Sentinel Ridge (12,886), Sentinel Point (12,543), Devils Playground (13,058), Pikes Peak (14,109), & Grouse Mountain (9,851) by Brian Schultz Friday July 18, 2025

Sentinel Ridge, Sentinel Point, & Devils Playground:
Roundtrip mileage: 6.5 miles
Elevation gain: 1,650'
Start to finish: 5 hours 35 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

I scheduled these peaks long before Tim informed me that today was one of only a few days where the Pikes Peak toll road opens super early for the sunrise seekers. That was fortuitous timing as we wanted an early start to avoid possible weather issues. Tim reserved our toll road ticket ($18.00/person plus $2.00/vehicle) before my arrival in Colorado.

After checking in at the guard station we drove 16 miles to the spacious Devils Playground parking lot and began at 6:45 AM. Under sunny clear skies, we diverted past the Devils Playground, which we would summit on our return, and headed over to Sentinel Ridge, an unranked 12er right on the way to Sentinel Point. Our route today would keep us above 12,000 feet with essentially no protection from any inclement weather so we were thankful for the terrific weather. After reaching the Sentinel Ridge summit, we headed down and over to Sentinel Point.

We hiked over mostly tundra until reaching the base of the summit (photo 1, photo 2). Then it was scrambling over rocks and boulders to the two highest points. The first highpoint had a bit of sketchy scrambling to the top and from there the other one looked higher. We had to drop down and around to get to the next one which indeed appeared to be the higher point. Once off the summit and back to the tundra, we came upon two women who asked about getting to the summit. We directed them but they didn't show much interest in going up.

An easy hike over the tundra brought us back to Sentinel Ridge and from there we shortcutted up to Devils Playground, instead of going around it to approach from the parking lot. This summit is a short and easy hike and lots of people were on it when we arrived, including families with young kids. We were back to my truck at 12:20.

Pikes Peak:
We thought about hiking to the summit from Devils Playground but opted to drive three more miles to the top. It's really changed since I climbed it from the Crags Campground 28 years ago. Millions of dollars were spent to upgrade everything on the summit, especially the visitor center (photo 1, photo 2) and observation overlooks. It's so busy with tourists that a parking attendant has to direct where to park. We found the summit marker but walked around to other candidate highpoints before leaving.

Grouse Mountain:
Roundtrip mileage: 0.8 miles
Elevation gain: ~175'
Start to finish: 23 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

We had time to get another peak in so we drove US 24 back to the town of Divide and south on Hwy 67 to Mueller State Park. This State Park is large and has many camp areas and trails. Tim had a Parks Pass which avoided the daily fee and we were given a helpful map at the visitor center. We drove to the Grouse Mtn trailhead, which is at the end of the road past all the camp areas, and began at 3:10 PM. Skies were threatening but this is a short hike and we weren't concerned. It only took ten minutes to get to the top on an excellent trail. Several large rocks could be deemed the highpoint so we tagged them and headed back down. As soon as we reached Tim's truck, it began raining. This was a nice add-on peak to complete the day.