Devils Playground Trail

Devils Playground is one of two primary hiking trails to the summit of Pikes Peak. The Devils Playground Trail offers a shorter and less crowded route compared to Barr Trail, providing hikers with stunning views of the mountain ranges to the west. The original alignment of this summit route was deteriorating rapidly. In late 2018, the Pikes Peak Ranger District completed an environmental analysis of the area through the NEPA process. Botanical and archaeological surveys confirmed that the new trail would not have deleterious impacts on the area's ecology, paving the way for construction of a reroute of the Devils Playground Trail.

In 2019, RMFI broke ground on the new Devils Playground Trail, which spans approximately 7 miles and gains 4,300 feet in elevation through Pike National Forest. The trail begins at the Crags Trailhead near Divide, CO, and terminates at the summit of Pikes Peak at an elevation of 14,115 feet. RMFI is a little over halfway through the project and is now entering the alpine section of the new trail, with several seasons of work still ahead. The focus of this new trail is long-term sustainability, using trail-building methods designed to provide a high-quality user experience. The trail is being constructed to resist erosion through thoughtful and intentional design that effectively sheds water.

All of RMFI’s work on Devils Playground is done by hand—no machinery has been used. All rock, timber, and soil have been moved by RMFI crew members, youth corps members, and volunteers. Opportunities to get involved with the Devils Playground project typically begin in June with a pack-in, followed by trail workdays, overnight camping, and a pack-out at the end of the season in September.

So far, we have hosted over 80 volunteer days, engaged more than 400 community volunteers, and welcomed 235 youth corps members to help build the new Devils Playground Trail. Most notably, over 20,000 hours of RMFI boots-on-the-ground staff time have been dedicated to this project!

Significant data from 2023 shows that Colorado’s 14ers have a major economic impact on the state, with over $70.5 million directly attributable to hiking these iconic peaks. Pikes Peak—one of the most visited mountains in the world—welcomes over 1 million visitors annually. RMFI is honored to create and maintain sustainable recreation opportunities on the Pikes Peak massif for all users.