Pikes Peak via N. Cheyenne Canyon/ Jones Park/ Lake Moraine

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Foxfulness
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Pikes Peak via N. Cheyenne Canyon/ Jones Park/ Lake Moraine

Post by Foxfulness »

Has anyone been able to connect from North Cheyenne Canyon to Barr Trail by connecting from Jones Park to Lake Moraine and then Windy Point? I've been interested in this route for years, and I know there was some desire to improve/develop trails for this route recently, but I'm not sure if it's possible to do this trek yet. Has anyone ever tried it? I think it was called the "missing link" trail.
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jeffskio
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Re: Pikes Peak via N. Cheyenne Canyon/ Jones Park/ Lake Mora

Post by jeffskio »

I think you hit CSU utilities property when jones park trail ends.
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jsdratm
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Re: Pikes Peak via N. Cheyenne Canyon/ Jones Park/ Lake Mora

Post by jsdratm »

Here is a photo from Lake Moraine. You can see quite a few options for going up Pikes Peak from there, although it is technically off limits. I would love to be able to go up through the trees, jump over the railway, and head up the ridge to Pikes as an alternative to the overcrowded Barr Trail.

http://www.14ers.com/images/userpics/20 ... 1032_l.jpg
Foxfulness
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Re: Pikes Peak via N. Cheyenne Canyon/ Jones Park/ Lake Mora

Post by Foxfulness »

Wow, thanks for the photo, great view!

I'd love to do this hike someday, too bad it's off limits!
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Jim Davies
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Re: Pikes Peak via N. Cheyenne Canyon/ Jones Park/ Lake Mora

Post by Jim Davies »

The Forest Service plans to close Jones Park permanently to all access, which would make this even more off-limits than it already is. For now, there's a gate and fence between Jones Park and Lake Moraine, not that you couldn't get by it if you wanted to. At one point there was a plan to open that gate, but that was before the Greenback Cutthroat Trout drama. And for now, Bear Creek (and High Drive) are closed due to flood damage.

At some point it might be possible to hike legally from the South Slope reservoirs via Boehmer Reservoir to the peak, but that's not open yet.

There's also something in the FS plans for that area to make a motorized trail that would dead-end at the Moraine Lake gate, but using the Forester Trail (701) rerouted a little. Here's their plan map, with closed trails in black and open in green. If they do all their planned changes, and if Utilities actually opens the Moraine Lake gate, you could do your planned approach with just a little longer trip via trails 622, 668, and 720. It's a long haul, though, probably 5+ miles just to the gate from the Gold Camp 4-way.
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Foxfulness
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Re: Pikes Peak via N. Cheyenne Canyon/ Jones Park/ Lake Mora

Post by Foxfulness »

Jim, thank you for the additional information! I forgot that they had closed high drive due to the flood damage. It's unfortunate, really, since I really enjoyed hiking up the road earlier in the summer, before the heavy rains, since it was closed to motor traffic.

I also used to love going up to Louds Cabin...what a unique piece of history for our region! Honestly instead of closing down Jones Park, I think they should improve the trails and make Louds Cabin into a historic site with informative signs and everything. If only we had the money to fund a project like that! Oh well, one can dream.
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Re: Pikes Peak via N. Cheyenne Canyon/ Jones Park/ Lake Mora

Post by susanjoypaul »

Foxfulness wrote:Has anyone been able to connect from North Cheyenne Canyon to Barr Trail by connecting from Jones Park to Lake Moraine and then Windy Point? I've been interested in this route for years, and I know there was some desire to improve/develop trails for this route recently, but I'm not sure if it's possible to do this trek yet. Has anyone ever tried it? I think it was called the "missing link" trail.
We did a similar route in November 2006, for the Zebulon Pike Bicentennial, camping on top of Mount Rosa (near the same cave where he and his party slept back in 1806) the first night and in the forest (near the train stop - I can't recall the name of it at the moment) the second night, and then hiking past Lake Moraine and around Windy Point, and summiting Pikes on the third day. We did have to get permission from Colorado Springs Utilities. The Gazette sponsored us, so they took care of that.
Foxfulness wrote:Jim, thank you for the additional information! I forgot that they had closed high drive due to the flood damage. It's unfortunate, really, since I really enjoyed hiking up the road earlier in the summer, before the heavy rains, since it was closed to motor traffic.

I also used to love going up to Louds Cabin...what a unique piece of history for our region! Honestly instead of closing down Jones Park, I think they should improve the trails and make Louds Cabin into a historic site with informative signs and everything. If only we had the money to fund a project like that! Oh well, one can dream.
Yeah, thanks Jim, for the reminder about Jones Park. And I agree about Louds Cabin, too. Bit by bit, those sites are being destroyed - not by malice so much as just by pure ignorance of the historical significance. By the way, any word on when North Cheyenne Canyon will re-open? I've been out of the loop but hearing (from biker friends) that they've been making great progress with the road-building in that area.
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Jim Davies
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Re: Pikes Peak via N. Cheyenne Canyon/ Jones Park/ Lake Mora

Post by Jim Davies »

I've heard that reopening the canyon is close, but the weather has probably pushed it back. Upper Columbine trail will probably be closed until the Gold Camp Road repairs are finished, which might be "mid December" according to this.
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Re: Pikes Peak via N. Cheyenne Canyon/ Jones Park/ Lake Moraine

Post by bdloftin77 »

Foxfulness wrote: Sun Nov 24, 2013 5:45 pm Has anyone been able to connect from North Cheyenne Canyon to Barr Trail by connecting from Jones Park to Lake Moraine and then Windy Point? I've been interested in this route for years, and I know there was some desire to improve/develop trails for this route recently, but I'm not sure if it's possible to do this trek yet. Has anyone ever tried it? I think it was called the "missing link" trail.
I haven't taken this spur yet, but I've passed it a couple times when biking from the Jones Park trail to the Barr Trail. This sign specifies public, recreational access is available to a portion of Lake Moraine. Still might be some signs later near the lake about not continuing westward, but I doubt there'd be a huge fence and gate like there used to be. Would be a bushwhack to Windy Point, then talus walking to the summit. I'm not exactly sure of the historic route from Lake Moraine (Mystic Lake) to Windy Point, but there could be some old, overgrown trails heading up to Windy Point from here.
Lake Moraine Trail Spur
Lake Moraine Trail Spur
IMG_7672_c.jpg (206.5 KiB) Viewed 1851 times
enoki
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Re: Pikes Peak via N. Cheyenne Canyon/ Jones Park/ Lake Moraine

Post by enoki »

Apologies if I misunderstood, but it seems like Anton Krupicka just did a similar link-up to what you're suggesting last week.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5734361258

Hope this is useful.

Edit: Ha! Didn't realize this thread was 7 years old. Maybe still of interest to people.
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Re: Pikes Peak via N. Cheyenne Canyon/ Jones Park/ Lake Moraine

Post by bdloftin77 »

enoki wrote: Thu Aug 12, 2021 12:19 pm Apologies if I misunderstood, but it seems like Anton Krupicka just did a similar link-up to what you're suggesting last week.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5734361258

Hope this is useful.

Edit: Ha! Didn't realize this thread was 7 years old. Maybe still of interest to people.
Right? I thought Foxfulness (or others) might find the new legal spur to Lake Moraine interesting.
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Re: Pikes Peak via N. Cheyenne Canyon/ Jones Park/ Lake Moraine

Post by Foxfulness »

Hi there 👋! Just logged in and noticed these replies to my previous post.

I have since ran the whole Lake Moraine trail loop now that's officially opened.

Isn't it great all the trail improvements they're making in the Pikes Peak Region? Unbeatable!!
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