Pikes Peak Barr Trail Trail Dogs

By Matt Carpenter
www.skyrunner.com

(I wrote this for the 2004 Friends of the Peak fall newsletter while I was serving on their board.)

As you know, the rains (and snows;-) of the summer have been awesome because we have needed the moisture. However, some of the storms have put a lot of stress on some of the trails in the area and the Barr Trail is no exception. This summer the Trail Dogs have been hard at work keeping the trail in top condition. It is a careful balance between making the trail nice and usable but not going too far. For example, just as Boston has its “heartbreak hill” Pikes Peak has the 16 Golden stairs. They are part of what makes the Barr Trail what it is. It would be doing a disservice to the legacy of Fred Barr and the mountain if they were completely smoothed over.

Because the Barr Trail is so long the trail is divided into sections... From the Bottom:

• Julia Lawrence and a group of her co-workers worked from Hydro Street up Ruxton to where the “spur trail” joins the Barr Trail.
  
• Gail Allen has put in a tremendous amount of time on the section from the Spur Trail to the Incline Overlook. She also works on the “real” trail from the Trailhead. and since last November has replace more than 75 rails in this section alone.
  
• Larry Miller, Fred Wright, Bev and Darrel Weaver and other Incline Members have worked from the Incline Overlook to No Name Creek. Larry was up there one Thursday working in the Rain! No Name Creek was the sight of a MAJOR project last November to stop the ice from running onto the Barr Trail. This work was done by Incline Club runners.
  
• Bob Hostetler works on the trail up to Barr Camp.
  
• Stephanie Dennison and other Barr Camp caretakers keep the section from Barr Camp to the Bottomless Pit sign. They also work above and below the camp on section that have yet to be adopted.
  
• Todd Walton of Slow Twitch Athletics and Kin Folks hit the 3rd mile from the top. He did a lot of raking to even out some of the loose gravel that had gathered in this section of the trail.
  
• Craig Isenor and the NORAD Canadians have also been up working on the 2nd to last mile. Craig is a new Trail Dog leader this year carrying on the Canadian tradition.
  
• The Incline Club has worked the top mile hard this summer. One of the recent rains had moved a huge rock onto the trail that took almost an hour and 6 people to remove an inch at time!