A Good Hike

I hiked up Barr trail this morning up to Barr camp which is about 6.5 miles, so round trip it was about 13 miles.  Barr camp sits at 10,200 foot elevation and is the half way point to the summit of Pikes Peak.  Barr trail is the trail we run for the race on Saturday.  My original plan was not to hike that far.  I only wanted to hike about 4 miles or so up, but I got caught up in the moment.  It was quiet and secluded and the views were awesome.  I just couldn't turn around and go back down.  I was drawn to keep going up.

It's amazing how quickly the trail climbs.  After hiking about 20 minutes I turned around to look back at Manitou Springs and couldn't believe how high I was already.  Today’s hike was good for me to learn the terrain, at least the first part of the race.  I started noticing my breathing at about 9600 foot elevation.  I was breathing pretty hard, but breathing under control.  I was pleasantly surprised at this.  When I reached Barr Camp, I rested, had lunch and returned down the trail.

My legs are a little tired tonight, but I'm not too concerned.  Even though I hiked further than I wanted, there is plenty of time for them to recover.  Tomorrow I'm going to ride the Cog Railway up to the summit of Pikes Peak.  The Cog Railway is a train that’s a 3 hour round trip to the summit and back.

The following picture is the summit of Pikes Peak, from the trail, about 8 or 9 miles away.  When hiking today I looked up and my knees buckled at this view.  I can't believe I'm going to run up there.  First it looks like I need climbing equipment and second it looks a lot farther away than what the race website says.