Started this hike by climbing the Manitou Incline, there is a shuttle that runs from Hiawatha Gardens parking lot to the incline which makes everything easy. Make sure you have a reservation for the incline if you plan to start your hike this way! Otherwise you'll need to hike against the crowd going down the Barr Trail. Once you get to the top and start hiking on towards the Barr Trail, you lose the crowd and are almost completely alone. I only saw 3 other groups until I linked up with the Incline hikers on the way back down. Make sure you have GPS and some route finding skills for the final approach to the peak, if it looks like the most defined path forward, it probably is.