We didn’t intend to hike the Barr Trail up Pike’s Peak in Manitou Springs, CO, today. We tried a few years ago but severe thunder/lightening/rain forced us to turn around about 8 miles up the peak trail. [That weekend, my son and a friend ran the Ascent Half Marathon, 13.1 grueling miles to the peak at over 14,000’]. Today, we were just going to walk around the town, but then checked out Manitou Incline, 2744 steps up near vertical railroad ties (really, much steeper than photos would indicate). We started at the base at 6600’ and hiked to “bail-out” at 7700’, where the Incline connects back to the Barr Trail. I felt a bit like a sissy, but my hamstrings were starting to bite.
http://manitouincline.net/main.htm