Hike Colorado’s Raspberry Mountain Near Colorado Springs

One of my favorite parts about living in Colorado Springs is my close proximity to the mountains!! Nothing beats leaving a hot summer day in the Springs behind to drive up for a hike in the cool mountain air.  There are a lot of hiking trails close to Colorado Springs, but my favorite area to go hiking at is near Mueller State Park in Divide.

Now don’t get me wrong, Mueller State Park has some beautiful scenery and awesome hikes… however there are two trails across the highway from it that are literally breathtaking!! One is the Crags Trail, and the other is Raspberry Mountain!

Raspberry Mountain trail is a seriously beautiful hike that features an amazing view of Pikes Peak and its surrounding reservoirs, as well as scenic vistas, dense forests, a seasonal creek, and a meadow that screams “The Hills Are Alive”.

If you live in the Springs or if you are visiting the Springs, I would definitely make time for either the Crags Trail or Raspberry Mountain! Believe me when I say you won’t regret it!!  I know it’ll be hard to choose between the two if you are just visiting, so I have written a post highlighting Crags Trail as well to help you choose between the two if you have limited time!

(Click here to see other hikes in the Divide/Cripple Creek area!)

So without further ado, here all the info you need to know to hike Raspberry Mountain!

Directions: From Colorado Springs – Take Hwy 24W toward Divide.  Stay on Hwy 24W until you get to Divide (your turn-off will be where Venture Food Store is).  Turn left at CO-67, which will direct you toward Cripple Creek. Just past the entrance to Mueller State Park, there will be a sign for the Crags Campground on your left, which is Teller County Rd 62.  Turn left and follow the signs for the Crags.  You will turn right when you see the Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp, and you will feel like you’re driving through their property (which you are) but don’t let that deter you because National Forest land is coming up soon.  Keep following the road and you will see a small dirt parking lot on your left with signs for Raspberry Mountain. If you see parking for the Crags trailhead then you have gone too far.

Restrooms: No.  Would advise going at a gas station in Divide.

Distance: It’s hard to find an exact distance, but I would agree with the sites that said roughly a 5-mile hike roundtrip to the top of the mountain.

Difficulty: Moderate to hard

Pets OK: Yes on a leash

Crowds: Heavy on a weekend, low to moderate in the middle of the week. Heavy during the fall colors.

Fees/Permits: none

Tips:

• Raspberry Mountain is accessed via the Ring the Peak trail.  The trail has switchbacks in the beginning… y’know, just to get your heart rate up and stuff, but then it levels out pretty nicely for a good portion of the hike.  There are two turns on the trail that I can remember.  The first one comes right after you cross the teepee and then a little creek.  It will be hard to miss because it dead ends into a turn.  Take the right and you’ll almost immediately head into the awesome meadow.  Shortly after the meadow you enter the forest again and start to ascend.  This ascent will come to another dead end.  Make sure you go left at the second dead end. The right will continue the Ring the Peak trail, but access to Raspberry Mountain is to the left. It’s at this point that the hike becomes strenuous and steep.
• The trail occasionally has a fallen log across it, just cross it and keep going!! The trail is a little sketch once you get off the Ring the Peak trail and once you reach the rocky area close to the summit.  Just keep going up skirting the rocks to the left, the trail does get better again toward the end.
• There is a small amount of scrambling to get on top of the rocks at the summit, but we had my daughter who was 8 months old at the time in her carrier and we made it up fine.
• Make sure you are prepped for this hike, especially for the possibility of afternoon showers in the summer.
• The air cools off considerably with rain so bringing layers isn’t a bad idea!
• This trail is pretty well shaded for the majority of the trail.
• Make sure you wear good shoes! Once you turn left at the dead end the next small stretch has pretty loose gravel.
• Bring lots of water and if you aren’t from around here definitely don’t underestimate the elevation of this hike!
• If visiting in the winter you may need a high clearance or AWD/4WD.  If visiting in the summer our Nissan made it on the dirt road with zero problems.
• Please be aware of your surrounding as there is wildlife in the area!!!! There are plenty of reports of cat activity so be vigilant and be prepared.

We were really digging the beautiful dense forests!

The above picture is as narrow as the trail gets.  Most of the trail was wider than this.

Loved the moss covered ground 🙂

We hiked this in July, and you can see it was pretty green and lush at this time! For Colorado anyways.

This is the second hike off this highway in Divide where someone built a teepee! This one wasn’t quite as big as the one on the Horsethief Falls trail, but it’s still a cool sight to see that’s right off the trail!

So the above picture and the next two pictures are of the magical meadow that appears right after the first turn of the hike.

We saw a fair amount of wildflowers while hiking this in July!

Besides the summit, the meadow was my favorite part of the hike!

As mentioned in the “tips” section, the markings for the trail after the second turn off aren’t great, but they are present.

I had to hike this trail in its entirety over two visits.  The first visit it started raining and thundering pretty good.  We were close to the summit (although we didn’t know that), but since I had my 8 month old with me I figured we better play it safe and head back to the car.  The above picture was as far as we got the first time.

This picture was from my second hike at the summit! Unfortunately, last summer Colorado (and many other parts of the US) saw lots of wildfires, and you can tell from the summit pics here that there was smoke in the air.  I look forward to hiking it sometime on a clear day! Here’s a video of the 360 views!

360 views made the uphill hike at the end worth it!

Ahhhh Pikes Peak – America’s Mountain!!

We all were really impressed with this hike and I definitely recommend it to any who are in the area!! It can be strenuous at times but the payoff is well worth the effort!

Don’t forget to leave me a comment and let me know what you think!! Have you hiked this trail?? Did you like it?? Is there a different one I need to check out?? I wanna know!

Until next time!