PIKES PEAK (14,115’)

From the Crags Trailhead

June 26, 2014

By Tim Briese

14.0 miles, 4300’ elevation gain, 11:30 roundtrip time

This was one of the most unusual 14er climbs I have ever done because my wife Teresa and I had no intention of climbing this mountain when we started on the hike! We drove to the Crags Trailhead on the west side of Pikes Peak on a sunny morning in June with the intention of climbing part way up the trail on the west slope of the mountain with our lab Abby. The trailhead is located just before the entrance to the Crags Campground at about 10,000 feet elevation. The parking lot was jammed with 30 or 40 vehicles and we managed to secure one last available parking spot. I was not feeling too well this morning so we made a late and leisurely start at about 10 am. We hiked up the trail through the woods to the east and after a half mile or so took a fork to the right on the Pikes Peak Trail. We hiked through the woods for a couple of miles and gradually climbed up to timberline, admiring the nice views that unfolded as we climbed higher.

a view through the trees from the trail

a view to the west

When we emerged from the last of the trees we tackled the trail up the steep tundra slope up to the Devils Playground. We encountered several hikers coming down on this stretch, many of whom had hiked all the way to the summit and back already. They had obviously started much earlier and hiked much faster than us. About 1 pm we reached the broad and gentle Devils Playground, at around 12,700 feet, after hiking about 3.5 miles. We sat down and ate lunch there and were fully considering calling it a day and turning around.

abby getting a drink while we ate lunch

The summit of Pikes Peak was nearly three miles away, and it looked a long way from here!

pikes peak

The weather was very nice though and I decided I would like to hike a little further across the Devils Playground over to the Pikes Peak Highway.

the trail over to the highway, which is at the far right

Teresa thought at first that she would just stay here and wait for me but in the end decided to come along. It was fun hiking across this easy stretch of trail and the rock formations were very scenic.

a scenic gap in the rocks

When we reached the highway we decided to cross over the road and continue on the trail a little further on the other side.

the trail, in the foreground, along the highway

After going around a curve and hiking over a knoll above the highway we looked up and noticed that Pikes Peak looked a whole lot closer now. We looked at each other and saw an excited enthusiasm in each others’ eyes. We had often talked about climbing Pikes Peak from this side but had never done it before! There were several things to consider: We were short on food and water but could get some at the visitors’ center on top. The weather was deteriorating a little but did not look too bad yet. Also, the hour was getting quite late for a summit climb but the sun would not set until 830 and we had headlamps along. And last but not least, I had had both of my knees replaced only about 12 weeks before, but they were feeling okay. So why not go for the summit?! After a quick conversation we decided to go for it and began blasting enthusiastically up the trail. We briskly walked up the nice trail, sometimes near the highway and at times some distance away from it. One reason we had never climbed the Peak via this route before was that the proximity of the highway would seemingly detract from the wilderness experience, but it turned out to be not so bad.

the view looking down at colorado springs

view of reservoirs on the northwest slope of pikes peak

getting closer to the summit

The final 600 feet of the climb went up a fairly steep talus slope on the west side of the summit, with a couple of small patches of snow near the top.

on the talus slope below the summit

It was cloudy and windy when we reached the top and walked across the parking lot to the visitors’ center. We got there at about 4:10. I waited outside with Abby on the north side of the building out of the wind while Teresa went inside to fill our water bottles and buy some food. Several tourists who had driven their cars or ridden the cog train up strolled by, and one little boy who noticed my pack and trekking poles asked if I was a hiker? I said yes and told him and his mother that I had walked all the way up here with my wife and dog, and I became an instant celebrity of sorts! We hungrily ate the food Teresa bought and at 4:45 decided we had better get going on our descent. A windy snow squall moved in and we put our wind gear on. The wind-whipped snow swirled around us as we left the top and headed down the talus slope but fortunately it stopped after five minutes or so. It got noticeably warmer and less windy as we dropped lower. A highway patrolman saw us coming down and walked over to us and asked us if we had seen a lost dog that someone had reported missing but we had not. We hiked briskly down at a rapid clip because the hour was getting late. Teresa was feeling ill on the descent, perhaps from the altitude or lack of water, and we had to stop a couple of times for ibuprofen and rest. The late sunlight was quite pretty as we descended below timberline.

late day sunlight

We hiked at a rapid clip through the lower trees as darkness approached and found it necessary to put our headlamps on for the last 15 minutes or so before we reached the trailhead. We stopped for a moment shortly before we got to the trailhead and noticed a red light approaching through the trees behind us. We waited for it to approach and it turned out to be the headlamp of a young man coming down the trail with his girlfriend. She was wearing a long skirt, which we thought quite unusual for trail garb. Where they had been up in the woods and what they were doing we do not know. We tramped back to the truck in the dark at 9:30 and found only a handful of vehicles there now. Teresa was still feeling quite ill. We stopped at Wendy’s in Woodland Park for a late dinner and returned home at 11 pm. When we finally walked in the door, I exclaimed, "What have we done to ourselves today!!"