| Location
|
| notes
|
1. |
The Incline |
|
2200 feet of vertical gain; it's a mile-long staircase of pain. |
2. |
The Crags |
|
On the other side of Pike's Peak, it's less than 4 miles round trip but really beautiful--huge payoff for little effort. |
3. |
The Barr Trail |
|
The switchbacks start to get blurred together, and before you know it you're quite high up with a nice view of Manitou Springs. |
4. |
Garden Of The Gods |
|
Big red rocks. Pretty. |
5. |
Any Trail At Bear Creek Park. |
|
From easy to challenging, these all have nice views and good areas for picnicking. |
Obviously, hiking Pike's Peak would be ultracool, but that's not a short hike, and so not on this list. And 3 and 4 are interchangeable depending on weather, season, mood, lunar phase, etc.