Grays and Torreys

So, I started hiking the Barr Trail. Unfortunately, while I had gotten into decent shape that summer, making it to Barr Camp a number of times, and as far as the treeline before turning back due to weather, I injured my knee and didn't recover in time to make an attempt to finish Pikes that year. In 2000, I moved to Denver, and didn't make any attempts at all because I was commuting to Maryland to work on a contract that summer, and so didn't have the time (or acclimatization or endurance) to make a credible attempt to climb anything.

Anyway, in 2001 I was back in Denver and back in decent shape. And so I finally bagged my first fourteener.

I learned a few things on this hike. First, I wasn't in as good a shape as I'd hoped. These mountains are fairly "easy," and they hurt more than they should have. I bonked near the top somewhere (I made it anyway -- I have a bad habit of doing more than I should, or even can. I really shouldn't have gone for Torreys, but I was so close...)

Second, my knee was not in shape for this. At the time I thought I should have brought a knee brace (it turned out that it doesn't help the type of injury I had), and I should have used the walking poles the whole way, not just on the way down, as I think the actual injury was on the way up (even if I didn't notice it until the descent). It wasn't a bad injury -- within a few days the knee was fine -- but it did slow me down an awful lot that day.

Third -- I never realized that the Honda Civic hatchback was such an accomplished off-road vehicle. Either that, or most SUVs are made out of china or something. The road up to the trailhead is a nasty dirt road with huge potholes, endless ruts, and tons of big sharp rocks embedded in it, and I passed a bunch of SUVs bouncing along that road. My car (and tires) survived -- I got home okay, and all the pieces were still attached. I guess I need a bumper sticker "Built Honda Tough."

Interestingly enough, almost half the cars at the trailhead were ordinary passenger cars (including one Cadillac!), so it's doable. I guess they probably went slower than I did, though. On the other hand, maybe I should try to find a cheap used truck or something. I'm just plain crazy -- Jared thought I was nuts for driving that road in any vehicle. Anyway, I'd consider the road passable for passenger cars, if barely.

We got started later than I'd hoped -- a third person bowed out at the last minute, and I'd picked a later starting time for him. I don't blame him, he had good reason, but it would have been nice to have gotten to the trailhead closer to dawn than 7:15.

It was a pretty warm day (for the most part -- it was pretty cold for shorts at the trailhead with the morning shade and all, but we warmed up quickly once we got moving). On the way up, my companion decided that July was a really good time to make snowballs, so I made one too, officially making my first snowball in July. Unfortunately, there wasn't really enough snow to glissade down easily. There was one couloir that might have been a decent candidate, but getting to it involved some off-trail hiking (when you're on the face, it's hard to see exactly where to go), and I wasn't feeling ambitious with my knee (and general state of bonkage). It would have been really cool to do this hike about a month earlier.

The overall route is fairly straightforward. Hike up Grays (with a bit of switchbacking at the top), then hike down a ways and cross the saddle to Torreys (by that point, I was taking a great deal of comfort in the fact that Torreys was three feet shorter than Grays). When you're done taking pictures, hike back down the saddle to the Grays Peak trail, and back home you go. Easy -- although, I got to admit that it looked intimidating when you made it up to the base. It was easier than it looked, though.

A couple of light planes (looked like the aerobatic type) buzzed us at the top, which was cool. Wish I'd gotten my camera out quick enough to take a picture.

There were a ton of people out there, of course. These are about the most popular fourteeners in Colorado -- they're fairly easy and close to Denver. I was calling it "Grays Freeway" most of the day, and by the end, I felt like a semi with its hazards on, limping along on my bad knee and all. But what the heck, I made it.

Grays Peak

Grays (to the left) and Torreys

Torreys from the summit of Grays

Stevens Gulch, where we started

Me, on top of Grays

Jared, on top of Grays

Grays from the summit of Torreys

Me, on top of Torreys

Looking back to the top of Torreys from the saddle