Pike's Peak Greenway

Quick Ride Summary: 26.53 miles round trip. Elevation change 400 feet each direction. Weather sunny, temp. mid 60's, wind 6-8mph from the south. Trail surface included beautiful new concrete, just plain dirt, and everything in between. Website for the Pike's Peak Greenway may be accessed by clicking HERE.

Pictures may be double-clicked to see larger copies.

Started for Colorado Springs at 7:30a.m. Objective is to learn the core of the trail for later exploration of connecting trails (and, of course, to have a good time). I needed a trail map so I started at Criterium Bicycles. They not only have most everything you need they are also a trail head. They sold me a map and I unloaded the trike and used them as my trail head.

I asked the young man helping me with the map, Which way is uphill and which way is downhill. He said, "I don't know. It's pretty much flat." I didn't know it then, but one should not ask someone in such good physical condition which way is uphill because he is so strong that he never noticed that one way might be somewhat more difficult than the other. Well, I later noticed...

9:30a.m.: I headed south on the trail and found that I was coasting a lot. The waterway next to the trail, Monument Creek, was racing in the same direction I was going. I like to do the uphill part of the ride first but this is obviously going to be the exception. The first mile or so the trail was a poorly maintained asphalt, but that turned to concrete and things were better. As you can see from the first picture, the Trail's namesake, Pike's Peak, is visible on this part of the trail.




The ride through the "Springs" proper included parks every few miles and lots of connecting trails. The signage on the trail could be better. It was often difficult to tell which way to go. The trail crosses the creek many times on excellent bridges and twice on bridges that are reminiscent of army pontoon bridges.

Many areas of the trail are under construction. The sections that have recently been paved give an idea of how nice the trail will be when fully completed. They are wide and smooth. I took no pictures of the construction but did of the completed new sections.

At about mile 8, I entered a section that was rutted dirt. It was barely passable. But I managed and took this picture which I call "Dirt, but with amenities". The viewing area on the left had pictures of the wildlife one might expect to see in the wetlands below, but the real view was of the I-25 freeway about 80 yards away. I thought they should have added pictures of semi's and motor homes too.






Next came crushed gravel, then a dirt road, with section of new paved trail interspersed. With three wheels I get significantly more tire resistance with unpaved trails than the two-wheelers do, so I probably notice the surface more than others.






You can imagine what this section of trail is going to look like when everything has fully leafed out.


When I came to this section of the trail, just south of the El Pomar Youth Sports Park, I wondered who picked up all those rocks. I decided this was the end of the ride south and turned around and headed back. In about 200 yards I came to a small sign for north bound traffic that said "Welcome to Colorado Springs".







I stopped at a small. picnic area on the way back and had lunch. Yum! The ride was uneventful, and quite enjoyable. I will return to do more of the trail and some of the side trails.