July 18, 2025

By Tim Briese

Sentinel Ridge, Sentinel Point, Devils Playground: 6.3 miles, 1700’ elevation gain, 5:35 roundtrip time

This outing promised to be a fun adventure in my own backyard not far from my home that I had never done before. Brian and I drove up the Pikes Peak Highway to the Devils Playground parking area at just under 13,000 feet elevation. I had secured the necessary reservations ahead of time. The route would be above timberline all the way so an early start was desired. As good fortune would have it, today was one of the few days during the year that the highway opened early to accommodate those who wished to see the sunrise from the summit of Pikes Peak. We knew this ahead of time and arrived at the trailhead shortly after sunrise. We headed west on the Devils Playground Trail and soon cut to the left and began an easy bushwhack mostly on tundra along a ridge and over the highpoint of the ridge called Sentinel Ridge, an unranked 12er. 

a view of sentinel ridge as we approached

We continued cross country southwest toward Sentinel Point.

brian coming down the tundra from sentinel ridge

a ptarmigan we saw along the way

looking back at the tundra slope we came down

sentinel point lies ahead

sentinel point

looking back from the slopes of sentinel point at the scenic tundra we hiked across

When we reached Sentinel Point we followed a nice trail up its east slope which became more sketchy in the boulders near the summit.

climbing up the boulders

We checked out a boulder to the south but determined it to be a bit lower than one to the north so we made a class 3 scramble over to it.

at the highest boulder

We retraced our steps back across the tundra and when we neared the parking area we made an off-trail climb up to the top of unranked Devils Playground Peak.

on the way up to devils playground peak

at the summit, with sentinel ridge in the background

This summit is easily accessed by a short trail from the parking area and is visited by countless tourists who can get the thrill of "climbing" a high mountain.

the trail up to devils playground peak from the parking area

We drove on up the Pikes Peak Highway to its summit. The summit infrastructure has changed dramatically since I last visited many years ago, following a 65 million dollar project completed in 2021 that built a new visitor center, expansive overlook platforms, and more.

the new visitor center

one of the nice viewing platforms that extend around many sides of the summit

Grouse Mountain: 0.8 miles, 200’ elevation gain, 25 minutes roundtrip time

We had a little more time available today so we pulled into nearby Mueller State Park to climb Grouse Mountain. I hadn’t been here in a while either and was impressed with the trails and amenities in the park. We drove to a parking area past the campground and hiked quickly up the trail to Grouse as a rainstorm approached.

this rock is the apparent highpoint

We stayed just long enough to take a couple of quick photos then hustled back down and arrived at our vehicles as rain started splattering down.