Another siding comes up, Mountain View, which is the half-way point on the journey. At about the 5 mile point, the grade steepens again. Now it begins climbing in earnest. It is estimated that some trees on Pikes Peak are almost 2000 years old. Once above timberline, the views become more expansive.
Timberline is the area where trees stop growing.
Here passengers frequently see Bighorn sheep and yellow-bellied marmots. The round trip lasts 3 hours and 10 minutes. The first third of the trip is along Ruxton Creek in Englemann Canyon. Here the steep track follows a cascading stream through dense stands of Englemann spruce, Colorado blue spruce, as well as Ponderosa pine trees. The track is built next to the stream and there are boulder fields on both sides of the train.