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Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic Evolution^SM

Pikes Peak and Barr Camp Colorado - and no place else! 14,110 feet - 4,301 meters/metres

In 1803 Pikes Peak came under American control through the Louisiana Purchase. President Jefferson dispatched Zebulon Montgomery Pike to determine the Louisiana Purchase's southwestern borders. Pike tried to climb the peak on November 24, 1806 from the Pueblo area, but was forced back by a blizzard. The first recorded ascent of Pikes Peak was by Dr. Edwin James, doctor, botanist and historian, and two others from an expedition led by Major Stephen H. Long on July 14, 1820. Major Long gave the doctor's name to the mountain, but Pikes Peak soon became the official name, as shown by military maps of 1835.

"Pikes Peak or Bust" became the symbol and slogan of gold seekers in the 1850s. In 1858 Julia Archibald Holmes became the first woman to climb Pikes Peak. She made the ascent with the Lawrence party and stayed on top for two days. Mrs. Holmes is also known as the "Bloomer Girl" because of the bloomers she wore while climbing the mountain. In 1889 the Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railroad was built. In 1901 the first automobile to reach the summit (on August 12th) was a two cylinder Locomobile Steamer driven by C.A. Yont and W.B. Felker. In 1914 improvements to the trail up the east face of Pikes Peak were undertaken by Fred Barr and his father. Their work was completed in December of 1918 and is now known as Barr Trail.

Nowadays the cities of Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs have been somewhat abusive with Pikes Peak (They've encouraged roads, car races, trains, restaurants and everything else up to the summit) but things are starting to change; A Sierra Club lawsuit is requiring them to control roadside erosion and people, in general, seem more interested in exploring the mountain on foot these days than they did in the past.

Nevertheless, whether you hike to the top, take the Cog Railway, or drive by car the summit of Pike's Peak is always an interesting place! The base of the mountain is about an hour and a half from my home in the Denver area so I don't get to hike it as often as I'd like. Still, the Barr Trail itself is a great workout that's provided me lots of pleasure over the past few years.

The remainder of this page features the occasional hike with friends and family - although I hope you'll find it interesting I'd be even more delighted if you did a bit of hiking up Pikes Peak yourself! It doesn't have to be Pike's Peak - just getting out in nature does a lot for our soul and outlook on life and the natural world. Hope to see you out there sometime - happy trails!

June 10, 2006
Hike to the top

Tom and Linda Jagger are Pikes Peak experts having climbed the mountain more times than anyone I've ever known. Even now that they live further away, up in Denver, they still hike, jog, and train on the mountain whenever possible. One Saturday, just two days before some scheduled surgery for me they asked that I join them. My doctor said it was okay so off we went to the "Crags" trailhead at around 10,000 feet.

Pikes Peak Highway	Cog Railway	Cog Railway	Devil's Playground	Elevation 3,962 metres
Use Low Gear...	Sign for Hikers	Tom and Linda	Summit Parking	Summit

It was a partly cloudy, cool and windy day with most of the trail completely to ourselves. Of course its 4,000 feet of elevation gain eventually took us through the "Devils Playground" (an area prone to frequent Lightning strikes) and then alongside the busy Pikes Peak Highway.

Total roundtrip distance, from the Crags Trailhead and back again, is about 14 miles. It took the three of us 3:59 hours to reach the very top - a bit slower than what Tom and Linda are probably accustomed to due to my slightly weakened physical condition and some photo opportunities (see below...). Anyway, once on top we hung around for a while to watch the other tourists while we ate some french-fries and other "health" food. The hike back down took us 2:52 hours

December 24, 2005
Barr Trail

It was Christmas Eve when Darin, Barbara and I decided to hike the Barr Trail as a last bit of preparation for our Ecuador climb the following week. Despite one third of the trail being packed ice we still made it up in good time (It took me exactly 2 hours, 17 minutes and 14 seconds, according to my stopwatch...) and both Neil and Teresa were at the door greeting us and everyone else who made the trek that day.

When we stepped into the cabin to enjoy the Christmas cheer and hospitality provided by Neil and Teresa they mentioned a lady from India had used my web site (this very page!) for her own planned trip to Barr camp! I was pleased that somebody found my site useful but thought it would be cool if there was a picture of Neil and Teresa here as well. They both agreed so here are the shots we took of all five of us that bright and warm Christmas Eve afternoon at Barr camp:

Teresa and Neil Taylor

Neil, Teresa and me!

Map of Michigan...

An open hand for birds...

A bird on Teresa's hand!

Click Here for everything you ever wanted to know about Barr Camp!

New Year's Day, 2005:
Winter ascent!

On January 1st, 2005 Colorado Mountain Club (CMC) leaders Tom and Linda Jagger led eight others of us up that steep and winding trail to the top of Pikes Peak. Our happy little band of mountaineers was comprised of me, Tom Jagger, Linda Jagger, Janet Farrar, John, Scott, Marilyn, Greg German, Mark, and Frank - all reaching the top in well under five hours from Barr Camp.

As you can see from other photos on this page, Pike's Peak can be a pretty busy place. However, winter conditions like this New Year's Day climb really thin the crowds out as the AdAmAn Club was the only other group willing to populate the mountain under such cold and snowy conditions...

Weather, on the summit, was an unexpectedly "warm" -6 degrees Celsius (20 degrees Fahrenheit) punctuated by extremely strong wind gusts. The sky was mostly clear with visibility good to the horizon in every direction.

All of these New Year's photos were taken by me except for the one of me in the cabin - I think Tom took that one, and
the one of me and Tom in front of the cabin was probably taken by John or Mark...

me at original summit house	Linda and me	Junk on the top	Tourist lookout
Weather Station	Cog Railway at the top	"A" Frame at 11,900 feet	John, Scott and Mark
Janet, John, Marilyn & Mark	me	me and Tom	Janet
Stephanie runs Barr Camp	Greg helps Stephanie	Tom makes a point	Don Ellis' 97th climb!
John and Janet	Marilyn warms her legs	Marilyn, Mark & the map...	Scott, Tom and Linda
Ice cold Barr water...	Welcome to Barr Camp!	Barr Camp Bird House	Barr Camp compost
Bottomless pit 4 miles	Warning	Sign of the times	Barr trailhead
Marilyn finishes 26 miles	Linda and Janet finish	Scott finishes 26 miles	John finishes 26 miles
Mark finishes 26 miles	Janet, Mark & Marilyn	Mark's comfort shoes...	Janet's license plate

The trip was described in the CMC's Winter 2004-2005 Activity Schedule as follows:

July 03, 2006:
Cog Railway

As luck would have it, we finally got a chance to ride the Pike's Peak Cog Railway over the 2006 Independence Day holiday. It was somewhat overcast but a pretty good ride with light snow and 35 degrees on the summit!

Cog Wheel

Amber & Roger

Roger & Donna

Roger, Garrett & Lisa

Uphill Train & Brian's hat...

In the last photo, in addition to Brian's "Sooners" hat, you can see the car ahead of us going up the steep hill. The conductor said that the grade can be as much as 25 percent along portions of the Pikes Peak cog railway...

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