PIKE NATIONAL FOREST — My head was spinning and I felt like I might pass out at any moment, but I grabbed a plate of spaghetti, anyway. After hiking six and a half miles and 3,800 vertical feet above the Cog Railway station in Manitou Springs to Barr Camp, half way up Pikes Peak, I was beat.
“You look white as a ghost,” says my hiking partner, former Denver Post photo editor Dean Krakel. I could only manage a few small bites before I had to sheepishly hand my plate back to our hosts, breaking one of the cardinal rules of Barr Camp meals: Eat what you take.
I made my way to the lean-to shelter we’d booked for the next two nights and took a long nap before scarfing down a cold burrito I’d packed. Dean gave me a couple electrolyte tablets to add to my water bottle and I finally started feeling comfortable in the altitude as we crashed for the night before dusk had even set in.
That was just day one. The next, we would head for the summit, over another six miles of trail and almost 4,000 vertical feet above us.
Barr Camp has functioned as a non-profit organization with a lease from the U.S. Forest Service since 1979. It primarily serves as a rest stop and provides hostel-style overnight lodging for hikers along the Barr Trail. Every night, the live-in caretakers prepare a spaghetti dinner, and every morning they serve up pancakes and hot coffee for overnight guests.
Either as a much needed place to rest on an epic climb or a weekend getaway spot easily accessible by train, Barr Camp is a place out of time. Itap perched between two of the biggest tourist draws in the state — the Manitou Incline and Pikes Peak — and yet, itap a different world entirely. The camp is busy but secluded, a place where people come and go on foot, grateful to shake off the hardships of the trail upon arrival and dutifully prepared to leave when departing. Although the gear has changed, the hikers and runners coming up and down Barr Trail go on in much the same fashion as travelers would have a hundred years ago, or a hundred years before that — on foot, simultaneously enjoying the journey and struggling with its demands.
Krakel and I made our trip on the second weekend in June. We woke up for our summit ascent around 4:30 a.m., at least a full hour before sunrise, and hit the trail before the Barr Camp kitchen started slinging pancakes. Slowly, but steadily we followed the Barr Trail and crawled our way above tree line. We left a good amount of gear back at camp, and with a lighter pack, I felt much better than I had the previous day.
The last mile or so of trail, however, was still buried under snow, forcing us to pick out a route as best we could. After struggling for hours between snow fields and scrambling over boulders, we reached the summit and entered the surreal world at the summit of Pike’s Peak, which is populated with tourists, their cars and the big red Cog Railway train.
We navigated our way to the summit house and ordered ourselves some cheeseburgers and soft drinks — luxuries found on no other fourteener in the state. As we ravenously devoured our food, a family sitting next to us incredulously asked, “Did you walk up here?” They were delighted. We even posed for a photo before filling up on water and heading back towards Barr Camp. The descent took about a third of the time it took to reach the top and put us back at camp just in time for dinner. There was no way I was going to miss the spaghetti a second time.
The spaghetti dinner at Barr Camp has been a tradition for at least the last 15 years, says Nathan Josephs, who is one of the camp’s full-time caretakers. The recipe for their vegetarian sauce and garlic bread is available on their website.
The cabin was built in 1922 by Fred Barr, the year after he completed the trail. According to historian Eric Swaab, Barr was born in Arkansas in 1882, but moved to Colorado with his family in 1893. As early as 1908, Barr operated a business offering tourists burro rides from the top of the Manitou Incline Railway up to the top of Pikes Peak. He established Barr Camp as a halfway point where he and his guests could eat and rest before continuing on to the summit. That business continued for another 20 years after Barr’s death in 1940. His legacy lives on in both the trail and camp that bear his name, serving thousands of visitors each year.
Today, the camp consists of a number of buildings, including the main cabin, which is divided into the common area and bunkhouse in back. The upper cabin books as a private unit for large groups, and three lean-to shelters and a number of tent sites can be reserved as well.
On our trip up Pikes Peak and back, I made quite a few photos of Dean and other hikers on the trail. I had planned on shooting more and talking with people back at camp as well, but the physical toll of the hike quickly sucked most of the energy out of such aspirations. I vowed to return for a trip specifically focused on Barr Camp.
Return to Barr Camp
This time, I booked a ticket on the Cog Railway, which runs from Manitou Springs to the top of Pikes Peak. Hikers can get off about halfway up at the Mountain View stop, which is basically just a small shelter and a few porta potties next to the tracks.
As I stepped off of the the train, the other passengers stared at me like I was crazy for disembarking in the middle of nowhere. Luckily I wasn’t alone — three women from Colorado Springs filed out behind me. We waved goodbye to the tourists snapping photos of us as the train chugged up and away out of sight. Unlike my previous trip to the area, my destination for this day was not the 14,114 foot summit, but the little cabin tucked away among the trees on the Barr Trail — now just a short mile-and-a-half walk from the train tracks.
I arrived at Barr Camp around 9:30 a.m. after an easy walk on the side trail that connects the rail stop to the main Barr Trail. A minute or two after seeing the first sign for the camp, I crossed a wooden bridge over the stream where guests can purify water and headed into the cabin.
Siblings Zach and Ashley Miller sat at the table finishing their breakfast while Nathan (who had told me about the spaghetti tradition on my last visit) worked away behind the kitchen counter, cleaning the last dishes from the morning breakfast rush. Nathan and Ashley are the full-time caretakers of the camp and are engaged to be married this fall. They live there year-round, along with Zach, who works part-time between training and running elite ultra marathons around the world. All three are entering their second full year at Barr Camp. Another part-time employee, Maria Cordova, lives in Colorado Springs and organizes groceries and other supplies, which she sends up to camp via the Cog Railway.
“It doesn’t really feel like a job,” says Nathan. “More like just good living.”
I spent the day wandering around the sprawling camp shooting photos and conversing with the caretakers, hikers stopping in for a rest and many of the overnight guests.
Scott Allbert of Austin, Texas, hiking with his son Steve and nephew Chris Hardin of Thornton, set out from Manitou Springs early Friday morning. They made it to Barr Camp by midday, but had to turn back from there because Steve was getting altitude sickness. Scottap mother lives in Colorado Springs, and the family took the Cog Railway up about six years ago. He’s wanted make the climb on foot ever since.
“Every time I come out here I stare at this peak,” he says. “It draws you.”
Although the group didn’t complete the hike on this trip, Scott promises they’ll be back. “Itap not if, itap when.”
The next morning woke up around 4:30 a.m. to the sound of hikers beginning to shuffle about the bunkhouse, packing and re-organizing gear. Their headlamps moved back and forth outside the window in the pre-dawn darkness.
“Pancakes are nice,” says hiker Brian Linde of Denver as he and a group of friends set off towards Pikes Peak well before the cabin kitchen opened for breakfast. “The summit is nicer.”
Luckily my second trip to Barr camp was all about soaking up the backwoods luxury. As the early risers broke camp, the rest of us began to gather on the front porch outside the main cabin eagerly awaiting our pancakes and coffee. Zach Miller opened the cabin door at about quarter ‘til seven, and the pancake line quickly filed past the porch.
I spent another hour or so taking photos of the mad breakfast rush and saying goodbye to fellow guests, and then bid farewell to my hosts and headed down the trail towards Manitou Springs.
Visiting the top of Pikes Peak doesn’t need to be a three-day journey filled with pain and meticulous planning. Anyone can drive their car to the top or take a leisurely ride on the train. That is as true today as it was for Fred Barr when he built the trail and camp. A carriage road to the summit opened in 1887 and the first full passenger train made the trip in 1891. Visitors to Barr Camp are after a different experience. And if you can make it, there’s a fine plate of spaghetti waiting for you at the end of the day.
If you go
Due to itap location, phone service at Barr Camp is unreliable, so the best way to contact the caretakers is through email, info@barrcamp.com. The camp is open year-round and reservations can be made through their website:
Barr Camp recipes
Barr Camp Spaghetti Sauce:
Garlic Bread:
Pikes Peak Power Pancakes:
More info:
