The hardest part about this hike, besides the last mile of course, was getting there. Let me tell you, they’re not playing around when they state 4WD only. It was insane! I saw several people with flat tires on the road. And be sure, if you plan to take this hike, that you do NOT google map it. The 4WD road they put you on is even more intense. Everyone in my vehicle was a bit scared we weren’t going to make it (I’m proud of my Tundra!). Use 120 road instead!
This is a 16.6 mile trail with 5,394 feet in elevation gain (don’t believe the .com’s statement of 11 miles…. it’s a lot more. Be prepared.
We got all our gear ready before going to bed the night before, and got up at 2:30am to make it to the trailhead by sunrise (5:30am). After the eventful 4WD trip to the trailhead we signed the register, crossed a bridge, and were on our way.
The first 2.5 miles went straight up an old service road. It was covered in waterfalls, water, and flowers. Beautiful! If a little slippery. Make sure you have waterproof hiking boots. It was here I stopped to take off my jacket, and ended up accidentally leaving my sunglasses (to be picked up at the end of the hike).
After 2.5 miles we came to a sign indicating the trail split. Crestone Peak and Needle went left, Humboldt right. We went right and continued up the trail.
Right at about this area the trail was littered with fallen trees. They were pretty easy to go over (or under). Then there was a boulder field and we were dropped into the Colony Lakes Area.
Shadow Selfie…
The views were nothing short of amazing. We hiked in absolute awe.
Much of the trail was covered with snow. This only got us into trouble twice. Once before Colony Lakes and once about ½ a mile from the summit.
While there wasn’t a lot of snow on the trail, where there wasn’t snow there was water.
After passing the lakes the trail turned steeply to the right. and you could see Humboldt Peak.
It was very well maintained for much of this trek. Lots of work has been put into this part of the trail! It is pretty steep, however.
The ‘trouble’ started when we reached the saddle. While there wasn’t much snow, it was over the trail and made it impossible to find (on the way up, we found it just fine on the way down). Here’s a tip: Stay to the right! It really looks like the trail goes to the left, but don’t take it. We did (and so did 3 groups before us) and it made the hike much harder. We were bouldering where we shouldn’t have been. Stay right.
At this point the girls were getting really tired, but this is where I need to speed up to keep my blood moving. I went ahead about 10 yards and stopped to wait for them. They decided to take a 20 minute break (I wasn’t aware of this). I was frantic wondering what happened to them, went back, found them, and continued on. It got really cold at this point. I’d been standing still for 20 minutes in the cold. This marmot cheered me up though. He was licking the rock.
The wind picked up and it couldn’t have been more than 20 degrees. My fingers started turning white and I was having a hard time bouldering (we were obviously in the wrong place). So I looked around, got my bearings, and led the girls over the ridge, found the trail, and we made it!
There was a small shelter made out of stones, really just there to block the wind so you could rest for a minute or two before heading down (it didn’t block much wind).
Here’s a 360 degree view from the summit
We didn’t spend much time on the summit, mainly because it was cold. We quickly found the correct trail down, conveniently marked with multiple large cairns which would have been easy to see if we’d have stayed right instead of going left. ‘
The trail was just as steep heading down as it was heading up, and the views were just as magnificent. We stopped at the lakes for lunch, then continued the rest of the way.
The trip back down seemed to go on forever, probably because the trip was 5 miles longer than the beta had suggested. Especially those last 2.5 miles! It was hot, we were tired, and my eyes hurt (no sunglasses, remember?). We followed the stream, cooled off a bit from time to time, and eventually found my sunglasses. They were just where I’d left them, and had spent their time enjoying the waterfall while we’d been hiking.
This was a last minute trip.
It wasn’t until about 10pm the night before I realized hiking the 26
miles up and down Pikes Peak would even be a possibility. When I discovered I had some time in my
schedule I immediately went online to check the weather forecast. As usual, each forecast was different, but
they all agreed there would be storms and possibly snow in the afternoon. One even predicted thunderstorms starting at
10am, but most stated there would be “fall like weather”.
I’ve missed several opportunities to hike the mountain this
summer because I listened to weather forecasts that turned out to be false, or
materialized later in the afternoon than forecasted (meaning I’d have already
hiked and been home before the storms started).
I asked Rebecca her opinion and she said yes I should go! She also said she’d look for me if I didn’t
come back tomorrow night. And by ‘look
for me’ she meant drive to the trailhead and yell. So I packed up my gear, prepped coffee just
in case, and decided to “decide” in the morning.
My alarm went off at 2am and I looked out my front window to
evaluate Pikes Peak and my chances for a successful hike. I couldn’t see the light from the summit
house, or, more importantly, Pikes Peak at all; It was covered in low lying
clouds.
So I went outside. It
felt warm (low 60s). I went back and
forth in my head on whether or not to attempt the hike for about 5 minutes
(seriously, which is a long time for someone who usually makes quick
decisions). In the end I decided to
go: I could always turn back if the
weather got difficult, and I’ve never regretted taking a hike when I didn’t
feel like hiking. I made sure I had my
ski gloves and set out on my way with the rest of the gear I’d packed the night
before.
I didn’t get to the trailhead until after 3am. There were only 2 cars in the parking
lot. The dashboard of the car read 63
degrees outside. I figured the cars
belonged to backpackers at Barr Camp, paid my $10 parking fee, and started
hiking at 3:12am.
I usually check the time as we hit different landmarks/mile
markers, but never actually write them down.
I’ve got a pretty good idea of how long each segment should take, but this
time I wanted to keep close track of my progress.
I love hiking Pikes Peak.
I’m super appreciative of hiking buddies and I’m glad to hike with
anyone who’d like to hike with me (quick caveat: they must be in good health, have no heart or
lung problems, and WANT to hike the peak), but I find when I hike with others
we take a lot of unnecessary and sometimes lengthy breaks. These breaks are probably necessary for them,
but I’ve always wondered how quickly I could hike the peak if I only stopped
when I was tired. So this time I was
keeping a trail log on my phone.
I started hiking to the sound of crickets. The first three miles of the hike are the
most difficult and require you to ‘power’ through them. The redeeming factor to this stretch of the
trail are the city lights. You can see
Manitou and Colorado Springs glowing in the distance. I’ve tried dozens of times to get a good
picture, but have come to the realization the only way to enjoy the view is to
actually be there.
Strangely I wasn’t able to see the summit house light. It’s a very bright light I can usually see
from my house, and I’ve always seen while hiking the peak in the morning. I’d thought I’d have been able to see it
through the clouds, but I couldn’t. I
hit MM1 at 3:31am, MM2 at 3:53am, and MM3 at 4:14am. I’d hiked the first 3 miles in 61 minutes and
had taken several stops for pictures (none of which came out really well). That’s great time! These are the hardest miles of the hike, so I
consider hiking 3mph basically climbing up stairs a win!
At this point I began noticing the sound of crickets had
silenced. In fact, I couldn’t hear any
bugs or the sound of the creek I knew I was paralleling. I made a mental memo of it and kept hiking.
Side note:
headlamps are NOT useful when you hear a noise in the woods. Your head automatically turns towards the
sound, but you have to swivel it side to side to look for creatures (or beady
eyes). A flashlight is much better
suited for this purpose.
Around MM4 I saw a large reflective rectangle in the
distance and was intrigued. I wasn’t sure
exactly what it was until I was right upon it, when I realized it was a sign
noting miles to the top. This is not a
permanent fixture, and was probably put there for the race this past weekend. I saw them every mile to the top, and
seriously hope the person responsible for putting them there ensures they are
properly disposed of.
MM4 came at 4:36am, MM5 at 4:57am, and MM6 at 5:21am. Even though the trail was evening out and
getting easier to hike I was gradually hiking a bit slower. Totally ok, but funny to note.
All along the hike I kept waiting for the sun to rise and for
it to get lighter outside but it just wasn’t happening. I thought to myself I was glad I’d hiked this
trail many times before. It’s a very well-marked
trail, but in the dark with just a headlamp it’s easy to lose the trail when you
come upon a bare section not lined with some sort of foliage. I kept thinking “I could see how someone
could get lost here, and here, and here”.
I was also noting the lack of animal noises. Usually I hear a lot of rustling and chirping
from birds, run into spider or caterpillar webs, and hear small creatures
scurrying in the dark. I saw two rabbits
quietly sitting on the trail before me at different points, but that was
all. No other sounds.
Well, I did hear a bear once, or what I thought was a
bear. It startled me in the quiet. I didn’t stop, but kept on hiking. You see, I was actually really, really scared
to be hiking out there by myself. I wasn’t
afraid of anyone attacking me: there
were only two cars in the parking lot, and honestly, anyone who’d made it this
far out didn’t have the intention of hurting someone at 5 in the morning. They’d be sleeping. No one was crazy enough to be hiking in the
dark (ha-ha) so it wasn’t likely someone was ‘lying in wait’ for someone like
me to hike along.
No, I wasn’t worried about another human being, or even a
bear, but possibly a Mountain Lion. I
kept noting how unusually quiet it was, and figured I’d be able to hear just
about anything except a predator (meaning a Mountain Lion, as those would be
the only predators in this part of the forest).
I mentally prepared myself to use my hiking stick to defend myself and ‘go
for the eyes’ if attacked.
So I scanned my headlamp left and right as I hiked, looking
for eyes in the shadows. When I heard
the growl I was seriously scared. It
made me jump a bit, but I didn’t see anything.
I thought it had to be a bear, as it was a rather loud noise and a
Mountain Lion would have just attacked from behind. It happened again and you’ll
probably never believe me, but I realized it was my stomach! Honestly!
I didn’t feel hungry at all (my core was aching right about now), and in
fact I couldn’t actually feel my stomach.
The second time I heard the growl my tummy moved at the same time, and I
audibly noted the hilarity of the situation and sighed in relief. I kept
hiking.
Usually by MM3 or MM4 it’s fully light outside, but I passed MM6
and Barr Camp at 5:23am to an eerie darkness.
Apparently there aren’t any lights at Barr Camp, something I’d never had
the opportunity to notice until now. Through
my headlamp I saw the railings and porch swing by the river indicating the entrance
to the camp, but opted not to stop because it just felt wrong. The fog around the campsite added to my
unease. Everyone was obviously still
sleeping, and I felt like an intruder.
Just after reaching Barr Camp a very light snow began
falling. I could see it through my
headlamp. It was more of a light mist of
snow, but snow just the same. I reached
the yellow ‘summit sign’ that lets you choose between the Bottomless Pit and
Pikes Peak at 5:46am, and it wasn’t until 6:01am when I was able to turn off my
headlamp.
A realization hit me:
I had just hiked for 9 miles. In the dark.
Through the forest.
By myself. Scared.
There was no moon to guide me, as it was lost in the cloud cover
above. I’d survived one of the scariest
things I’ve ever done, and was seriously proud of myself for sticking to it and
continuing to hike in the dark! Rock on
sister! Let’s do this!
I reached the A-Frame at 6:22am and took my first ‘rest’ of
the hike. Kind of. You see, I call my kids to wake them up in
the mornings for school between 6:20 and 6:25am, so now seemed like the perfect
time. Yes, I had cell service (I have it
at just about every point on the trail, even at the summit, although I can’t
usually post to facebook or Instagram while on the trail). I called Emily, wished her a wonderful day,
and took a look around. The tarp was
pulled closed over the A-frame, and when I peeked through the gap in the
curtains I thought I saw a jacket hanging from the window, so I quietly turned
around and started hiking again.
There were a couple of squirrels chattering, so I took a
video (I say chipmunk in the video, but knew they were squirrels: It wasn’t worth a second video).
Before reaching the trail I saw two bucks! They stood there and let me get a picture.
It was then I realized the squirrels weren’t chattering at
me, but at the deer:
I’d turned off my headlamp about 20 minutes ago, but it was
now that the sun actually began to rise. There is no way to describe or take a
photo of the sunrise from Barr Trail to do it justice, but here are a few
attempts:
It was about now the snow began falling harder, the wind
began to pick up and the temperature began to drop. I was now hiking into the clouds.
I switched my cotton gloves for my ski gloves and trekked
on. I reached the ‘2 miles to the summit’
sign at 7:05am, and the Cirque (about a mile from the summit) at 7:32am. I was above treeline, and still hiking at
about 2 mph! That’s entirely amazing, as
it often times takes an hour to go a mile on this part of the trek.
I was now hiking in snow, and saw prints I’d never seen
before. They were really small rodent
footprints, bigger than a mouse but much smaller than a marmot. Then I saw one! I’d never seen one before, but I was pretty
sure this was a Pika and the owner of the paw prints. I
tried to get my camera out for a picture, but by this time my fingers were
frozen and I wasn’t quick enough: The
Pika ran away before I could get a picture of him, so I took a picture of his
prints.
I kept the camera in my hand, and kept looking for another
Pika for a ‘Pika-ture’ (yes, I actually said this out loud).
That last mile was grueling only because it was so cold and
the wind whipped the ice and snow into my face.
It wasn’t bad enough to take refuge or turn around, but it was seriously
annoying. I saw this cairn about 50 feet
from the summit and thought it looked cool.
I still had the camera in my hand so I snapped a quick photo.
I reached the summit of Pikes Peak at 8:05am. It had taken me 5 hours and 7 minutes to
reach the top! That was absolutely
amazing! I was hiking at an average
speed of over 2.5mph: UPHILL! I knew
from reading Backpacker Magazine the
average hiking speed of any trek usually sits around 2mph, so I considered this
a serious win!
I reached the summit at the exact same time a cog pulled
up. Several workers jumped out of the
cog as it stopped, dressed in working overalls, shovels in their hands. They quickly began clearing the walkway.
The men were exceedingly nice, and asked about my hike up
and if I’d seen any animals? We
discussed what I’d seen and the animals they’d seen on their way up (mainly
deer as well). I (sadly) noticed the
Summit House was closed, so I asked one of the men shoveling when it would
open. He didn’t know. “Maybe in half an hour, maybe not at all
today because of the snow”.
Great. I was quickly turning
into a popsicle and decided to just head back down immediately. This ended up being a very wise choice.
I waved goodbye to the men shoveling, and as soon as I began
hiking back down they jumped back into the cog and were on their way back down
themselves. It was cold.
I mean VERY COLD. The wind didn’t
help. I was guessing it was about 20
degrees before wind chill. Hiking kept
me warm; stopping froze my sweat and my muscles.
About 50 yards into the descent I saw another Pika, and
luckily still had my camera in my hand.
Here’s what they look like: Bigger than a mouse, but smaller than a
chinchilla.
I didn’t see any hikers until I was just about at the
A-frame, and surmised by the color of the jacket the man was wearing he was the
one who’d spent the night. I tried to
warn him of the rapidly deteriorating conditions after treeline, but he didn’t
seem to think I was serious. When I
reached the A-frame again the tarp was pulled back and no one was inside, so I
was pretty sure he was in fact the overnight occupant.
Between the A-frame and Barr Camp I saw about 10 other
hikers and stopped to talk with them all.
They all wanted to know about the conditions ahead, as they couldn’t see
the mountain from that point of the trail.
Once again I told them it was snowing, cold, the wind was howling, and
it just kept getting worse. I advised
them all to head back, but every single one of them “had a ticket back down on
the train” and needed to be there to catch a ride back down. I told them all the summit house might not
open, so if they were relying on it for warmth/shelter be advised it might not
be there. The cog might also not be
operating. They continued their hike
anyway, one of them in shorts and a t-shirt.
He told me it was a “good thing he’d brought a jacket”. I did a face palm and told myself I’d warned
them. I honestly don’t believe any of
them made it up to the top. It did
indeed get much worse as the day kept on, and they were at least 4 hours behind
my summit when I saw them (they had 4 hours at best until they reached the
summit). When I told my kids this after
arriving home they said it was probably because I don’t look like a “hiker” and
that I make hiking look easy. I’m
guessing they probably thought if I could do it so could they. Hmmmm…. I digress.
I was back at Barr Camp at 10:28am and saw my last set of
hikers: 6 women in their early 60s, very
fit, with a LOT of makeup on (maybe it was permanent?). They seemed to listen to me, and while they
continued ahead, verbally made a pact to turn around if at any time one of them
didn’t feel safe. They also regretted
not beginning their hike at 4am like they’d originally intended. High five to them for keeping their options
open!
I was back at my car at 12:18pm. I’d hiked 26 miles in 9 hours 6 minutes, and
felt absolutely amazing! I didn’t take
any breaks besides 3 minutes to call my kids and what was probably 3 minutes at
the summit, and it was at this point I realized I hadn’t eaten anything all day
either. I’d brought a lot of snacks, but
hadn’t opened any of them. All I’d had
to eat today had been the coffee I’d sipped on the way to the trail. Now I was starving, and ready to eat. But first I needed to head to work for a few
hours, pick up Thomas from school, search for a gyroscope, pick up Emily from
softball…
Let me start by saying these girls were prepared for this hike. They’d backpacked this trail multiple times before, and were even nominated by Search and Rescue to earn the Red Cross Lifesaving award for rescuing hikers on this trail on another occasion. They received that award. They also train for and participate in an outdoor survival skills competition every year. They are experienced, in great physical condition, “pumped” about going on the hike, and I know them and their personalities well. I trusted their abilities.
For those of you who worry, don’t. Everyone made it out ok without any injuries that needed more than moleskin and a few Tylenol.
As always the girls spent the night at my house the evening before the hike. They made blueberry muffins for breakfast the next morning, and stayed up way too late giggling. I checked the weather forecast for the next day: 83-90 degrees with no chance of rain. AWESOME!!! We’re always worried about thunderstorms above the treeline. We were so excited it wasn’t going to be an issue this time. We woke up at 3am and were in the parking lot by 3:55am.
The parking lot was pretty empty, except for two large passenger vans. As I was paying for parking I overheard a director surrounded by about 20 people talking about how they were all going to hike to the top today, and their goal was to do so by noon. He prayed for God to bless their bodies and journey. I thought a few things:How cool for a church group to hike Pikes Peak!
· They do NOT look prepared for a hike like this. They are in shorts and none of them look like “hikers”
· Making it to the top by noon was overly ambitious
· I wanted to get a start before they did because passing them would take forever!
I quickly paid for parking and ran back to the truck. We grabbed our gear, turned on our headlamps, and got going. I said a positive “Good Luck!” to one of the church ladies preparing to hike (she seemed confused when she noticed I wasn’t with her group), and we were on our way before 4am.
We’ve hiked Pikes Peak before, but this was the first time we’d done so with small packs carrying just water. We have always backpacked with 30lb packs, so this was a treat! We made great time! We hiked the first two miles in about 40 minutes (which is amazing, considering it’s all uphill). As always, we enjoyed the view. No matter how many times I try, I can’t capture the beauty. I need a special camera.
The hike up to Barr Camp was pretty uneventful. The first 3 miles of incline are the hardest, and then the next 3 are gently sloping. No long breaks were needed beyond shedding layers (it was getting warm, and we were sweating). We saw various new flowers that aren’t in bloom when we usually hike in July or August, as well as a caterpillar nest.
We made it to Barr Camp at 6am (6.5 miles in 2 hours) and had a heavy snack.
Most of the campers there were just waking up. One man came up to us and asked about the conditions of the trail. He said hikers came back yesterday saying the snow was up to their thighs in areas and they weren’t able to summit. They kept losing the trail and getting stuck in snow, but said you could get pretty far if you “kept going left” and asked if that sounded right?
I told him it made sense, but we had crampons, so we weren’t too worried. His concerned reply: “I wasn’t worried about you, I was worried about making it myself. Do you think I can make it?” I thought this was hilarious! I initially thought he was looking out for us, but he was really worried about himself and his abilities. Apparently we looked like we knew what we were doing. He was worried he wouldn’t be able to find the trail, so I gave him some pointers.
Around the 8 mile mark we saw patches of ice on the trail. Right in the middle of the trail to be exact.
It was 1 more mile to the A-frame, and at this point we were feeling pretty good. It was so much easier hiking with just water! We made it by 8:30am and took a look around. It was not as green as it usually is (probably too soon in the season), but otherwise it was cleaner than normal (kind of… still some trash here and there). We were met by a marmot living under the frame and a young buck! SO cool! We never see deer at 11,500 feet!
Just as we were getting ready to leave a man came down the trail. He looked like an experienced hiker, so we talked with him a bit about the trail conditions. We asked him if he’d summited yet, and he said he hadn’t. He’d been trying for the past 4 weeks, but there was always too much snow. Last week the A-frame had 4 feet of snow around it. He was hoping to summit today. He also said he’d seen the church group at about 6am near the top of the incline…it had taken them 2 hours to hike 2 miles. There was NO WAY they were going to summit today, but they still seemed to think they could. They had driven in from Oklahoma at 10pm the night before the hike. The girls and I had flashbacks of saving those hikers form Kansas, and mentally prepared ourselves to help if necessary.
We said our goodbyes and continued with our hike around 9am. Immediately after the A-frame we lost the trail due to snow. There wasn’t snow covering the ground completely, but huge piles of it covering large parts of the trail. We knew which way to go, but it was under too much snow to traverse.
We could see large switchbacks further up the mountain, so we decided to just head straight for those and continue with the trail there. Normally I am completely against going off trail and creating new ones, but we really had no choice: there wasn’t a trail to follow. We could see where other hikers had attempted to go up, and tried to follow their tracks where possible (all in the snow, so we weren’t trampling ground cover). If we found the trail we took it until it was buried in snow again. Many times we “made our own trail” over the previous one.
We got really good at confidently making our own solid tracks in the very slippery snow. You see, the problem was we had no way of knowing how deep the snow was. As you can see by the picture below, one step I was on solid ground. The next I sank to my waist, and was only able to get out because my right foot was in a stable position. There’s no telling how far I’d have sunk if I hadn’t had one foot in a solid position. Yes, I was scared the first time this happened!
Adding to this was the water. Water trickles down from Pikes Peak into rivulets and small streams, then continues past the A-frame down the mountain. Some of them run below the rocks, others above. These streams can be heard the entire time you’re above treeline. You can see them at points, but you can always hear them. We knew there was water flowing below us, but we never knew if it was under snow or rocks. We’d be in trouble if it was under the snow and we fell in!
There were times when I had to make our own tracks and could see hoof prints in the snow. I followed those tracks, trusting the Bighorn Sheep or Mountain Goat that had made them…
Did I mention the Marmots? We saw more marmots this trip than I’ve ever seen before, and they were quite fluffy…
There tracks were everywhere too… Adorable!
We eventually found a way to a switchback leading to the Cirque. Notice how hard I’m breathing? It’s really hard to breathe at 13,000+ feet!
Just after the Cirque we followed the trail until we found the 1 mile mark, where it completely disappeared. We could see the “16 Golden Stairs” sign, so we made our way towards it. At this point we had to completely abandon the trail and just hike straight up. There weren’t footprints to follow, or any sign indicating which way we should go. We knew how the trail usually bends, but due to snow were unable to get to those spots. We also knew we wouldn’t be damaging any groundcover because it was all rocks.
It was like rock climbing on ice! Except there were no footholds, so we had to make our own. And there was nothing to hold onto except for our hiking poles and the holds we made before lifting ourselves up. And there were a lot of unstable rocks hiding below the snow causing minor rock fall avalanches. It was really scary and slippery, but the girls confidently made their own trail. Oh, and crampons for the win! Those things are amazing!
We summited at 12pm. It had taken us 3 hours from the A-frame, the normal time is usually does, but not in the traditional fashion.
Side note: The man we met at the A-frame was with a group of about 10 male hikers. They followed our footprints, so basically we made the trail for them. They didn’t have crampons so they were unable to summit.
We summited about 20 seconds before a cog train arrived, so we booked it inside the summit house to grab a table. We got donuts!!! I’ve summited Pikes Peak several times, and this is the first the donut machine has been working. I celebrated!
We collapsed at a table to take a well-deserved break. That hike was insane! We were so proud of ourselves! We had never done anything like what we just did: blazing our own trail and climbing through ice and snow for 3 miles up the face of Pikes Peak!
We also noted how scary we must have looked to everyone else there arriving from the train: you know, the ones wearing makeup with their hair curled.
As we sat there a “Park Ranger” (I’m not really sure that’s an official title, but there’s always a guy in a park ranger uniform at the summit house) came up and asked us if we’d hiked up. When we told him we had, he said we were the first this season! Woot! He then asked us if we’d be hiking back down (instead of taking the train) and told us to be careful: The other day he had someone lose their backpack looking over the edge and it slid 1500 feet down the slope.
A bathroom stop was on the agenda, but the line for the bathroom was longer than the line for fudge (which had about 30 people in it) so we decided to book it down the trail and go at the A-frame instead.
We went outside for a few pictures. Everyone who talked with us was super impressed we’d hiked up the mountain. See how proud we are? The person taking the picture noted the awesome rain shower in the background…
We’d just been through a very intense hike, and came up without a proper trail. This time we were at the summit and knew where the trail down started, so we decided to descend using the trail as intended. The “park ranger” was standing at the edge where we’d summited, presumably discouraging people from taking that way down. All routes from the top looked impassable, but we knew if we could just get past the snow we’d be able to find our route down. After all, the snow wasn’t “everywhere” as there were patches of rocks in between, and we’d made it up, hadn’t we?
We hiked for about 40 feet and knew immediately hiking down was not the same as hiking up.
This is where I need to pause a moment and let you know how we got into the situation that put us at risk. I am a serious photographer (intense hobby). Much to the disappointment of my children I take pictures of everything. I am rarely seen without a camera in my hand, and indeed summited Pikes Peak this trip one handed (with my Canon Rebel in my left hand… yes, I got a scratch on the lens from a falling rock, but it was worth it). In addition, there was no room in my backpack to hold my camera, so I had to keep it around my neck.
Remember that picture from before where one foot was level, and the other sunk to my waist in the snow? Well, that happened just as we were descending, except instead of catching myself I was off balance (due to my camera) and slid one foot first, one sideways, 600 feet down the face of Pikes Peak. Things going through my head at this time:
· This is bad
· Don’t start turning! Do whatever you can to stay upright and don’t tip over!
· Don’t scare the girls! Keep calm. Talk to them as you’re going down to let them know you’re not scared and that you’re ok. “I’m sliding down, just wait a bit, ok?”
· Find a way to slow down!!!
· I’m not slowing down, try something else!!!
· This is really, really bad.
About 600 feet later I was able to slow myself down by making a large “V” with my legs and came to a stop just before a rock outcropping. I’d lost my hiking pole about 1/3 of the way down (my first attempt at stopping was to try and anchor myself… the hiking pole stayed where it was).
At this point I was scared. That “glissade” was NOT on purpose, and now I was separated by my girls by 600 feet. Not for long however, for they decided to follow me, and without thinking I encouraged them:
I hadn’t fully processed the situation when they started, and encouraged them on. I didn’t want them to know how scared I was, but I also realized there was no other way for us to make it down the mountain: we could not go up. We had to go down or stay where we were, which wasn’t an option.
Note: I don’t have pictures of everything from this point on because there were times when our safety was much more important than pictures, so I focused on getting us down safely. I needed two hands to navigate and steady myself.
The girls made it to me and we assessed our situation. We were in an awful spot! We couldn’t walk sideways because there was a rock outcropping too steep to traverse. In addition that “rain shower” had turned to snow above us (wonderful weather forecast, huh?) and the rocks were really slippery. The only way down was to slide on the snow another 200 feet.
So we did. The glissade wasn’t pretty, as the grade was too steep to do anything but dig your heels in to slow down your descent. The girls are all smiles in these pictures (I’ve trained them to smile on cue because I’m always taking their pictures), but I know they were thinking “I’m going to DIE!” In reality, that was a possibility if they didn’t control their descent. They were fabulous!
The first thing Tristina said when we got to the bottom was “I’m glad those rocks were there to break our fall!” It sounds comical, but she was actually sincere: the rocks provided us traction and gave us breaks from snow that kept us from sliding out of control. They also ripped a very large hole in her pants, right where you don’t want a hole. She used her sweatshirt to cover the damage.
I was seriously worried about our predicament at this point, but knew we needed to keep going to save ourselves. We were at an inaccessible spot on the mountain, no one was hurt, we were all together and we could make our way down. We just needed to be extremely careful and not make one misstep, or we’d seriously injure ourselves on the rocks. Or tumble and break something and be in serious trouble.
I knew I needed to be a leader for the girls, so I kept up a positive, encouraging attitude while inside being scared I was leading them into danger. For their part the girls were amazing! They trusted my decisions completely, followed my footsteps, and problem solved on their own when necessary. I went first and many times had to direct them on the right path from places they couldn’t see me.
From here on out we tried to avoid snow patches whenever possible, hiking up and around them as we could. We spent a lot of time navigating large granite boulders. One of my girls was in shock, and we were all on a serious adrenaline rush. None of us were hurt, but we all knew we should have been. I knew they were scared, but the girls didn’t stop: they kept hiking down.
The group of 10 guys who followed us up was now descending, so we made our way towards them. They weren’t using a trail, but hiking straight down. This making your own trail irks me, but in our present situation I totally understood. We bouldered and traversed straight down, using them as a reference point. It took us about 75 minutes to reach them. One of the guys in the group started talking to us: he said their group was being led by someone who placed 2nd in a very popular Pikes Peak run. Impressive!
We tried to stay behind the group of guys (remember that embarrassing hole in the pants?), but they kept slowing down and taking breaks. This didn’t make ANY sense! They were all very fit men who shouldn’t have had to take so many “breaks”.
Eventually we figured it out when they asked us if we were anywhere near the trail: They didn’t know where they were going! They asked us for help navigating back to the trail. We knew the general direction so we led the way.
At one point we came to a large expanse of snow there was no way to navigate around: we had to cross it. This time we did so more confidently. I went first, solidly sitting down and sliding feet first. The incline wasn’t as steep as at the top, so I was able to make a nice smooth slide. The girls quickly followed. This time glissading was fun!
I heard the group of guys shout “Wow! Those girls are badass!”
I shouted from below to the guys “feel free to use the slide!”
They enthusiastically accepted and we watched them get a running start, jump and slide, obviously having great fun!
Jordan was the one who eventually found the trail that led to the A-frame, and we were back in business! The guys continued down to Barr Camp, while we took a bit of a rest and assessed our current situation. We had just been through a very scary experience most people would have needed to have been rescued from. None of us was hurt, we’d made it out alive, and we were proud of how we handled everything! We considered this trip a very exciting win!
I am hiking the trail with another group next week, and we are staying overnight at the A-frame, so I “hid” my jacket so I don’t need to carry it up the trail next week. Then and used the facilities (although it was jokingly commented that might have already been taken care of accidentally on that first slide) and we hiked back down the trail.
The rest of the hike was uneventful. It rained a cold, biting rain the last 6 miles (once again, great weather forecast, huh? I almost wished I’d have kept my jacket). We were surrounded by rolling thunder but no lightening.
We talked with several hikers making their way to Barr Camp, intending on summiting the next day. They all had snow shoes, and said they’d gotten advice from someone on “14ners.com” indicating they were needed. We assured them they weren’t. The girls we met who were hiking up were all intrigued and started in on conversation, asking about trail conditions, etc. The men all seemed amused and acted like they knew better than we did. The conversation stopped with them there. Hmmm….
We also saw a hiker on his way up rather late in the day (6pm) with nothing but skis and a water jug. He looked extremely fit and like he knew what he was doing, but not prepared at all for sleeping overnight, which he’d need to do in order to reach an area with enough snow to ski.
We never did see that church group on the way back down, and their vans were gone by the time we made it to the parking lot, 13 hours and 26 miles later!
My final comments to the girls: Remember, you can do ANYTHING guys can do, one handed (I summited with a camera in my left hand), bleeding. Many times while wearing heels..
Pikes Peak is an INTENSE hike, made even more so by backpacking. We are all tired and extremely sore, but proud of our accomplishment!
I grow as a person every time we Girl Scouts get together!
Thank you Girl Scout Troop 931 for teaching me about teamwork, patience, FUN, goals, perseverance, and awesomeness!!! Oh, and for those interested, YES they did help rescue someone on this trip too: a hiker with a broken ankle about a quarter mile from the summit. Troop 931 ROCKS!!!
This wasn’t our first rodeo (we did the same hike last summer and saved some hikers. You can read that story here: http://lauramclark.tumblr.com/post/95826650834/girl-scout-troop-931-backpacking-pikes-peak-and ) so we started before the sunrise to get an early start on the hike. The weather changes frequently on the mountain, and we knew it would start out cold, get really hot, then back to cold again as we made it past the tree line. Here are the girls, all ready to go in their “warm” clothes. We just layer for hikes like these. Also notice how happy and fresh they look.
Along the way we saw different flowers than last time (since we were hiking two months earlier in the season). I love seeing columbines growing in nature!
This is a really tough hike. About 6 miles in there’s a place called Barr Camp where a lot of hikers stay the night. Our overnight spot was still another 3 miles up the trail. Here’s Kayla passed out as we took a lunch break. Poor girl! This was a much harder hike than she’d anticipated. She was doing great though!
Notice this sign posted as you leave Barr Camp. Unfortunately, too many hikers either don’t see this sign, or don’t take it seriously.
About half a mile past Barr Camp we split into two teams. Jordan, Ruth Ann, and Tristina were hiking fast, so they went on up ahead and were to meet Kayla and I at the “A-frame”. Kayla was exhausted by this point, but kept on going. We all knew it would be easier if we separated, and we wanted to make sure we had a spot to sleep tonight since it’s first come (so getting there first was our best option).
Kayla and I made it to the A-Frame about 2 hours after the other girls. They had already set up camp and rested by the time we got there.
Kayla immediately unpacked her sleeping bag, and fell asleep.
The other girls had already rested, so by this point they were ready to talk. I walked around the campsite to get some pictures.
The A-Frame isn’t very big, and we didn’t want to put our things on the ground because there were a lot of critters around, so we weren’t as “tidy” as we could have been.
Jordan and Tristina got to work sanitizing water and making dinner. The site has a running creek year long, so this time we decided not to hike with as much water (conserving weight), and we planned to filter water at the top. The girls boiled the water, then placed the container of water in the stream to cool down before drinking it. I just have to say, as I was talking this picture I kept thinking to myself what awesome ladies these girls are! They were totally able to do everything themselves on this trip, and they did so without complaining. They have skills and they were having fun!
I mentioned earlier we weren’t very tidy in the A-Frame. However, we are Girl Scouts, so we do leave places cleaner than we find them. We brought trash bags to haul trash down the mountain (yes, even stuff that wasn’t ours), but we realized there was so much trash we couldn’t bring it all down. This was odd/not cool because we’d camped in the same spot less than a year before and totally cleared it of all trash. We decided to make the best of the situation and just burned as much as possible. Since there isn’t any wood to burn at the site (you have to haul it up from down the mountain) this had the added benefit of keeping us warm.
Have I mentioned the view at night from tree line is absolutely amazing! If winter didn’t exist on the peak I could live there. Enough said.
The sunrise is equally beautiful. We set our alarm just so we could watch the morning glow.
After a breakfast of Mountain House eggs and bacon (gross by the way, we’re never doing that again), we were off to climb the peak!
About half a mile in we decided we’d split up again. Kayla was having a lot of difficulty with this hike, and we were at the part where you have to keep going or you’ll never get started again. This is a very mental hike, and you have to know how to psych yourself up to continue.
Even though it’s July there is still a lot of snow on the peak. These drifts are much larger in person than they look from Colorado Springs. They are about the size of a football field, and they are very slippery! We saw many people fall because they were over confident. Kayla fell on each one (there were 7 or 8), hard, but she kept going!
The 16 Golden Stairs are anything but. This is the hardest part of the hike, and it took us about 1.5 hours to do (even though it’s only about ¼ of a mile). We kept stopping every 2 or 3 feet because Kayla really didn’t want to continue. However, I wasn’t going to let her give up. She told me at the beginning of this hike she was doing it for her dad (who passed away the week before), and I wanted to help her reach her goal.
There were a lot of tears and frustrated words said (never towards another person), but Kayla kept going.
I’m very, very, very proud to say she made it!!! Many (ok, most) grown men cannot complete this hike. It was hard, it hurt, and she was tired, but she kept putting one foot in front of the other and made it to the top.
She was exhausted when we got there (we both were). As soon as she crossed the cog tracks she stopped, raised her hands, looked up, and started talking to her dad in heaven. I couldn’t help it, I started to cry.
All of the work to get to the top was totally worth it! When she was done she turned to me, gave me a big hug, and said “Thank you Ms. Laura for helping me get to the top. I’m sorry I yelled at you!”. I cried some more.
Then we walked the 20 or so feet to the Summit House and Kayla fell asleep for the next 45 minutes.
We met the other girls there, got some donuts, drinks, and fudge, and told about our separate climbs.
Jordan, Ruth Ann, and Tristina told me they had helped rescue a man who had broken his ankle about a quarter mile from the top. He wasn’t a hiker, so he wasn’t prepared. He had driven to the peak and was hiking down to take selfies when he tripped (yes, he had a selfie stick).
They tried to give him an ice pack, but it exploded so they did the next best thing: They used their ace bandage to wrap his ankle, then got a ziplock bag and filled it with ice.
Then the girls helped him up and he hopped on one foot (his good one) to the top with one of his arms around each of the girls shoulders. He thanked them profusely when they arrived, and promised to get in touch when he made it home.
I woke Kayla up after 45 minutes because her body needed a rest: You burn just as many calories sitting at 14,000+ feet as you do running at sea level, so she needed to move down the mountain so her body could rest properly. We also needed to finish our hike: it was only half over!
As Alison Levine says: “Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory”.
We posed for a few pictures (we were too tired when we got there at first to take any), and were on our way down.
This is where the real teamwork began. Kayla was very tired from this hike. We all were. I run 5-10 miles a day, Jordan is captain of the Ice Hockey team, Tristina runs cross country, and Ruth Ann runs as well, so we were more conditioned for this hike (don’t get me wrong, we were still aching).
Kayla however wasn’t conditioned, and was exhausted. She wanted to stop and rest every 15 feet or so, and that just wasn’t possible if we wanted to make it down the mountain.
So the girls helped to keep her motivated. They held her hand as she navigated tough rocky areas and the slippery slopes of snow. They let her hold onto their backpacks for support, and held her hand to help keep up her momentum.
They also kept praising her progress and success!
When we got just about to the tree line we started seeing marmots. 3 or 4 were chirping to each other, and some stayed still long enough for us to get pictures!
I love this one: you can see the Garden of the Gods below!
At tree line Kayla remembered we forgot to take a picture of her celebrating at the peak, so we took one now:
She did it! Great job Kayla! She looks filthy but proud of her accomplishments! She probably lost 5-10 pounds as well from the beginning (did I mention this is an intense 26+ mile hike? We did a mountain marathon in less than 36 hours)
Wild Wanderer 