Barr

I should be taken out into the street and pistol whipped. I’ve been in Manitou Springs for, what, months now? And I’ve only made it to ~8000 feet on the Barr Trail.

Barr starts 0.25 miles from my house, and ends at 14,000+ on Pikes Peak. How can I call myself a mountain biker when this mountain goes unconquered, and worse, unchallenged?!

True, it was under snow for the first weeks I was here. True, I injured my knee, forcing me to stick to the lower/easier trails. True, I’m a wimp.

All pitiful excuses.

I still have yet to challenge it, but at least I made it halfway. My knee is coming back into form and I’m slowly building up to longer rides. So I pedaled up the first 4000 feet of climbing (to Barr Camp) from my house.

Wonderful climb. Beautiful trail. 99% rideable. Can’t say I was breathing hard for much of it (mellow grade), but heart rate was plenty high, and I did have several forced stops (letting hikers by). I knew going in that riding a bike on this trail is a privilege, and one that is likely on edge.

I took my first break at Barr Camp, 10,200 ft and the conceptual halfway point on the trail. I was interested to learn that the caretakers have lived there year round for the last ~3.5 years. They get supplies on foot, but also by train and ATV. No roads lead to the camp (yay). I chatted with her for a good 45 minutes, learning about the camp, history and side trails.

I expressed my gratitude (and surprise) that the trail was open to bikes. We agreed that it would stay that way indefinitely if it were not for the fact that you can shuttle the trail (from the top, or from Elk Park). I told her that as I pulled up to Barr Camp I saw a deep skidmark and immediately thought “damn shuttlers.” She said there had been a number of altercations in the last two weeks, and some hikers were raging mad.

She had noticed that anyone who rode up from the bottom was generally more respectful (of the trail and other users) than those that shuttled down. This is not a ‘rant’ against shuttling, for I have done a shuttle run or three myself, but the Barr Trail has got to be one of the worst and most inappropriate places to shuttle. Too many hikers, too many blind turns. I don’t think many downhillers really shuttle it, it’s mostly the weekend warrior t-shirt, inexperienced people causing the problems (or so the caretaker thought).

She told me that I could descend Long Ranch road instead of the lower 3 miles of Barr to avoid people. Sounded like a good plan to me. I missed the turn for Bob’s road, but enjoyed the climbing to the saddle between mounts Manitou and Rocky that resulted.

STEEP descending on Longs, with plenty of grade dips to mix things up. Some were too sketchy to do anything but ride the brakes and pray for traction, but others were a real hoot. The launches were many, and I laughed out loud at how much air I was (unintentionally) getting.

I rode Ute Trail back, including the little bits of singletrack along the water line. It’s quite a contrast — never seen a soul on Ute, and always dozens on Barr.

Plans are underway for Ring the Peak and a Colorado Trail Tour with Mike (somewhat on the actual CT, but with some other options to up the adventure/fun factor). The latter depends on the knee outcome of the former, but so far so good. 4000′ of climbing in 7 miles would surely expose knee weakness/problems, or so I’d like to think.

It’s just great to finally be getting out and exploring things around here. Another good one recently was linking Williams to Waldo:

I had only heard second hand that you could link them, but sure enough a little path led me right there for a very satisfying loop.