El Paso County High Point Trip Report

Pikes Peak

Date: May 5, 2003
Author: Kevin Baker

I completed my 4th county hp in Colorado as I bagged Pike's Peak from the Crags Campground route (northwest). The trail was much more maintained than what Gerry Roach's book said as we had no route- finding problems at all.

We made good time and summited in 3 hours from 5.7 miles out. There were plenty of people on top as usual and we had one of the famous donuts. We refilled our water and headed back down as storms were approaching at 1 PM. It started hailing lightly going down the scree shoulder off the summit and lightning started to approach. We waited it out under a boulder and ran to get off the high saddle ASAP. We had to miss Devil's Playground, which I will try to hike another time.

We made it back down in 2.5 hours as we speed-hiked much of the way. I was very impressed with the trail and would recommend the route to those who don't want to trudge up the Barr Trail.