We did it again.  We conquered another hill.  This time we hiked the Manitou Incline which is a very steep old railroad track that goes a mile straight up a mountain.  After hiking the hikes we have done over the past week it didn’t seem so bad to go up a mountain for a mile.  :D

This time the hikers were myself, Honey and Bob Droog (referred to as Boobie D) The hike isn’t so much difficult on the legs as it is in breathing and steepness.  Now if you’re hiking with two young whipper snappers like I was you might feel slow and old.  However I have justification…..I’ve had many many more beers and burritos over the years that I am also hauling up the incline. :D   I would step step step step…..breeeeaaaaathe….breeeeeaaathe….breeeeeathe. Okay do it again…step step step…breeeeeeaaaathe.  I did feel better because I was not the only one doing this method of climbing.  The 80-year-old guy behind us was doing it too hahahaaha! 

When you initially hit the incline it’s not so bad.  It gradually goes up to the HOLY SHIT part which is the straight up and I mean straight up.  I was climbing stairs like it was a ladder. Yes that means I used my hands too.  I had visions of my chunky dunk falling backward and bowling over every other hiker apologizing the whole way down…roll roll roll…sorry sir, sorry ma’am, sorry little 20-year-old size 0 girl, sorry 80-year-old man practicing for the Swiss Alps hike, sorry 18-year-old highschool dude hiking it in your flip-flops (wtf?), sorry dudes and ladies who are gnarly badasses running up it. I was raised properly and that means having manners as you roll to your death. You apologize to those you’re taking out with you. :)   At one point it was so steep I thought about taking my Camelbak off and carrying it in front of me so it wouldn’t pull me over.  Since that would look funny I decided to lean ALL the way forward nearly kissing the step in front of me (cuz that didn’t look funny LMAO)

Honey and Boobie D were moving up it like they were going up stairs at home to take a nap. They patiently waited for me occupying themselves by laughing at me and even taking a moment to video my climbing style. :/ lol As Honey checked out berries on the way up Boobie was checking out the scenery. It was a lot of fun the entire way up.  We were throwing insults at each other. (out of love of course)

Then we get to the top.  NOT!!!  It’s plain trickery. You get to the top only to find out it’s not the top. There’s an even steeper incline portion to go up and even worse all the people who already made it to the top are sitting on the top step watching the rest of the hikers climb the last part they didn’t know about. HAH.  I suck in my gut and try to straighten up and go up. Nope too worried about rolling down so I use my hands and haul my butt up the rest of the way not caring if I look funny. At least I won’t fall!

After hanging at the top and taking some pictures we decide to take the Barr Trail back. Most people take the trail back since the incline is so steep you can blow out a knee going down. Yikes…that’d hurt. So we whistled dixie all the way back taking some time to play on the rocks and chit-chat about everything. 

All in all it was a fantastic day. We had a lot of fun and look forward to the next adventure.

For more information on the incline go to the following link….(pretty interesting)

http://www.manitouincline.net/main.htm