Pikes Peak via Barr Trail is a popular route up the highest mountain in the southern Front Range of Colorado. The famous 14er can be climbed using two different trails; the popular Barr trail or Crags Campground trail. The mountain has a road and cog railroad that also provide access to the beautiful mountain. Most hikers will stretch a Pikes Peak via Barr Trail hike into two days by staying at Barr Camp but this certainly can be done as a long day hike as well.
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Pikes Peak via Barr Trail Quick Facts
Pikes Peak Trail Rating: ★★★ (3/5 Stars)
Distance: 24 miles RT (via Barr Trail)
Elevation Start: 6,694 ft
Summit: 14,115 ft
Total Elevation Gain: 7,500 ft
Estimated Time to Complete: 11-14 Hours RT (7-8 Hours Up, 4-6 Hours Down)
Getting Here: Pikes Peak can be hiked using two different trails: Barr Trail and Crags Campground trail. The most common (and much longer) way to hike to the summit is via Barr Trail which is what this post will be based on. To get to the trailhead, head to the town of Manitou Springs and follow the signs for the Cog Railroad. Once you are near the Cog Railroad, look for signs Barr Trail parking. If you get lost, look for Hydro Street which is located after the Cog railroad parking area. I also found that you can enter “Case & St Cloud Co” into Google maps and this will lead you right to the small lot.
Parking: Parking is available at the TH with overnight parking available as well. The lot can fit about 30 cars and generally fills up around 5-6AM (depending on the day and time of year). If this lot is full, there is also street parking (which you need to pay for) or other public lots a bit further away.
Fee: There is a $10 per day (credit card only) fee per day.
Summary
Dogs: Dogs are allowed on Barr trail, but I would leave them at home if you plan on hiking the 24 miles in one day. If you do plan on breaking up the trip, brings lots of water as the last couple of miles are very dry. Terrain wise, the trail up to the summit is dog friendly but can get very hot.
Camping: Camping is available along Barr trail and there is a campground (Barr Campground) about 6.3 miles into the hike. Barr Camp offers hot meals, bathrooms and even accommodations for a small fee. Visit their website for more information.
Make it a Loop: The reason I added this section to each hike review is for those of you who see a hike and say, “I wish I could pair this with another hike in the area.” I can safely say that after 24 miles of hiking the only pairing you will want to make is your body into your couch with an endless supply of food and water. To summarize, this hike is not a loop. If you wanted to though, you could pair this route with the Crags Route (assuming you had a ride arranged on the other side).
Trail X Factors: Switchbacks
Most mountains have switchbacks, that is not an earth shattering piece of information. After all, it is the easiest way to build a trail up a steep section of the mountain. Due to the length of Pikes Peak hike however, the amount of Switchbacks involved on this hike are quite baffling. Each time you think you are done with switchbacks on the way up to the summit more seem to appear. Besides the 16 golden stairs, none of the switchbacks are terribly steep but the sheer quantity of them will certainly test your legs and mental strength.
Hike Tip(s): Efficiently packing your bag on this hike is absolutely everything. 2 pounds in your bag will feel like 20 after 16 miles so you want to ensure you are packing as smart as possible. There are plenty of water sources along the way, so consider bringing a pump and saving yourself some water weight. I always love to be prepared on hikes, but on my trip to Pikes Peak I wished I had packed to be prepared for bad weather and a small injury instead of a zombie apocalypse.
Best Views: Pikes Peak via Barr Trail offers many beautiful spots to take photos. The inversion clouds sometimes blanket the city of Colorado Springs to form a really neat effect, there are stunning mountain views and of course the potential for a colorful sun rising since you will have an early start. Having said that, the summit views are not the best in my opinion due to the huge construction site (completed in 2021), buildings and cars on the large summit area.
My Trip to Pikes Peak Barr Trail: July 2016
2AM Saturday Morning: My alarm clock goes off. “What the hell am I am doing?” The words that start my day…solid start. As I groggily drag myself out of bed, the excitement begins to build, “I am going to hike Pikes Peak today!” Pikes Peak is by far the most well known of Colorado’s 58 “14ers” and one I have had on my bucket list for a while. Fun Fact: I found out that its name comes from Zubulon Pike who failed to reach the summit (If it’s on Wikipedia, it must be true). I feel reassured.
This was not the first time I had gotten up this early to do a hike, but attempting Pikes Peak was the most anxious I have felt about a hike in a while. Maybe it was the 26* (*more on this later) miles of hiking, maybe it was the 4 hours of sleep, whatever it was, I was ready to take those first steps on Barr trail.
I made the drive down to the small mountain town of Manitou Springs and could have counted the number of people I saw awake on one hand (surprisingly it was not zero).
I arrived to the parking lot around 3:45AM and there were plenty of parking spots left (first obstacle out of the way). I laced up my hiking boots, popped on my backpack, powered my up my headlamp and hit the dirt. I had packed a tripod to attempt and take some pictures of the stars, first fail of the day. The light pollution/ cloudy ski combination made snapping photos of the night sky out of the question. I immediately regretted the 4lb tripod nestled in my backpack.
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About 2 miles in, the trail came to an intersection with the Manitou Incline and while I could have hiked up the steep stairs, my legs would have popped themselves off and walked away later on in the day. I was very confused for about 5 minutes (give me a break it was 4AM) but eventually did find the trail. I had missed a simple switchback but since it was pitch black the trail had eluded me.
Along the way I saw a variety of trail markers and old signs with distances on them; spoiler alert: all of the signs have the incorrect distance on them. The first 3 miles or so matched with my watch, but after that the signs were completely off (in fact the total distance which I had read was 26 miles, turned out to only be 24…hope you can sense the sarcasm there.) After 3 miles or so, the trail traveled through a rock arch and started to level off a bit. Miles 3-6 quickly became my favorite part of the trail because it was essentially flat the whole time. As I approached mile 6, the sun had finally started its day and I was able to see my first views of Pikes Peak. The summit seemed like it was right in front of me even though it was 7 6 miles away.
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I eventually made my way by Barr Camp where most people bookend their summit hike. Not me, I was too stubborn stupid to break the hike into two separate days. Barr Camp is a great resource though, they have outhouses, all you can eat breakfast and dinner (for a fee) and of course camping/housing. Barr Camp is also located right next to a stream which is a solid place to pump water on your ascent or descent down from Pikes Peak.
Miles 6-9 (hehe) worked me through the high elevation forest and eventually I reached the A-Frame shelter right below the tree line at 11,900 feet. I passed the shelter and hiked up a small hill where the summit of Pikes Peak was directly in front of me. From this point on, the hike would be entirely exposed and I quickly learned the theme of the remainder of the hike: switchbacks!
The trail worked its way through what felt like 6,000 long switchbacks until it eventually reached the well known“16 golden stairs.” It needs to be noted, there are no stairs. No wood, no steel, no natural or man made rock stairs, the “16 golden stairs” are just more (albeit shorter) switchbacks. I am sure whoever made the sign knew how much every hiker hated switchbacks at this point in the hike up to Pikes Peak, so they decided to rebrand the trail with a shiny adjective like “golden”. Well guess what, it doesn’t work. The stairs were miserable. Towards the top of the “stairs,” I looked at my watch which said, I honestly don’t remember, but the summary was – I was close to the top. I continued to drag my legs up the last few “stairs” until I could hear the Cog Railroad train and knew that I was close. A couple hundred yards later, I had reached the summit!
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Generally when I reach the summit of a mountain, I like to have a quick snack, snap a couple of photos, re-hydrate and move on. However, the large chunk of miles I had left was a huge influence to enjoy the summit longer than I generally do. After refueling and chatting saltily staring at the tourists for about 30 minutes, I knew the reality that my car was 12 miles away was not going to change, so I begrudgingly started my trek down Pikes Peak.
The hike down from the summit was very uneventful so I do not want to bore anyone with the details of every muscle fiber in my legs aching, telling myself I should have taken the train down, camped, or wishing I had packed FAR less in my backpack.
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At 4:30PM on Saturday, my beautiful car greeted me in the Barr trail parking lot and I was done. Pikes Peak was a very challenging hike and I felt very proud I had tackled all 24 miles in one day. I certainly should have packed less in my bag (pumped more water instead of carrying it, ditched the stupid tripod etc.) but I was thrilled that the weather held for me and I had completed the hike under the time I had set out to.
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