The Dreaded Manitou Incline

I had many contenders for "worst hike ever" until I hiked the Manitou Incline.  This is it.  This is the worst.

Hooboy.  The Manitou Incline is a former cable car track that for some reason people turned into a hiking trail.  It's a little under a mile long, but has an elevation gain of 2,000 feet.  The Incline is 2,744 steps, and I almost turned back several times.  To make it worse, there's a false summit that gives you hope, but once you reach it, you still have 300 steps to go until you get to the real end of the trail.  After the Incline ended we took Barr Trail back down to the car, for a total of 3.6 miles.  I'm glad I did it and I'm glad I will never ever do it again.

Check out this sweet elevation chart I got from FindHikingTrails.com:

With the help of my new hat I can make it
With the help of my new hat I can make it
Looks kinda steep from the bottom
Looks kinda steep from the bottom
Random hiker offering encouragement
Random hiker offering encouragement
Pretty steep
Pretty steep
Here I come
Here I come
...Wait for it...
...Wait for it...
Success!
Success!
TC, WC, and I
TC, WC, and I
Looking back down
Looking back down
WC on a rock
WC on a rock
Me on that same rock
Me on that same rock

This article was updated on August 20, 2018