Hikes in Colorado: Pikes Peak Via the Devil’s Playground Trail – Part 2

 Prior Posting: Pikes Peak Via the Devil’s Playground Trail – Part 1

Narrative (Continued)

After finishing up my donuts and coffee in the Summit House on the top of the 14,115 foot Pikes Peak, I then proceeded to go outside and check out the views.  The first area I went to go and check out was the memorial dedicated Katharine Lee Bates who wrote the lyrics to the famous American anthem “America the Beautiful“ after traveling to the summit of Pikes Peak in 1895:

Here is the view from the memorial looking back towards the Summit House and the Cog Railway:

Here is the view from the memorial looking south towards the rounded summit of Almagre Mountain as well as the pointy summit of Mt. Rosa behind it:

Mt. Rosa is a mountain that I had previously climbed that was also the location that Zebulon Pike eventually summitted after his failed attempt to climb Pikes Peak back in 1806.  Despite failing to climb the peak due to difficult terrain and poor weather, Pike is credited with the peak’s discovery and thus the name of this great mountain has been given to him.  I think it is important to note though that even though Pike is credited with discovering the mountain, the Native-Americans, Spanish, and French trappers had long known about the mountain.  Anyway here is how Pike described the mountain in his journal:

“…here we found the snow middle deep; no sign of beast or bird inhabiting this region. The thermometer which stood at 9° above 0 at the foot of the mountain, here fell to 4° below 0. The summit of the Grand Peak, which was entirely bare of vegetation and covered with snow, now appeared at the distance of 15 or 16 miles (24 or 26 km) from us, and as high again as what we had ascended, and would have taken a whole day’s march to have arrived at its base, when I believed no human being could have ascended to its pinical [sic]. This with the condition of my soldiers who had only light overalls on, and no stockings, and every way ill provided to endure the inclemency of the region; the bad prospect of killing any thing to subsist on, with the further detention of two or three days, which it must occasion, determined us to return.”

The first person to “climb” Pikes Peak was credited to botanist Dr. Edwin James in 1820 who was part of the Long Expedition exploring and surveying the Rocky Mountains.  The expedition leader Major Stephen H. Long even named the mountain James Peak in his honor, but by the 1850s people were back calling it Pikes Peak again officially sending James back into historical obscurity.  I can understand why early settlers returned to calling it Pikes Peak because it just has a much better ring to it than James Peak.

Here is the view looking more towards the southwest where another mountain I had previously climbed, Greenhorn Mountain came into view:

Looking further to the southwest the mighty Sangre De Cristo Mountain Range towered over Greenhorn Mountain and the neighboring Wet Mountains:

In the foreground of the above picture is the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine.  It is amazing to think that miners have been digging up gold in the hills outside of Cripple Creek since 1890.  I then walked over toward the eastern face of the mountain and took this picture of Colorado Springs lying over 8,000 feet below:

From the summit of Pikes Peak the famed Garden of the Gods is easily spotted:

Here is a picture of the Cog Railway train parked at the end of the cliff that descends down to the city below:

Here is the view looking northeast towards the Black Forest area of Colorado Springs:

The Black Forest area is a really nice rural community just outside of Colorado Springs where a thick forest of trees has some how grown out on the prairie. Here is the view looking east towards the Rampart Range and the burn scar from this year’s forest fire:

Here is the view looking northwest where the Crystal Creek and Catamount Reservoirs are visible:

A week prior to hiking up Pikes Peak I had actually hiked the Catamount Trail to the reservoirs which was quite a nice hike as well.  Here is the view looking towards the north:

A portion of the Pikes Peak Highway can be seen in the distance of the above photograph.  Additionally this is the direction I would need to take to go to hike back to the trailhead by following the ridgeline and then cutting west back down the mountain near where the highway is visible.  After spending about an hour on top of the mountain getting warmed up in the visitor center and taking in the views outside, I then proceeded to begin my long walk back down the mountain:

Going down the summit dome was definitely much easier compared to the effort I put into getting up it.  Here is another picture of the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine as viewed from when I was descending the summit dome:

I descended the summit dome in about 15 minutes compared to about the hour it took me hike up it.  Soon enough I was back on the trail following the Pikes Peak Highway down the mountain:

Here is a view looking back at the summit dome which was quickly becoming surrounded with dark clouds:

I could also feel the temperature getting colder.  When I hiked up the mountain temperatures were in the 40’s and now they were definitely in the 30’s.  When I checked the weather before going on the hike I knew there was 30% chance of an afternoon storm which is why I began my hike early in the morning.  As I hiked down Pikes Peak I was glad I got an early start because I did not want to be hiking up here in poor weather:

Eventually the trail came back to the dramatic lookout that featured these rocky cliffs:

This time at the lookout I happened notice that way down below there appears to be a boggy marsh of some kind that I had not noticed before:

From the lookout I continued to follow the trail that ran adjacent to the Pikes Peak Highway until it crossed back over the highway and headed west down the mountain:

From the highway the trail once again passes through the rocky Devil’s Playground area.  The trail eventually then passed back through the crack in the rock wall again:

As I continued across the Devil’s Playground I could see that the storm was coming right for the mountain now blowing in from the west:

Not wanting to be exposed on the mountain during a storm I picked up my pace to try and get to the tree line before it rained or snowed on me:

Here was my final look back at Pikes Peak before beginning the switchback descent down the steep slopes of the west side of Pikes Peak:

Here is the view that awaited me as I hit the portion of the trail that begins the steep switchback down the western side of Pikes Peak:

It was at this point that the storm hit me and the clouds unleashed a mix of rain and frozen rain on me.  Down below me I could actually see the rock face on the hill below which was where the trailhead is located.  I still had a long ways to go to get down the mountain:

At this point I was literally running down the trail trying to get to the tree line to at least get some protection from the cold and frozen rain that was falling on me.  Once I hit the tree line the rain actually stopped:

I was a bit wet from the rain, but for the rest of the hike it was a pleasant walk back to the trailhead as I took in the views once again of this impressive rock wall:

I then crossed over a creek again that I could not see when I hiked up the mountain earlier because it was still dark out:

Here is a view of the thick forest of pine trees that surround trail:

Since it was September the few aspen trees along the trail were beginning to change colors:

I even saw a few berries still growing as well:

Something that surprised me while walking down the trail was that I ran into a middle aged couple that were hiking up the trail.  The guy asked me how long they had to walk to go to the summit?  I told him that from were they were they would need 4-6 hours to get to the summit.  He was surprised it would take that long.  Plus they had one water bottle and were dressed in shorts and t-shirts which was fine at the lower elevation since the poor weather passed, but they would be freezing on the exposed area of the mountain.  I told them it would probably be best to turn around and try tomorrow morning instead since it was about 2PM now and they were under equipped for the hike.  The guy and his wife continued up the trail anyway and said they would turn around if it got too dark or cold.  I wonder how far they got up the mountain before turning around?

Anyway I was now very close to the trailhead as I passed over the creek again:

I then saw the sign pointing to the direction of the trailhead:

Then the rocky cliff face came into view through the trees which is where the parking lot for the trailhead is located below:

Then a short while later I crossed over the final bridge across the creek that leads to the parking lot:

Here is a picture of the parking lot where the trail begins:

Conclusion

In total it took me about 4.5 hours to go up the mountain and I then spent about an hour on the summit.  It then took me about 3 hours to walk back down making for an 8.5 hour roundtrip hike.  So it was a long day, but with great views and scenery on this hike, the long day was definitely worth it.  Something else I really liked about this trail was that hardly anyone uses it unlike the busy Barr Trail most people use to hike up Pikes Peak.  I saw 5 people on this trail the entire day.  I was hiking on a weekday, so expect more people on a weekend, but regardless it felt like I had the trail all to myself.  The trail is also challenging as it is 12 miles long and gains over 4,000 feet in altitude.  So expect a good work on this trail as well.   For all these reasons I definitely recommend using this trail for anyone looking to hike Pikes Peak in one day; you won’t be disappointed.