What possesses us humans to climb up insane inclines to the top of mountains? The view? The rush? The climb? Personally for me, it’s the accomplishment! That feeling of pure “I made it!!!”. And yes, the climb is generally brutal. But making it to the top is so worth it!
I’ve done two of these inclines: Koko Head in Oahu, Hawaii and the Manitou Incline in Manitou Springs, Colorado. After doing both, I figured I’d compare the two journeys.
Koko Head – Oahu, HI
A few years ago, my brother was in the military and stationed in Oahu, Hawaii. Pretty cool, eh?! My family and I were lucky enough to visit him…. Twice! Once in 2012 and once in 2013. The second time, my parents even let me bring my then boyfriend (now husband, Marcus)! **Thanks Mom & Dad!!** We hiked Diamond Head, which is a pretty touristy hike, but nonetheless gorgeous at the top! But overall an easy hike. I’m not sure who in my family had heard of Koko Head, but we decided to hike that one next.
Here’s some background on Koko Head. The military actually built a bunker on the top of Koko Head during WWII. They installed railroad ties for the tram to bring supplies to the lookout bunker at the top. Koko Head contains 1,048 railroad tie “steps” to get to the top, about 1.5 miles long, and an elevation gain of about 1,000 ft.
I’ve actually been lucky enough to hike Koko Head twice, once on each of our Hawaii trips. But since the two hikes kind of blend together for me, I’ll just talk about my overall Koko Head experience.
When you’re at the base of the hike looking up, I felt a mix of “wow” and “that doesn’t look that hard!” As I mentioned the steps are just large railroad ties, originally installed during WWII. So the steps are getting pretty worn, and the distance between each tie is pretty significant. The weather throughout the years has also shifted the ties. That was probably one of the most difficult things for me personally, being short.
The trail starts out pretty moderately, then starts getting very vertical near the top. We took several breaks! I know Marcus probably didn’t need to stop as much as I did, but thanks for being a team player, honey! Since it’s been so long, I don’t know exactly how long it took us to reach the top. Probably 45 minutes to an hour?? It’s definitely not easy by any means! Those big, steep steps all the way to the top are pretty killer! But the view was completely worth it, both times!
We hung out at the top for a few minutes, reveled in our accomplishment. Took in the beautiful Hawaiian sights. Snapped a few pictures. At the top, there are still several remnants of the bunker that was once there as well as some killer views! Then it’s back down those 1,048 railroad ties you go!
Naturally, it’s way faster going down than it was climbing up. But the big thing you have to worry about on the way down is tripping and falling on the ties. So be just as careful, if not more so, coming down as you do going up. You also have to watch out for people coming up the incline. It gets a little tricky when the ties are pretty far apart. You’ll often see some people almost crawling down when it gets too difficult or too far between ties. And when you reach the bottom, congratulate yourself for a job well done with a Hawaiian Shave Ice!
Manitou Incline – Manitou Springs, CO
Ever since hearing about the incline from my sister-in-law, I knew we had to do it! I mean we already hiked Koko Head, so how hard could it be? I just laugh at myself now for thinking that. We just recently hiked the incline at the beginning of September, amid a pandemic. The incline was actually closed for several months due to the pandemic and just reopened in August. Just note, you do need to make a reservation to hike the Manitou Incline right now as they are trying to limit the number of people on it at once. It’s free on the website.
Somewhat similar to Koko Head, the railroad ties were installed on the Manitou Incline to bring supplies up to Pikes Peak. That however quickly changed into a tourist attraction carrying tourists up the mountain. In 1990, the railway closed. Unlike Koko Head that still has the rails on the path, the rails for the incline were removed. Unfortunately, the incline land wasn’t public property and was actually owned by three different companies, so hiking up was illegal. But that apparently didn’t stop everyone. Luckily, they finally came to an agreement in 2013 granting the public access to hike the Manitou Incline.
There is free parking in Manitou Springs at the Hiawatha Gardens. Although it’s free, you still need to print a ticket at the kiosk to show to the staff at the base of the incline. After parking, you can then take a free city bus to the incline. The bus stop is right in front of the Hiawatha Gardens building. The ride to the incline is only a few minutes. We had to show our reservations and parking ticket at the bottom of the incline before we were able to climb. Then up we went!
Fun fact: The number of steps on the Manitou Incline sometimes changes due to maintenance. If you look it up, you’ll find that there are 2,744 steps. However, when you reach the top, you’ll see it labeled as 2,768. The incline is .88 mile long with an elevation gain of about 2,000 ft. It’s no easy hike!
The incline starts out pretty moderately. So you’re thinking, “okay, it’s not so bad!”. Then it gets worse! A fun way to keep track of where you are on the incline are the little silver plates on the bottom right side of the steps that will show you where you are every hundred steps. Once the trail starts to really slant upwards, it gets drastically more difficult. We stopped many, many times on the way up. To be fair, the altitude is killer!! Seriously, that’s the worst part. My asthma was kind of kicking my butt too and since we’ve had so many fires lately, the air quality wasn’t the best either.
Beware of the false summit! Luckily, we knew it was coming so we didn’t get excited when we saw we were close. It’s probably about ¾ up the trail, but there is more to go! It starts getting really, really steep near the top, almost vertical! Yes, I’m exaggerating a little bit, but you get my point! We probably stopped every 20 – 50 steps as we got near the top. That’s when the altitude is the worst, your butt and calves start really feeling it from climbing for so long and you’re just all around tired!
But once you reach the top, it is a feeling of pure accomplishment! “I did it! I’m alive! I think I need to sit down for a second and catch my breath before I pass out.” Aside from the rush of just reaching the summit, the view is pretty great too! Unfortunately, we didn’t want to stay too long because the climb took a bit longer than expected. We knew we still had to get down the mountain and didn’t want to leave the dogs for too long home alone. But we did take a few minutes to breathe it all in.
Unlike Koko Head, you’re not supposed to go back down the stairs, especially due to pandemic guidelines. I was kind of relieved. Instead there is a trail that takes you back down another side of the mountain, Barr Trail. It’s about 4 miles long, but it’s fairly easy after the climb. And it’s all downhill! Whoop! Once you reach the bottom of the trail, hop back on the bus and ride back to your car.
Koko Head vs. Manitou Incline
Overall, I’m pretty confident in saying the Manitou Incline was harder than Koko Head. Not to say Koko Head was easy, but there are more elements going against you at the incline.
Altitude for one. The altitude at the top of Koko Head is about 1,200 ft. Whereas the altitude at the Manitou Incline is about 8,500 ft. That’s over a 7,000 ft elevation difference! And trust me you feel it!
The elevation gain over the course of each incline is another difference. For Koko Head, you gain about 1,000 ft in about 1.5 miles. For the incline, you gain about 2,000 ft in less than 1 mile.
I will say that the Manitou Incline is much better maintained than Koko Head. Koko Head for one, still had the rails on the trail which add a little more difficulty. The ties at Koko Head are more worn down than at Manitou and there seems to be much larger gaps in between these ties as opposed to Manitou.
Even though the view at Manitou Incline is spectacular, it’s pretty dang hard to beat the view of Hawaii and that gorgeous blue ocean. So as far as which one I enjoyed more, Koko Head all the way!
Koko Head was hard. Manitou Incline was harder. Would I hike both again? I’d hike Koko Head again in a heartbeat. I mean I’ve already done it twice! Manitou Incline…. I want to say yes. I would like to hike it again (but not anytime soon!) and try to improve our time. Maybe even train a little for it. We’ll see. Luckily for me, it’s just a couple hours away.
These are all just my opinions from my personal experience. I dare you you climb both and see for yourself which one you enjoyed more and which one you thought was harder.