lazuras_dc said:
So I've heard Pike's is not a "real" 14'er because you can drive to the top.
Are there trails to hike up too from different points?
At what elevation do you need to start for it to be considered a "legit" 14'er?
There are many trails to the top. On the Springs side your have the obvious Barr Trail, which is the normal route. Something like 13 miles and climbs 7500 feet. If you climb via Barr no one will say you haven't done a real 14er. You can also link a bunch of others, for example missing link joins the Almagre/Kineo mountain area to the elk park area. If you were to climb Captain Jacks to Kineo, to Jones, to Almagre, to Missing Link, to Elk Park or Barr for the finish and someone said you didn't climb a real 14er then they are a f'ing idiot. That would be 26 or so miles and 8500 feet up. I think that qualifies.
There are other routes out of Manitou/Green Mountain and some that come in on the southern (coming out of South Shore Rec area) and western faces (Devil's Backbone). All of these are very legit hikes/climbs.
Last there are less spoken of routes that involve real climbing and emerge out of the rock faces below the summit. I know people who have climbed out of the bottomless pit route. That is seriously legit 60% range for extended periods at 12k feet.
As a comparison, Bierstadt is 3500 feet up over about 5 miles. How can people say Bierstadt is legit and Pikes isn't? My advice is to not listen to these people. If you drive to the top or take the train then it doesn't count. If you hike it does.