Miraculously, the clouds had cleared overnight and we were left with a relatively clear morning. Upon closer inspection (when we got out of the van), we found there were still plenty of white fluffies in the sky but none of them looked like they were holding any water. Anthony was out and about before we were and I was happy to hear he’d had a very comfortable night in my van. He joins a club of the privileged few who have ever spent a night in the Astro.
Me and Dan ate cereal on the top of the hill behind camp, looking down onto the massive sprawl that is Colorado Springs. We discussed plans for the day as we broke camp. I’d already shown Dan the elevation profile of the hike I wanted to do, as recommended to me and he was keen but Anthony sure wasn’t. He needed to get going north anyway so he could circle back to San Fransisco over the next few weeks. And so, after taking down the tarp, separating our cars, we were ready to split. Hugs all round, it had been a great unexpected pleasure to have met up with Anthony and travelled with him a while. I’m only sorry I didn’t catch Kimberly as well! Bye Anthony, enjoy the rest of your travels, I’ll see you in the bay area in a month or so (weather and change of plans permitting)!
We all drove down the same dirt road we’d come up on, Anthony disappeared off into the distance since he didn’t have to wait around for us slow vans anymore. Dan and I drove back through the balanced rock of the Garden of the Gods and twisted our way around the narrow suburban streets of Manitou Springs towards the Manitou Incline trailhead. This hike had been recommended to me by people I met in Rocky Mountain National Park. Knowing absolutely nothing about me, they assumed that since I was out hiking in the snow, that I would enjoy this one. And so, here we were.
When we got close to the massive staircase carved into the face of a hill, I began dreading the parking situation. After getting to within three kilometres of our destination, it was paid parking everywhere. I optimistically thought that the carpark I’d seen on my maps would surely be free. Once we got near though, it became obvious that we couldn’t even get to that carpark since it was reserved for people taking the train up to the top of Pikes Peak. Shit. We did a u-turn and pulled over for a quick conference, after which Dan took the lead looking for street parking. I was amazed when he found a couple of spots only a short ways down form the trailhead. Not bad! While I don’t like paying for parking, I could make an exception for this.
Just as Dan helped guide me into a tight spot, we saw a busload of “fit” tourists get off the bus wearing all their bright colours, some girls electing not to wear shirts to show off their “fit” bodies. It made us both sigh, but we were still on for the hike. While Dan got his shoes on, I grabbed my wallet and walked to the parking machine to suss out the situation. I got all the way to the step where I needed to enter my license plate when I discovered the rate was $10 an hour. !!!!!! Amazed and disgusted, I walked back to Dan’s van and told him. He didn’t believe it and had to walk to the machine to see for himself. What an absolutely disgraceful way to charge people. What’s even more upsetting is that so many people were paying! Fuck that, we rathered not do the hike if that was the price. Dan though, ever optimistic, suggested we drive on a bit further because surely the further we got away from the trailhead, the cheaper parking would be?
He lead the way and stopped at another parking meter only to find that it too was the same rate. Nearly fed up, he instructed me to lead and so I drove on a bit further, getting used to the idea that we weren’t going to tackle this hike. I saw a sign for the Miramont Castle and turned off on a whim. The castle, which is now a museum, was front and centre as soon as I turned off and there was an elaborate sign drawing directions to the parking out the back. Dan followed as I wound the Astro through a couple of narrow residential streets, all marked for resident parking only until I found a near-empty carpark surrounded on one side by a brick wall with a sign reading “Miramont Castle”. There was no evidence of a pay system, the two cars parked in the lot had no permits in their windscreens and the sign didn’t explicitly say the parking was for castle visitors only (although it was clearly implied). A quick google of the place told me it was a museum and they charged $9 for admission. Even if we were super honest people, it would have been cheaper to go inside and buy a museum ticket instead of paying for parking. Since we’re dirtbags, we didn’t pay anything and took the risk
Dan was suitably impressed with my free park finding skills and we discreetly got ready for our hike. A small backpack with some water and snacks, shoes on our feet and we were set. We said goodbye to Cleo who was still recovering from the mountain biking and so it was the perfect opportunity for her to have a decent nap considering dogs aren’t allowed on the Incline trail. To avoid being noticed by the castle operators, we walked back towards the hike along the streets instead of taking the stairs that went right by the castle. We’d seen many other people walking to the hike from a distance and assumed they’d paid a lower parking price for doing so, but we felt pretty confident we were the only ones getting in for free.
We walked up the hill to the base of the trail which was also the base of the train that climbs up to the peak of Pikes. Tourists were in abundance but we squeezed past them to use the bathrooms inside the ticket office, choosing porcelain over the portaloos which we later saw at the trailhead. Now really ready to go, we followed a few other hikers towards the start of the trail. Turns out those hikers didn’t know where they were going so when they asked for directions, we listened and went back the way we’d come to the actual starting point.
We’d seen the towering staircase from afar and now it loomed steep and large. I’m not sure Dan knew what he was getting in to, but then again, neither did I. The trail was an old cog railway with the sleepers that formed the foundations of the trail now serving as the staircase up the hill. In one mile, the staircase rose over 2,000 feet. It made for an incredibly daunting view.
We joined the mix of local fitness enthusiasts and tourists of all shapes and sizes, taking our first steps up the mountain. It was a piece of piss at first, the lowest part of the trail being the least steep, but we could see the gradient that lay before us. Dan’s shirt was off quick smart so he could sweat it out without clothes sticking to his skin. I kept mine on, feeling I wasn’t wearing a fluorescent enough sports bra to fit in with the crowd (not).
We took deep breaths as we climbed beyond 7,000 ft (we’d started at 6,600) and managed to make it to halfway relatively easily. I kept looking back as the view into the valley grew more distant. At one of our stops, an older lady clearly on a personal challenge stopped where we had and offered to take a photo of us. It was a nice gesture and we accepted the offer and I immediately got Dan to jump on my back.
Carrying on up the mountain, our stops to look at the view became more frequent and since the view was getting so beautiful, we stopped a little longer each time. I discovered Dan speaks squirrel when we found a couple of them at one of the drainage steps munching on something he’d found or been given. We couldn’t believe it when he remained in his place, eating, when Dan put his camera literally inches from his face.
Towards the top, the crowd grew dense because people were milling around and also coming down on the steps. Dan had proposed a race once we were a few hundred feet from the end but soon changed his mind. After one false summit, we enjoyed a section of smooth gradient before the sleepers formed double steps and we really had to put in the effort to get to the peak. As we got near the real top, Dan picked up the pace so I did too. We raced up the last dozen or so steps at a run, not able to contain our competitiveness. Obviously, I won. Dan declared he hated me as we found a rock to perch on and down some water.
As soon as he was recovered from our last dash, Dan was right onto feeding the squirrels. An obsession I hadn’t known about, he was almost convinced he understood their language, pointing out which squirrels had bits of his banana and which didn’t. We didn’t linger too long at the top, not wanting to associate with the fluoro wearing tourists and so hit the trail down.
Thankfully, there was a winding singletrack on the side of the mountain that served as alternative to walking down the uneven stairs and we were happy to take it. It was easy walking so we got to talk as we descended, we even managed to spot the bright red train car slowly climbing up the base of the mountain through the trees. We didn’t pass many people on the way down, seemingly having the whole forest to ourselves.
As usual, the storm clouds were gathering in the distance and by the time we got back to the bottom of the hill they were not so distant. Walking back along the streets, we heard a few claps of thunder and feared for Cleo’s mental state being alone in the car listening to nasty thunder claps. We were anxious to return and so walked briskly, even though one pair of legs felt a little like jello. As we neared the castle, we debated whether we’d gotten away with our parking situation and I was quietly optimistic. I couldn’t help myself as we climbed the stairs to run up them to see if my Astro and The Cabana were still where we’d left them. Sure enough, just as the rain started to fall, I peaked the top of the stairs and found our two steeds faithfully standing to greet us.
Cleo was happy to see us too and jumped right out of the Cabana to say hello, despite the falling rain. Again, we’d timed our day perfectly having enjoyed the bright sun of the morning. To celebrate our success at enjoying a free activity, we were on for a dive bar and some pool. I left it to Dan to do the Yelp’ing and soon we were on our way to Colorado Springs. Twenty minutes later, we were inside a super local dive bar where we got a jug of beer, ordered a couple of burgers without fries since their fryer was out, and put some quarters into the pool table.
After some issues with the balls coming out of the table, the owner just gave us the key to the access hole and we played free in between eating our burgers and watching/listening to the very exciting women’s golf coverage that was on. The food went down well and the beers to, though Dan did most of the drinking work. We both won off each other’s mistakes with the eight ball and left the place all tied up. It was only mid afternoon but the weather was still rainy so we were ready for camp. No foresty options in the area so we went to our staple – Walmart.
We drove over and parked in a corner then went inside for some shopping. I got me some hot wedges to fill the hole that no fries left and Dan did a grocery shop. It was a role reversal since it was usually me filling the trolley with Dan following along giving suggestion, but this time it was him because he was leaving for Phoenix tomorrow and had to rely on his own fridge to give him food instead of mine. Up until this point, his fridge had served as the drinks fridge while mine had been for food. He got all the essentials and I enjoyed following him around.
Back out to the cars, I tried to set up Dan’s phone to watch F1 while he put the groceries away. Since his phone needed to do an update, once Dan was done with the shopping, he smoked a joint and we played a round of cards. With F1 nearly ready, we were on for a dessert to top off our lunch so walked in the rain to the Wendy’s on the corner. I’d seen a sign out the front for 50c Frostys and that’s what we were after. A highschool couple again, we got two Frostys and a small fries. Dan introduced me to the delicacy that is a French fry dipped in ice cream and we filled our tummies, laughing almost uncontrollably at times at each other for whatever shit we were saying.
Back out in the rain we walked back to camp and I set myself up for some F1 while Dan happily finished his joint. He was happy to see that I was happy as soon as the Austrian Grand Prix coverage started streaming on his phone and eventually he joined me in bed after engineering a solution with his phone holder to hook the phone up to the ceiling.
I was a happy girl. An hour later, I had a man sleeping to my left, a pitbull sleeping on my left and the fastest cars in the world racing right above me. A couple of hours later, I was asleep too thanks to the monotony of the racing, but it was a beautiful way to fall into slumber.