Going Up and Up: Manitou Incline - Aug 29 and Sep 5, 2019
After trying several times to schedule an attempt to hike the Manitou Incline, we finally managed to work it in before our Grand Canyon trip, and not just once, but twice. The first time was just three days after returning home from our summer adventures and the second time just a week later. The Incline is a former funicular railway in Manitou Springs that shutdown in 1990 and has become a popular local fitness challenge.
On August 29th, we drove down to Manitou Springs via I-25 during morning rush hour. It was not an enjoyable drive. We parked at the free parking lot on Old Mans Trail road and took the free bus to the base of the Manitou Incline (the Ruxton-Fairview bus stop for the #33 bus). For Grand Canyon backpack training purposes, we were both carrying around 30 to 35 pounds in our packs.
It was a sunny weekday, about 90-95 degrees, but there were plenty of people attempting the climb up the Incline. We met a woman from Kansas City who comes out to Colorado every year just to do the Incline and this was the second time doing it this trip. We also talked with a local couple who do the Incline on a regular basis. The woman climbs it about four to five times a week with three or four of those times with their toddler on her back. Her husband had just gotten back from a trip to his home country of England and was struggling with acclimating to the altitude. Then there was a guy in flip flops and an ankle brace. Flip flops would not be the footwear we would recommend to attempt this hike. Though to be fair, people would ask us "Why are you wearing such big backpacks for this?" which would indicate that our gear would not be recommended either.
We don’t know if we started out at too fast of a pace or we were not re-acclimated to the altitude since we had only been back for a few days, but it wasn’t long (to the left of step 1000 to be precise) before Left Buddy (LB) was on the side of the trail dry heaving. Right Buddy (RB) was thinking to herself, “well, it looks like we’re not going to make it to the top today”. However, we sat in the shade of a small tree for a while, until LB started feeling better, then we continued going up the steps, this time at a slower pace. We made sure we stopped every fifteen minutes and drank water. Somehow we managed to keep going. We were proud of ourselves that we were keeping pace with the local couple with the toddler on the woman’s back.
When we reached the side trail to Barr Trail, about three quarters of the way up, we decided not to bail, but continue to the top. Just to test how committed we are to continue, the Incline becomes even steeper at this point. We tried to find a pace that we could maintain, but it seemed impossible. So we just stopped often to catch our breath. We had plenty of company around us doing the exact same thing.
It took us about two and a half hours to make it up all 2,768 steps for a vertical gain of about 2,000 feet in just under a mile. We made it! What a feeling of accomplishment! We rested at the top and ate our lunch. Since it is not recommended to go back down the Incline and we would not have wanted to with our old knees, we took the Barr Trail back down to the bottom. It took us about the same amount of time to get back down as it did to go up; however, the trail is about three miles instead of less than one. We took the bus back into town and rewarded ourselves with ice cream from Patsy’s Candy and Gift Shop.
The following week on September 5th, we decided to punish our bodies again and returned to the Incline for a second round, again with our 30-35 pound packs. To avoid the rush hour traffic, we took backroads through the mountains. However, we didn’t realize we had the “avoid highways” turned on in Google Maps, which even avoids small highways. This took us on a rather long route to get there, so we didn’t start hiking until about 11:30 am. So much for trying to hike during a cooler part of the day! Looks like we should drive down the night before and camp nearby.
This time, LB felt good, but it was RB’s turn not to feel great. Since it was so close to lunch time, we stopped often on the way up the Incline to snack. At the side trail intersection, we sat down on the bench and ate our lunch. RB was feeling a little ill to her stomach. Perhaps eating while climbing was not the right thing to do.
During a rest stop near the end, RB watched a couple struggling up the trail. The woman was complaining about feeling ill and her male companion kept encouraging her to continue. Not wanting to witness someone getting into physical trouble, RB spoke up and suggested sitting down and resting a moment to feel better. They both ignored RB and kept going. When they made it to the top, the woman thanked her companion for pushing her to continue and not give up.
We also made it to the top, but this second time took us longer than the first time, three hours instead of two and a half hours. However, we stopped for lunch on the way up the second time which we didn’t do the first time. At the top, we did sit down and eat some more before heading back down Barr Trail. The chipmunks and ground squirrels were being rather aggressive so we had to keep shooing them away from our packs. While we were sitting there relaxing, we watched a man jog up to the top, turn around and continue jogging back down the Incline. A woman at the top witnessed this feat with wide eyes and her mouth hanging open in disbelief.
The Barr Trail back down is an enjoyable trail with some nice views. However, we would not rate the Incline as an enjoyable hiking trail. It is more of a workout and a physical challenge than a hiking trail. It is exposed to the weather conditions and there isn’t much shade. The Incline is nothing but steps, in a straight line to the top, with varying degrees of steepness, with most of it as steep as, or steeper than, normal stairs. The view doesn’t change much although you can see for quite a distance in about 180 degrees from north to east to south. The view to the west is just up to more hillside. There are always plenty of people on the Incline, so there isn’t much solitude, if that is what you are looking for. However, you do seem to keep passing some of the same people as you leap frog each other due to rest stops, so carrying on a conversation with others is very possible and likely, if you like a more social event or just people watching.
To avoid rush hour on the way back home, we decided to eat dinner in Manitou Springs. After dropping off our packs at our van, we walked back into town to eat at Sahara Cafe. The middle eastern food was OK, but our dessert at Josh & John’s Ice Cream afterwards was even better. We would recommend Josh & John’s ice cream over Patsy’s. Josh & John’s is at the back of Pikes Peak Chocolate shop. Walking past all the chocolate to get to the ice cream was hard, but RB decided to take in her calories from ice cream instead of just chocolate.
We are glad we did the Manitou Incline and we will be back to do it again. It gave us confidence that we could handle the approaching Grand Canyon backpacking trip. It was also encouraging to discover that, even though we might feel ill, recognizing our limits and stopping to rest and recover allowed us to continue. We were ready to tackle the five day Rim to Rim hike!
Check out our related video: Extreme Trail: Manitou Incline
(RB)