This Colorado Trail With Unmatched Beauty Is Considered America's Most Difficult Hike

Some hikes you do despite the difficulty level for the immersive experience of being one with nature, like Hawaii's iconic Kalalau Trail. Others you do because the views simply cannot be beat – the Grand Canyon's Bright Angel Trail comes to mind. But Colorado's Manitou Incline? This is a trail you do because it is so difficult.

Sure, the views at the top are sweeping and majestic — this is the Colorado Rockies, after all — but climbing this mega-steep set of stairs built of railroad ties that rise nearly 2,000 feet in less than a mile is all about challenging yourself. This is one way to get a taste of what world-class athletes endure on the way to setting records and bagging trophies. So go ahead and dare to test your mettle, even if you won't win a medal.

This trail, which started as a cable rail line for shuttling building supplies up the flank of Pike's Peak, is legendary, attracting serious athletes from around the globe who want to train at altitude. The trailhead, in the town of Manitou Springs, outside of Colorado Springs, sits at over 6,500 feet, so the air is thin, and if you've just arrived in town, you should take a day or two to acclimate before attempting what locals simply call "the Incline." It's been called the most difficult hike in America, and you'll need true grit to tackle it.

You'll need to make a free reservation on the Colorado Springs city website to climb the Manitou Incline. (Reports indicate that some hikers make the climb without a reservation as there are not always park staff checking on site, but better safe than sorry!) Parking is scarce and expensive, with a shuttle from the Hiawatha Gardens Parking Lot being your best bet. When you get to the trailhead, you'll check in with park staff and off you go. Bring water. Lots and lots of water.

The Incline's 2,768 steps average 45 degrees, but sometimes become almost ladder-like at 68 degrees. The terrain isn't technically difficult, but the strenuous nature of this hike means that firefighters are called out for rescues every week. The city of Manitou Springs' website actually urges people not to hike in flip-flops and to be sure you're carrying adequate water because so many ill-prepared hikers make these mistakes.

If you do overestimate your stamina, "bail out" side trails have been added to the incline, allowing you to tap out and traverse over to the Barr Trail, a kinder, gentler slope that also goes all the way to the top of Pike's Peak. You'll descend on the Barr Trail if you finish the Incline, too, as the Manitou is one-way only, and that's up. Finally, you can catch your breath and appreciate the sweeping views of Colorado Springs, the rock formations of Garden of the Gods, and Pike's Peak itself.

This trail doesn't just wipe you out; it psychs you out. There's a false summit, so the "top" you see and climb toward from the bottom is just a bump in the road, with hundreds more stairs coming into view once you reach it. Most fit climbers reach the summit in less than an hour, although some take two.

Swiss skier and mountaineer Remi Bonnet set the record in 2023 with a 17-minute ascent. Bonnet's sport is skimo — climbing mountains and skiing down them — and he trains by climbing 500,000 feet per year, or almost 100 miles of elevation. In case you were wondering the kind of training it takes to set a record here. Even world-class athletes find this hike challenging. "It's not running," Olympic wrestling gold medalist Rulon Gardner told the New York Times of his ascent. "It's not walking. It's surviving."

Still, in addition to the athletes at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, aka America's Olympic City, who have long used the Incline as a proving ground, 250,000 mere mortals attempt the incline every year, so if you think you can make it, by all means strap on that Camelbak and give it a go. The reward for reaching the top of the incline is a tremendous view (pictured), although you may be too doubled over in pain to take it all in for a hot minute.