Pikes

#7 Pikes Peak (14,110 feet)

Route: Barr Trail from Manitou Springs
Vertical: 7700 feet (estimated)
Distance: 13.5 miles (estimated)
Companions: Damon Dworak
Date: 11 August 2001

It was a long hike. A very long hike. Did the Barr Trail, a.k.a., the east slopes. I always thought Pikes would be my first fourteener (and it almost was), but due to the vagaries of fate, here it is at number seven.

We got going at about six in the morning, and finished up at about four, making it about a ten hour hike. I was probably in good enough shape to do it in eight hours, but my knee slowed me down a lot at the end (although it wasn't a big deal until the treeline, about three quarters of the way in). I was just a bit short on food, and was running out of energy about a mile from the top, but ended up borrowing some Gummi-Bear-like candy from my hiking companion, which helped quite a bit.

I also had issues with blisters; I was using new shoes (not too new, I'd been breaking them in for a couple weeks), and they had just a little too much play in the heel, so I ended up covering my heels with moleskin, which pretty much took care of the problem for the rest of the hike (though I didn't really want to wear any shoes for a couple days afterwards).

Other than that, it wasn't really a remarkable hike. You just go, and go, and go, and follow the nice Barr Trail all the way to the top. The weather was quite good, I think the monsoon was fading. Clouds formed over the peak by three or so, but you expect at least that much by then, and there wasn't any lightning or anything, nor many clouds anywhere but the top of the peak. It was hotter than I like at the bottom (actually, not so much hot but a bit humid for around here), and some wind would have been nice, but we didn't get any until near the top when it got cloudy.

We met my hiking companion's family at the top, took the obligatory picture (it wasn't very good), and then found some overpriced (though not-too-bad) tourist food along the Pikes Peak Highway (at this point, I didn't care how expensive and quality was irrelevant), and I got a couple fridge magnets (one of which said "I hiked Pikes Peak") and a t-shirt ("Got Oxygen?") from the gift shop next door.

And that's about it.