles west of Pikes Peak. I had to pee.
Where we landed was actually a high Mesa.
The incredible thing about the 53E is that it had gas for days, was fast and handled like a dream. Our next stop was Sedona, Arizona. We rarely got above 200ft agl at 170kts all the way.