Links:
Friends of the Peak’s link to Ring the Peak, which includes maps and descriptions of the ten main access points.

Directions:
There are many ways to access the trail segments. For example, Ring the Peak overlaps the Intemann Trail and the Palmer/Red Rocks loop, so you can begin at those trailheads. For Palmer/Red Rocks access, follow the directions to the Intemann Section 16 trailhead in the Intemann Trail article and follow the trail for about half a mile, where there will be a marked fork with Ring the Peak and the Palmer/Red Rocks loop branching to the left. Visit the link above for a more thorough list of access points.

History/Description:
The Ring the Peak trail system is a large project still in progress. As the name suggests, the trail will eventually form a loop around Pikes Peak. The vast majority has been completed, granting us long stretches of trail in beautifully remote areas of the foothills. While it is not yet continuous, the total length is about 63 miles. Often, the trail coincides with other trails.

The trail from “Raspberry to Horsethief” forms the smallest section at 3.6 miles, while the others are no shorter than five miles each and go up to nearly ten. These substantial trails make it easy to take off into the woods and hike for as long as you’d like without running into many roads or neighborhoods in most cases (the Intemann section being one of the exceptions). They do make for rather long loops, however, so you may want to either turn around part way through or arrange a car shuttle.

Certain parts of the trail system still lack adequate signage, but when you see a marker, the color facing you signifies the direction you are going—brownish red indicates clockwise and green indicates counterclockwise around the peak.

-All photographs in this article are by Tabitha Carroll