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The Incline was originally built in 1906 to move pipe sections up the side of Rocky Mountain. (Mount Manitou is actually the next peak to the northwest.) In 1925, the incline began to haul tourists up the mountain. |
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Postcards from the early days fix the summit at anywhere from 9000 to 10,500', but the actual summit was closer to 8600'. The track was almost one and a quarter miles long with a vertical rise of about 2000' and a maximum grade of 68%. |
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At the top, a park and summit house awaited visitors. The summit house, as I remember it, was pretty plain. A large room with coin operated binoculars looking back out to the east, a snack bar, a souvenir counter and a gum machine that dispensed peanuts to feed the chipmunks were the only things inside. Out back was the park with several picnic tables and a short trail or two. There was also a longer trail that led to Eagle's Nest, the summit of Rocky Mountain. We hiked this on a couple of occasions. |
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In 1990 a rock and mud slide damaged about 500' feet of the tracks and the owners (Oklahoma Publishing Co. based in Texas?) decided that the danger was too great to re-open, and shut it down permanantly. For a while, it served as a training trail for some crazy people that RUN up the old trackbed. But in 2000, the Pikes Peak Cog Railway owners asked that people stay off of the railbed. To see how things look now click here |