Conquered the Incline!

At the top - got a little chilly that high!

This past weekend I was able to check another number off the list of 30 with the completion of the Incline hike in Manitou Springs with my dear friends Jackie and Jamie. I've been intimidated and intrigued by this hike for quite some time, but knew I wanted to say I have accomplished the feat! Since I returned from doing the Inca Trail (posts to come soon), I thought, well, no better time than now to jump right back into climbing stairs since that was half the battle for the Incas! I definitely should have made sure I was actually ready by eating a tad better the day prior and maybe not having a slight buzz at the Second City comedy show I went to the night before!! Whoops! Lessons learned ;)

"The Manitou Springs Incline, also known as the Manitou Incline or simply the Incline, is a popular hiking trail rising above Manitou Springs, Colorado, near Colorado Springs. The trail is the remains of a former 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge funicular railway whose tracks washed out during a rock slide in 1990. The Incline is famous for its sweeping views and steep grade, as steep as 68% in places, making it a fitness challenge for locals in the Colorado Springs area. The incline gains over 2,000 feet (610 m) of elevation in less than one mile." - Wikipedia

The record for summiting the Incline is 16 mins 42 seconds. This seems absurd to me. I made it in about an hour 35 mins, but was dominated by both Jamie (50 mins) and Jackie (1 hr 10). I did much better on the second half, once my head decided to join the game, but still have hopes to do it again and be much closer to an hour! On the way up we saw a guy who was on his third pass of the day...these folks ain't kiddin' around. The weather was overcast- threatening to rain most of the way, but made for pretty nice hiking weather. The terrain is all wooden stairs with pieces of pipes and what Jackie termed 'tinker toy passes' on the way up. There are no flat sections, just some spots with a slightly lower grade. Once at the top, you take the Barr trail back down which is about 4 miles of switchback and all downhill and foresty beautiful. It's pretty gravely and we were certainly glad it wasn't raining as folks have said the trail turns into a bit of a river in rain! It was a great challenge that I would recommend to anyone and it's advisable to do as we did and crack a local beer at the top ;)

 and just for good measure, what I felt like at the top...