Ahhhhh Beautiful Pikes Peak off in the Distance. As a native to the Springs I have always been fascinated with this Mountain. Barely touching any of Barr Trail throughout my whole riding career and exploring singletrack surrounding Pikes Peak, I have always dreamed of a chance to ride my mountain bike up and down Barr Trail summiting Pikes Peak. After many years of this dream I finally managed to hike the peak only because I broke my hand this summer and got more into backpacking. Being very late in the riding season and Mike having issues with his suspension fork on the front of his mountain bike he suggesting hiking the peak. The weather forecast called for 74 deg on Saturday and about 74 deg again on Sunday and since I had so much fun backpacking the peak solo in September, hiking the peak on a beautiful weekend in November sounded like a dam good idea.
So we thought starting off on the Incline would be a fun way to start the trip. Maybe fun is not the best word to describe hiking the incline with with a pack on. Our quads paid for this later!!
Whats the name of this Peak? Its killing me I will have to look on my map.
UPDATE: Its either Palsgrove or Marys Mountain.
Good ole Bar Camp These people are very friendly and we we grabbed a soda and candy bar. Barr Camp is halfway up Barr trail and an excellent resting place.
Dis be me. I dig using trekking poles while hiking. Somthing about it makes it more technical and fun.
We are starting to get up in elevation. I would say we are close to 11k feet and not to far from the A Frame when this picture was taken. Spectacular views are non stop on this route.
One of my favorite shots from the trip. We just got done setting up camp at the a-frame and pushed on to finish the summit. Getting from the a-frame to the summit then back down to the a frame proved to test our limits.
One of my favorite things about this trip is the massive time you get to spend above treeline. It is a diffrent world so close to home.
Honestly I have no idea why I am laughing in this picture but I am sure it has somthing to do with the high alititude euphoria.
A cool Rock Pile above Treeline
Blair Rock or somthing like that.
We are getting closer to the top. The snow is not to bad. Trekking poles help keep you steady on the icy spots.
America the Beautiful!
So we summited right at dusk and had a good 2-3 hour hike back down to the A Frame on what turned oout to be a dark and icy decent. After a windy nights sleep we made a fast pace back down to the trail head. We stopped by Amandas Fonda on the way back home and I cant tell you how unbelieveibly good a smotherd burrito and margarita are after hiking 26 miles with about a total of 16,000 ft of vertical.
journeyvision 