Manitou Incline

The Manitou Incline is exactly what it sounds like: a trail that goes almost straight up. The old funicular railway ties serve as steps, and the route climbs nearly 2,000 feet in less than a mile — an average grade of 45 percent and a maximum grade of 68 percent. It is one of the most brutal short hikes in Colorado, and the parking lot fills before sunrise on weekends with people who treat it as a daily workout.

It is worth doing once if you are fit, or watching if you are not. The views from the top across the Pikes Peak region and down into the Colorado Springs valley are spectacular. Most people descend via the Barr Trail, which winds back down to the base in a more civilised fashion. Reservations are required for the trailhead parking (or use the shuttle from downtown Manitou Springs). The hike takes most people between forty-five minutes and two hours going up.

things to do sight
A story
The Incline was originally a funicular railway built in 1907 to carry construction materials to a water pipeline on the mountain. When the cable car became recreational in the 1950s, it was a tourist attraction. The funicular tracks were destroyed by a rockslide in 1990 and the railway closed, but hikers began using the old rail ties as natural steps — and eventually the city formalised the trail in 2013.