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Backpacker Magazine – August 2010
Top 3 Trailhead Pub Hikes: The Barr Trail, CO
Climb a fourteener for a view across the continental divide.
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Tags:
- Destinations |
- Oregon |
- Colorado |
- New York |
- Hiking |
Deschutes River Trail, OR | The Barr Trail, CO | Buttermilk Falls SP, NY
You’ll earn your brew—and then some—on this steep Rockies hike. Start at a 6,700-foot-elevation trailhead outside Manitou Springs and climb more than 7,000 feet over 12 miles to the summit of Pikes Peak (14,115 feet), the state’s easternmost Fourteener. Start by 5 a.m. at the Barr trailhead to avoid summer afternoon thunderstorms, and climb 2.5 miles of switchbacks to No-Name Creek. Gain 3,800 feet over the next 3.7 miles through ponderosa pine and spruce to Barr Camp, a popular rest spot. It’s another six miles over calf-busters known as “the 16 Golden Stairs” to reach the summit and views of Colorado’s heaving Front Range over the Bottomless Pit on the summit’s north side. Take the cog railroad back to the trailhead, then head .75 mile down Ruxton Avenue to Manitou Avenue and Kinfolks Mountain Shop, a gear store, music venue, and pub.
REFRESH
Eight taps serve up regional brews. Try Bristol Brewing’s Laughing Lab Scottish Ale. (719) 685-4433; kinfolksmanitou.com
THE WAY
From Manitou Springs, take Ruxton Ave. .75 mile southwest and park in
the trailhead lot.
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READERS COMMENTS
I am 3.5 weeks post double level spinal fusion. I hiked my first fourteener last August-Quandry. I am relocating to Denver this Fall. I've hiked Half Dome, the Grand Canyon and other notables, and if my back hurts so much that I have to take the rail back, I will. People need to think before typing.
Whether you hike up, ride down or hike up and hike down, a good brew waiting for you at the bottom is always worth it. Nothing like a slab of beef and a good porter after a day of hard work.
"You gotta go up and down with your boots on the trail, to legitimately bag any summit, 14er or otherwise."
Is there a law for this somewhere? WHO CARES! Peak bagging and keeping count is lame anyway. If you can get there and enjoy it, more power to ya.
Try climbing Evans, Bierstadt, Grays, or Torreys; then repairing to Tommyknockers Brewpub in Idaho Springs.
You have a great point. Hiking up and down is the real fourteener climbing. It is a weak way to hike up and take the rail back. No kudos to the editor
@High Altitude Wanderer: no and no.
HA Wanderer,
You gotta go up and down with your boots on the trail, to legitimately bag any summit, 14er or otherwise.
We can't have all those mopes in high heels and Florshiems, huffin and puffin from the ride up (or down) laying claim to a climbers hard earned accomplishments..
You can also stop at the Ancient Mariner just a couple doors up. Not only do they carry a great line of Colorado Microbrews, but you can grab a great meal at the same time. Nothing better then a burger and a brew.
If you climb up Pikes Peak but then take the cog RR or a car down to the trail head -- does that count as a 14er summit?
What if you ride the RR up and hike down?
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