Pikes Peak via the Barr Trail (Redemption!)

Enough bike riding!  It was time to lace up the hiking boots and hit the trail.  So, I decided this last weekend was time for my first 14er of the season. The winter snows have held on for far longer than normal throughout the high country, with the exception of the front range.  So, I decided that my target would be Pikes Peak.

For those familiar, there are two standard ways to get to the top of "America's Mountain" The first, is via the Barr Trail.  A trail cut almost 90 years ago by Fred Barr from 1914 to 1921. It is a popular 12.6-mile trail that climbs 7,300 feet from Manitou Springs to the top of Pikes Peak.  The second is via a smaller trail that extends from the backside Crags campground, through the "Devils Playground" to the top.

About 7 years ago, I tried to go up via the Barr trail.  I was hopelessly naive, and WAYYYY out of my league.  I quickly became exhausted, and quit after only 3 miles..... Until Sunday, that failure had always left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I arrived at the trailhead at 5:00 AM, and hit the trail at 5:09.  I made good time, and was treated to a very cool sunrise.  There was an eery cloudy fog layer that shrouded the city of Colorado Springs.









Soon after sunrise, I got my first good look at my quarry.

I made pretty good time, and I arrived at Barr Camp by 9:00

After Barr Camp, that's when it got tough. The grade got consistently steeper.  While it wasn't a big deal at first, the toughness of the Barr trail is that it NEVER lets up.  It maintains an average 14-20% grade over the course of 6 miles after Barr camp, in altitudes between 10,000 and 14,000 feet.  Trust me, you will discover what kind of shape you are in.






Here is your author on a high ridge - the city of Colorado Springs well below.











These were a group of people I met on the trail.  From the left are Angie, Jim and his wife Lorie.













Once above treeline, we found this little marmot.


















Once you get up high, you start seeing some amazing rock formations

 It's hard to really get a sense of scale, but this formation is literally 300-400-- feet tall

Finally at 3:14 PM we summited 

  

Okay!!  That's 1 down, and 9 more14ers to go!

ELEPHANT ROCK!!!

Well, today, all the training and preparation was put to the test.  My son Joe and I loaded our bikes onto the truck, and headed for Castle Rock.  Along with approximately 7800 other cyclist who came to participate in the largest biking event in the Rocky Mountain region.  For those familiar, the Elephant Rock race can be run many different ways.  There is a 100-mile century ride, a 62-mile "metric century", a 34 mile 1/3 century, a 25-mile mountain bike "fat tire" course, and even a 7-mile family ride.

I'm not a big fan of road riding, and I love mountain biking, so for us the choice was obvious: we chose the 25 (really 27) mile fat tire course.  After arriving at the Douglas County Fair Grounds -- the start/finish line, we parked; got our jerseys; and headed out on the course at 8:25 this morning.

The first 2.5 miles is all uphill as you climb to the ridge above Castle Rock.  While it's not too tough of a climb, it is a good way to get warmed up for the rest of the course.  Then after about another 2 miles of flat roads, we turned off onto the first dirt road.  Admittedly, this is one of the more fun parts of the course because you then have about 3 miles of downhill running.  It can be a little nerve-wracking going almost 30 miles an hour on dirt.  You know if you slide out, it's gonna hurt real bad.  After that, you turn into a Douglas county park trail for a couple of miles.  This was for the most part pretty flat - giving you a false sense of security for what lies ahead. 

Joe on the Douglas County park trail

After leaving the Douglas County park, you then prepare for the toughest part of the ride: Castlewood Canyon State Park.   Castlewood Canyon  is a natural deep ravine with large rock formations.  It's really stunningly beautiful.  The road going through it is a dirt road that climbs from the valley floor to a ridge the towers over the canyon itself.  It requires a climb of approximately 500 feet up a steep semi-hard (sometimes washboard) road.  Once we got to the top of that ridge, we found the aid station, where we filled our water bottles, ate some goodies along with the largest banana I've ever seen.  After the aid station, we had yet more climbing but once up top, the views were stunning.

Me on the trail overlooking Castlewood Canyon

Following that, there were still about 9 miles of rolling hills before we found ourselves again on the ridge overlooking Castle Rock.  At this point, you get about 3 miles of steep downhill.  God that section is soooo much fun.  I got up to 39 miles an hour -- on a mountain bike! Granted, had I fallen, I'd have been nothing more than a stain, but God that was such a rush!

After that, it was a quick mile or so back to the fairgrounds.  Total distance ‎27.1 miles (60% on dirt) completed in 2 hours 40 minutes (3 hours 18 minutes with stops and breaks). This was my third Elephant Rock, and far and away this one was my favorite. First and foremost, having my son with me was a memory I'll cherish forever. Secondly, I felt great during the entire ride. Definitely my strongest ride to date. As a result, I had fun during the entire ride. I looked around, and enjoyed the scenery. I got to appreciate the beauty of Castlewood Canyon, as opposed to simply staring down at the road while trying to get over that ungodly tough hill.

Joe and I after getting back home from Elephant Rock

We have the distance - now we just need to increase the azimuth

Today, I decided I was going to ride a true Elephant Rock distance.  So I left the house and got on the now-familiar Santa Fe trail, and headed north.  But this time, I rode past Monument; past Palmer Lake; and kept on going until I got to Spruce Mountain.  A distance of 12.7 miles each way, or 25.4 miles round trip - including about 2 miles of single-track trail in the Spruce Mountain area.

The ride took me 2 hours and 33 minutes, or about 10 miles per hour average.  That's respectable (at least it is for me anyway).I still need to do some more hill work.  I'm not very happy with my performance on those yet.  Don't get me wrong, I don't have to walk them or anything. I would just like to be stronger on them.

Back to Work!

I've basically been a slacker over the last couple of weeks.  A week ago Thursday,  I went down to San Antonio to meet up with some old friends for Cinco de Mayo.  This was basically four straight days of hard-core partying, which, at my age, required about that same amount of time to recover.

So yesterday, I laced up my hiking boots for a quick 4-mile jaunt, and this morning, I got on my bike for a 15-mile ride.  The hike was nothing, but the bike ride was much tougher than it should have been.  I'm almost embarrassed how poorly I did.  I was practically gasping for air the whole time...not good!  I'm definitely gonna have to hit it harder over the next three weeks if I have any hope of being ready for Elephant Rock.

The Toughest Ride of the Season (so far)

Today, I decided to do something a bit more technical, and by definition, a little tougher than the rides I'd done up till now.  So I decided to go south on the Santa Fe trail through the Air Force Academy, and then into the woods along the banks of (what I believe is) Monument Creek.

Which meant I was going downhill the whole way out.  Well, after about 10 miles I decided to turn around.  after about a mile, I felt the wind kick up - a south-bound wind.  So I was not only going uphill, through the woods, but I was doing it with a 10-15 mph headwind.

By the time I got home, I was exhausted.  My quads feel like someone has beaten them with a baseball bat. 

Easter Weekend....

Welcome to Colorado!  Weather this weekend has not been conducive to hiking or biking.  Temps in the 20's; snow covered ground... not good.  However, I refuse to let a weekend go to waste.  So this weekend, I've been breaking in my new boots.

As some of my readers (either one of you)  may recall, I have been struggling with a right ankle that rolls all the time.  Even my dogs were getting embarrassed by all the high-pitched squeeky whining noises I was making while walking on an ankle that was killing me.

So I've been searching for a boot that would provide the ankle support necessary for me to get up and down the mountains without the need to produce girly-noises.  After an exhaustive search, I settled on the Bitterroot boot by Vasque.  I'm pretty happy with these things.  They are basically bomb-proof.  They are Vasque's newest offering for this year.  They are essentially a beefed up version of their Sahwatch brand.  So this weekend, my goal has been to break these things in.  So far, so good.

Mt. Herman loop (hike) & Palmer Lake (ride)

This weekend, I turned up the bike training a notch.  I realized that we are just 7 weeks away from Elephant Rock.  I needed to see where I stood, so I did my first 20+ mile ride of the season.  I rode from the house over to the Sante Fe Trail, then up to Palmer Lake and back (about 9 miles each way).  In order to get in a full 20, I did 2 laps around the lake itself.

 
I felt surprisingly good.  It must have something to do with all the other training activities I've been doing (hiking, Mountain climbing, etc) But I had no problems at all.  I still want to do some hill work, but I am genuinely happy where I am 7 weeks out.

On Sunday, I still wanted to get in a hike.  But with time constraints (today being Palm Sunday), I really only had about 5-6 hours.  So I decided to do a hike I'd done before: Mt. Hermon loop.  I was only able to get in about 8 1/2 miles due to time constraints, but considering that I rode 20 miles the day before, I still felt pretty good about it.

 

I figure as good as I feel, I think it'll be safe to take on one of the peaks soon.  As of right now, they are still buried in snow, and I have limited desire to try and summit them with snow shoes.

Barr Camp / French Creek /Manitou Reservoir Loop

Yesterday's hike was tough: Barr trail (elevation 6575) to Barr Camp (10,188) then back to the French Creek trail head over to the Manitou Reservoir then looped back to the Barr trail before heading back.

It was originally gonna be 12. But I decided to add in the Barr Camp for lunch. Then because I was feeling good, I went the full distance down the French Creek. Although, today, I'm feeling it. One area where I was happy though: my right ankle. I used this special brace that is meant to stabilize it. While yes, it did get sore, I wasn't in 'crying like a little girl' pain.

Total length: 18.1 miles Elevation gain: 3614 ft. Total Elevation: 7109 ft. Time: 10 hours 20 minutes

Spruce Meadow / Mountain - and repeat

Over the Spring break, I did Spruce mountain again, and then yesterday, I did it yet again with my son. Like the first time, we also added the meadows to make it a hike of some decent distance. God what a beautiful day! 76°, crystal blue skies, light breeze. We ended up making it a nice 10-mile hike. We took the dogs with us, who also decided to take the first pond-swim of the season.

There was a negative however. I sprained my right ankle (again). Beginning to get a little concerned how easily that ankle keeps getting sprained.

Waldo Canyon

The weather during February hasn't been very good for hiking. If it wasn't bitter cold, it was snowing and raining...... My training has been restricted to the treadmill.... gak!

But finally, the weather has just been amazing the last few days. Clear, temps in the mid 50's; no wind ...awesome! So it was time to hit the trail again. So, today I got off work early, and took my hiking stuff with me, and did a trail I hadn't been on in a while: Waldo Canyon.

I'd forgotten how tough the initial climb was, but once up top, the views are simply stunning. This is the only place where you can see both Pikes and Almagre from the back side.

Trail Head Coordinates Waldo Canyon	N38 52.892 W104 56.966
Distance	7.5 miles
Start Elevation	7040 ft
Highest Elevation	8083 ft
Lowest Elevation	7040 ft

Spruce Meadow / Mountain

Spruce Meadow & Spruce Mountain are two local hikes that are popular with the locals. It is designated green space that used to be ranch land. Several years ago, Douglas County bought this land, and opened it up to the public.

Joseph and I made the entire 8.5 mile loop in 4 hours. And that included stopping for lunch on windy point at the top of the mountain, as well as a couple water/photo breaks along the way. Not a bad hike really.

Mt. Herman loop

Yesterday I went on the first training hike (15.5 miles) with my son - the Mt. Herman loop. It started at the Mt. Herman trailhead (elevation 7200), went around the south side of the mountain; over a saddle that required we climb up to 8400 feet, then dropped us into this gorgeous canyon. We then went north past Raspberry mountain, before dumping us onto a series of roads near Palmer lake. It was AWESOME.

The Promise.....

I remember the evening well. I had finished reading about a recent successful expedition to the summit of Manaslu by the crew of the Himalayan Experience. I've been following their expeditions to Everest, Lhotse, and Manaslu for years, and was more than a little inspired. I sent off a quick congratulatory email to Russell Brice, the legendary expedition leader and owner of Himalayan Experience.To my surprise, he responded, and this began an albeit brief email conversation where we discussed mountain climbing. This conversation planted the seed.

While I had never really been interested in mountain climbing before, I started reading everything I could about climbing some of Colorado's 14ers. I started spending time on 14ers.com. I read trip reports, trail conditions, etc.

About that same time, my son was beginning the process of preparing for college applications. He is a Junior, and was finishing up his Eagle Scout, and was preparing to apply to the Air Force Academy. According to the Liaison Officer, he's got a good shot at getting in. Thus this upcoming summer may well be his last at home. That's when the idea hit me: I would work to make this the best summer of his life.

During the Christmas break, I spoke to him, and told him if he would work hard, so would I. We would train to climb mountains, to ride bikes, and to hunt elk. We set as a goal that we would summit at least ten 14ers; would ride in the Elephant Rock bike race in June; and would hunt elk in the fall. It would be tough, but if he worked as hard as I was willing to do, it would be the most memorable summer of his life to date.