The climb from Crags Campground is a beautiful and steep climb up the west side of Pikes Peak and generally less demanding on the body than the Barr Trail.

Going through Devils Playground is awesome with super cool rock formations, wildflowers, sweeping views, and flocks of bighorn sheep. (And those portapotties in the Devils Playground come in clutch, haha.)

The trail is easy to find and follow throughout but gets a little tough on the final climb up to the summit.

The summit experience on top of Pikes is always a little weird with concrete parking lots, vehicles, trains, people everywhere and a visitor center, but hot coffee, running water and flushable toilets at 14,000’ is pretty awesome, haha.

Total mileage was just short of 15 miles and the elevation gain was around 4300’, much easier than the Barr Trail, haha.

This is a great alternate route up Americas Mountain and I highly recommend it.