Rain City Story

The Manitou Incline

In March of 1906, the city of Colorado Springs completed construction of a one mile cog railway to whisk tourists up to the top of Rocky Mountain (many people mistake Rocky for Mount Manitou which is the next peak to the northwest of Rocky) and it continued to operate until September of 1990.  After the last car descended from 8,600 feet, the owner of the land, Pike's Peak Cog Railway, elected to keep the land and allow the scar to heal.  That didn't happen.

The trail can easily be seen when traveling westbound on route 24 and it is unbelievable to think that people or even a machine could scale such a grade.  In numbers, it doesn't sound so bad; the climb starts at a little over 6,500 feet elevation and ends at 8,644.  According to the US Geological Survey, the average gradient is 41% with the maximum being 68% and is 1.02 miles long.

Despite the land being privately owned with warning signs all over the place, people climb it everyday and today was my turn.  Since I spotted it the very first day I arrived here, the thing has been taunting me every time I pass it, begging me to climb.  No more procrastination. 

Midway through an incredibly lame conference call, I decided on a whim that the time was now.  I left the phone on the hook so they couldn't hear me drop and busted out to the car where I changed out of my jeans into my running shorts.  30 minutes later (it took me 20 just to find a damn parking spot), I was ready to go.  Whatever you do, DO NOT park in the lots owned by the Cog Railway, these people take parking very seriously and have several guards with binoculars watching the precious few spaces. Park at the Barr trail or drive back down to Downtown Manitou Springs and park on the street.  It's not that bad of a walk.

Once in the lot, you'll see the famous Barr Trail sign but you don't want the Barr Trail (which will take you all the way to the top of Pike's Peak), you want pain and suffering.   Go to to your right and the back of the lot and you should spot a faint trail.  Take the obvious path until you come to the railroad ties.  This is it.  Before you start, look up, take a deep breath and notice that you're breathing is fairly relaxed.  Say goodbye to that.

Immediately upon hitting the ties, it kicks up quickly, but not too bad. Unless you're a freak, resist the urge to jog this part, I wish I had.   It doesn't really look that bad from here.  About 5 minutes of climbing later, you'll come across the last warning sign (see above) and though it looks like it's all fun and games, you are trespassing on private property and breaking the law of you continue.  Whatever...

From here on out, it's just one foot in front of the other, one step at a time.  I had my Garmin 305 GPS/HRM with me and almost immediately, my heart rate was in the mid 170's.  My goal was to make it to the top in under 30 minutes. 

Every now and then, the path levels out to 40-50% grade and you can stop, turn around and enjoy the scenery.  Here is a shot of downtown Colorado Springs from the midway point.

Right after this point, the climb gets seriously steep and you must lean forward (sometimes on all fours) to keep from falling back.  There were two instances where I actually had to crawl. Not for people afraid of heights.  Each of the 2,809 ties is an extreme effort at this altitude and grade.  It seemed like every time I looked at my heart rate monitor, I was at 180+ beats per minute.  I stopped twice, once to tie my right shoe, the other to keep from going totally anaerobic. 

Cruelly, there are two "false" summits along the climb and it is humbling even though I knew they were coming.  This post is already far too long but I completed the climb in 36 minutes and 14 seconds which isn't bad considering my 218 pound frame.  I was passed by three people, one a young girl who was jogging up.  Yes, jogging.  But I easily weighed twice as much as she did and I'm a cyclist dammit, not a runner.  Getting to the summit was a little anticlimactic honestly but I was glad to see it.  The cement car holder can still be seen but I was sucking too much wind to snap a picture.  After the climb, I ran the 3.5 miles down the Barr Trail back to the trailhead which topped me off by killing my legs.  Don't even think about walking back down the climb, you WILL get hurt.  Here are some images from the top:

And the obligatory Google Earth Images:

You can see more in the Manitou Incline set on Flickr.