I did the Precipice Trail today. Only 800 feet of elevation gain, but a lot of narrow ledges and iron rungs embedded in the granite. Not for the faint of heart.
Good job! I’m the Colorado Springs, too. Maybe we need a Dopefest one of these days.
I climbed the Incline a few times back when I was much lighter and in better shape, and only a few people had discovered it.
You think going up is hard? (And it is!)
Coming back down is even harder. (This was before everybody wimped out and started using Barr Trail for the return trip.) The quarter-mile section that’s 68% is like descending a ladder, but facing the wrong way. And it just goes on, and on, AND ON.
I’m very impressed! Also glad it wasn’t me. Every time I hike up a mountain–and none of them have had that kind of altitude gain :eek: --I always tell myself the hike down will be easy. It never is. It just tortures a different set of muscles.
How did you feel the next day? Could you walk?
Walking back down the steps is highly frowned upon nowadays, for specifically that reason. Well, that, and the trail can’t really handle that kind of traffic both ways anymore.
I actually went out for a run the next day, albeit a short one. It’s shown to be at least a short-lived impetus to get back in shape.
Sucks to hear, but reports are that a man died on the Incline just today.
For anyone curious about the Incline, here’s a Google Street View panorama from somewhere on the Incline itself. If you look down, you can see the parking lot off in the distance.
The look up is interesting, too.
Ray: Hey. Where do these stairs go?
Peter: They go up. [lightning flash] Okay, go ahead. Come on. Go ahead.
Now if they only had a few Art Deco touches …
Descending is tougher on the legs as you don’t use those muscles as much; if you were to only go one direction, say walking the ‘wrong’ way on an escalator for a period of time, you’d be more sore the day after descending than the day after ascending.
Oooh, that looks like fun!
::makes entry on bucket list::
I just did an image search and saw a straight path that suddenly goes to the sky. No curve-arounds.
Whoever built this was superhuman.
When I was 16 or 17 (I’m 57 now, so 40 years ago!) I hiked from Manitou Springs to Pikes Peak; and then hitch-hiked back down. It was a pretty cool experience. I can’t imagine how difficult that would be today. :eek:
- We hiked UP the side of the mountain on a trail, but obviously took the road back home. We were amazed that we were huffing and puffing our way up, and marathon runners were training by running up it!
Here’s a picture that gives some distance perspective. (it’s that nearly straight slash up the mountain directly in front of the road)