Hitching a Ride on Pikes Peak

[mannaman777]

I would not recommend trying to hitch a ride down with anyone.I had one of the worst experiences of my life, and lost some of my faith in humanity's goodness, with most of the jerk tourists up there. I hiked all day up the mountain and was too slowed down by exhaustion near the top (which caused me to miss my pre-paid train ride down). So I was forced to try and hitchhike down. 99% of the people there blew me off and didn't care. They made 2 announcements on the intercom and still no responses. One guy acted like he didn't know what I was talking about and walked off. I was tired, exhausted, and it was getting closer to sundown where everything is closing up there and I was stuck there. Finally one tourist family (from Chicago), after me asking them for a ride and them blowing me off, were prodded by the staff at the station and they finally decided to give me a ride to the bottom and drop me off where a taxi could pick me up. I barely got reception and the first taxi didn't show up. But a 2nd taxi finally came and I made it out of there. But when you're tired and sore, the last thing you want is plead with a bunch of tourists who drove up in their nice SUV's and can't be 'inconvenienced' by letting you sit a spare seat on the way down. Maybe you would have better luck than me. But I would recommend taking the Tram down if you can make it. Or knowing your hiking limits before attempting this long hike.
Chad

[Trotter]

I would not recommend trying to hitch a ride down with anyone.I had one of the worst experiences of my life, and lost some of my faith in humanity's goodness, with most of the jerk tourists up there. I hiked all day up the mountain and was too slowed down by exhaustion near the top (which caused me to miss my pre-paid train ride down). So I was forced to try and hitchhike down. 99% of the people there blew me off and didn't care. They made 2 announcements on the intercom and still no responses. One guy acted like he didn't know what I was talking about and walked off. I was tired, exhausted, and it was getting closer to sundown where everything is closing up there and I was stuck there. Finally one tourist family (from Chicago), after me asking them for a ride and them blowing me off, were prodded by the staff at the station and they finally decided to give me a ride to the bottom and drop me off where a taxi could pick me up. I barely got reception and the first taxi didn't show up. But a 2nd taxi finally came and I made it out of there. But when you're tired and sore, the last thing you want is plead with a bunch of tourists who drove up in their nice SUV's and can't be 'inconvenienced' by letting you sit a spare seat on the way down. Maybe you would have better luck than me. But I would recommend taking the Tram down if you can make it. Or knowing your hiking limits before attempting this long hike.
Chad

does the train not let you buy a different timed ticket at the top?

[KentonB]

Wait a minute... isn't climbing to the top only HALF the fun???

[d_baker]

Wait a minute... isn't climbing to the top only HALF the fun???

Reviving a 5yr old thread is more fun.

[KentonB]

Reviving a 5yr old thread is more fun.

While I did not perform the resurrection, I'm happy to feed it now that it's alive!

[d_baker]

I did not perform the resurrection

Yeah I know, but I did find it interesting that the person that did just joined today and this was the first post! It's too bad he had that kind of experience, but he still sounds bitter over it.

I've hitched a ride once or twice I think, and did so by just walking around the parking lot asking for rides. Once was because a storm was starting to brew and we got dropped off at Elk Park trail to hike back to Barr Camp. The other time was after climbing one of the couloirs and we got dropped off at our car parked at a pullout near Rumdoodle Ridge.

[Hoot]

I've hitched a ride down about a dozen times in the summer when lots of tourists are on the summit. I just stick out my thumb at the parking lot exit and have never had a problem getting a ride. Got a ride down with Matt Carpenter once. I usually play tour guide on the way down. Some of the kind folks who have driven me down have even refused payment, which they eventually found in their back seat .

[jrs1965]

I would not recommend trying to hitch a ride down with anyone.I had one of the worst experiences of my life, and lost some of my faith in humanity's goodness, with most of the jerk tourists up there. I hiked all day up the mountain and was too slowed down by exhaustion near the top (which caused me to miss my pre-paid train ride down). So I was forced to try and hitchhike down. 99% of the people there blew me off and didn't care. They made 2 announcements on the intercom and still no responses. One guy acted like he didn't know what I was talking about and walked off. I was tired, exhausted, and it was getting closer to sundown where everything is closing up there and I was stuck there. Finally one tourist family (from Chicago), after me asking them for a ride and them blowing me off, were prodded by the staff at the station and they finally decided to give me a ride to the bottom and drop me off where a taxi could pick me up. I barely got reception and the first taxi didn't show up. But a 2nd taxi finally came and I made it out of there. But when you're tired and sore, the last thing you want is plead with a bunch of tourists who drove up in their nice SUV's and can't be 'inconvenienced' by letting you sit a spare seat on the way down. Maybe you would have better luck than me. But I would recommend taking the Tram down if you can make it. Or knowing your hiking limits before attempting this long hike.
Chad

does the train not let you buy a different timed ticket at the top?

I've hitched a ride down four times now and have never had a problem finding a lift. (Old people usually say yes like 99% of the time) However, I definitely prefer taking the cog-train down. If you make reservations on anything but the first or last train you have to pay full fare to ride down. I've ridden the train down a couple of times with no reservation. Each rail car has like two fold down jump seats that they never fill going up. All you have to do is give the conductor your credit card to hold once the train is done unloading at the summit. When the train gets back down to Manitou the conductor hands your credit card to a ticket agent to run the card. I usually save doing Barr trail for some random weekend in the fall when I wake up at 9 AM and decide to hike. Less crowds and heat in the fall and mid summer I've seen where probably a dozen hikers have been standing around hoping to get on the next train down to Manitou...