Anyone have any tips and need to know for hiking Pikes Peak? Going to be making the trek this Saturday weather permitting. Any need for a Garmin with SOS or is the trail clearing visible the whole way? Appreciate any advise you may have.

Where are you going to be starting your hike...? And where do you intend to go on your hike...?

Ride the cog train

The cog is shut down. Has been for a few years now. They plan to reopen in 2021.

Round trip distance from the Barr Trail parking lot to the summit of Pikes Peak and back again is 26 miles with a 7,000' elevation gain. So unless you are a marathon runner, you better plan on stopping at Barr Camp to spend the night. You don't need a GPS but a USGS map is probably a good idea. The trail is good. Just follow the people in front of you.

Barr Trail & Barr Camp (glamping, 14 miles R/T) Long moderate backpack trip on a good trail.
If you park your car in the Barr Trail parking lot, you have to pay a parking fee. Or you can park your car next to the city park in Manitou Springs and ride the free shuttle bus to the bus stop in front of the Iron Springs Chateau. Hike the Barr Trail (FS Trail 620) and sleep in the cabins at Barr Camp. www.barrcamp.com You don’t have to carry a tent and the last time I visited, the host offered spaghetti dinners for a reasonable price. Fee and reservations are required. It’s common for hikers to spend two nights at Barr Camp and climb Pikes Peak.

The “A” frame hut is located beside the trail at timberline, halfway between Barr Camp and the summit of Pikes Peak. There’s a clearwater spring nearby. The hut is open on the east side and if you spend the night in the hut, you might be rewarded with a glorious sunrise.

Another way to experience Barr Camp is to start at the Elk Park Trailhead, located about half way up the Pikes Peak Highway and about 2/3 mile up the road from Glenn Cove. Have someone drop you off and start the hike from there, then hike southeast on FS Trail 652. Follow the trail down into French Creek. Don’t fork onto the Severy Creek Trail, it’s closed to the public. Hike up the other side, it’s almost flat, and to Barr Camp. Spend the night at Barr Camp. The next day, hike down Barr Trail to the bus stop and ride the bus back to your car. This route is mostly downhill. Must pay fee for Pikes Peak Highway.

I like to climb it from The Crags trailhead. It’s not near as crowded, the views to the west are better, it’s shorter and has less elevation gain, and it can be done round-trip in one day. Maybe 13.5 in total distance, and maybe 4,400 in total vertical elevation gain.

I plan on my wife and son dropping me off at Barr Trail at first crack of light and going to the summit and having them pick me up there.. I know the highway is closed all the way up but they said if you have mobility requirements or kid/kids in car seat that you can drive on to the top. Looks like they have closed the trail at the top as well and it adds about a mile to go around the construction from the new summit house. I thought about going up Crags but like the idea of more people since i'll be going solo..

Rode it many times to the top as a kid with my parents.. Always said I would climb it one of these days and knees are not getting any younger..

KC, thank you for the input.. I plan on going up Barr Trail to the summit and having my wife and son pick me up.. My buddy and I plan on hiking it again end of August or September and stopping at Barr for a night to break it up in to two days. I've been running consistently (when runners knee allows) for the last about 18 months so I'm hoping i'm conditioned for it. I'm hoping there will be plenty of people on it Saturday to keep me motivated and somewhat guided.

Then that’ll be a good trek...! Climb it, and ride back down in the sedan with momma drivin’. Might be nice for her to have some chilled beverages in a cooler for ya’. No way for you to get lost...Barr is heavily traveled and the trail is well worn. I’d travel light since you’re gonna be doin’ it the way you are. No need for GPS or maps, etc.. Make sure your phone is fully charged, and on low power mode, and keep it turned completely off when you’re not taking pictures. Gettin’ started early on the big ones is always best. It’s light enough to climb at 5 o’clock in the morning right now. Big mountains make their own weather. Thunderstorms often pop up out of nowhere in the afternoon. Lightning kills...so get up and get down...or ride down in your case. That’s gonna be a sweet trek...!
Pikes Peak is really a butt-kickin’ climb because it’s so long and there’s such a big elevation gain...a lotta people bite off more than they can chew by underestimating that mountain for those reasons. 26 mile round-trip with 7,400 feet vertical elevation gain ain’t no joke...!
When I come back down the Barr after climbin’ or hikin’ or doin’ the Incline, I always stop at the Royal Tavern next to Patsy’s in Manitou Springs and drink an ice cold beer.

KC is correct I have been there and done it many times. Top of the Pikes Peak is 14000+ ft. Some even use oxygen bottles to breathe.

Is there still snow up there on the trail yet?

From what i've read on Alltrails there is minimal snow remaining up top. I live at about 5,000 feet outside of Denver now, so not as worried about getting acclimated as I would have been a year ago coming from Texas/Oklahoma. For those that have done it, how many miles remain after tree line? If what i've read is correct it's about 3 miles?

I haven't done it in several years, but when I was still in the Army myself and a couple of other guys from my unit did the round trip in about 8 1/2 hours. We were all fair (me) or better runners (them) so if you've been running I can't see you having too many issues. When my unit did it their were several guys that ended up with headaches and trouble breathing because of the altitude.

The three miles or so after tree line sounds about right. As mentioned thunderstorms are common. I've done it 3 times and all three trips had some amount of rain.

It would be really hard to get lost. The trail is very well defined from all the foot traffic.

jarodjohns, I hope all of this smoke has moved out of here before your scheduled climb on Saturday. There are some wildfires in southwestern Colorado, and some big wildfires in Arizona, and a bunch of that smoke is being blown to the northeast...and you can’t see schit around here right now because of it. The views just ain’t there, at all, either.

Isn't there a road that goes to the top???

Barr camp closed at the moment....start early, take enough water. Haven't had many thunder storms (yet) this year, so probably won't be an issue of lightning in the exposed top part of the trail. If there is lightning, be careful!

antlers, I truly appreciate all your contributions to this post, as I do everyones. I still plan on starting about 5:00 AM Saturday morning as long as the forecast is positive. I'm by no means a triathlon athlete but I think i'm conditioned enough to conquer the task by noon if I get off at that time..

Do you guys use trek poles when hiking without it being snow covered?? May sound like a beginner question but I lived in Oklahoma for 31 years, Texas for 1 year and now Colorado for about 6 months.. But have been running 5-10 miles regularly for the last 18 months.

Not me. I like to go light. Minimal. Wherever I go.

Slow and steady will getcha there.

Take a couple of those spray paint cans of oxygen.

There's no air up there.

You can do the whole thing without being a marathon runner.

I see you've been living out there so you should be conditioned for the altitude. Drink lots of water. Both the day before and during your climb. As you get higher the key for me is a slow and steady pace. Some people push hard until they have to take a break, then push hard and take a break and by the top you'll see them going 15 or 30 steps then stopping.

I like to slow my place down to try to keep level breathing and just push through to the top.

If you're in the area -the incline from Manitou springs is a blast as well.

-Jake

No thanks! Not even when I was 20 in great shape! Watch out for the Grizz! Lol

Appreciate all the advice. Made it up in 5 hours and 50 minutes including the extra about mile for the detour. Wore smooth out but definitely worth it. Will break it up in to 2 days next time when me and my buddy from Oklahoma do it early fall.

We were there in 2007 about this time of year and drove up. We were in 2 vehicles, I was driving one, my son the other. When we started to drive back down an old man opened the door of my sons car and got in the back seat. I walked over to see what was going on.

It was a retired guy, nearing 80 who had walked up and was hitching a ride back down. I'm not familiar with any of the trail names, but he got out and into his own car near where you pay to drive up. While talking to the guy he told me that during good weather he did the hike several times a week just to stay in shape and had done it for several years. He knew the exact number of times and told me. I don't recall the exact number but it was well over 200 times.

Congrats Jarod. Nice work.

Good job Jarod. 14k is the real deal. My parents were born/raised in or near to Colorado Springs and my Dad grew up on the peak where his Dad was Supt. for road maintenance. Driving from the Springs to the Peak always gave me a massive headache but hiking up was much better.

mike r

I can look out of my window and see the summit of Pikes Peak. It appears that the snow is all gone. But that can be deceptive. Snow in the shadows and/or snow covered with dust disappears at a viewing distance of twenty miles. But don't let that stop you. By this time of the year there has been hundreds maybe more people who have climbed the mountain and the trail will be clear.

Looks like there’s still some snow on the north face.