Today's Hike

Today's Hike:

Round-Trip Length:	3.2 miles
Start - End Elevation:	5,710' - 6,915' (6,915' max elevation)
Elevation Change:	+1,205' net elevation gain (+1,417' total roundtrip elevation gain)
Skill Level:	Moderately Strenuous
Pet Regulations:	Dogs Allowed

Moderately strenous??? Moderately? My legs feel like spaghetti. We got started at 9:15am shortly after I finished a grande Pike Place coffee and a Starbucks protein plate (saving the peanut butter for my big reward at the top of the trail.)

This trail goes up up up and then down down down and up again, gaining more than 1,000 ft. in elevation in the 1.5 mile ascent to the top. Now multiply that by four and you have what I have committed to on Pike's Peak! Oh, and make just a wee bit steeper. One blogger very appropriately called this trail "Boulder's Stairmaster."

It's a great sense of accomplishment to go up up up and then sort of frustrating to see the trail go down again. It should be a relief, but you realize that's going to be UP on the way down. Did that make sense?

The payoff was this: