Grays Peak Trip Report 08/01/2008

Peak(s):	Grays Peak - 14,275 feet
Date Posted:	08/01/2008
Date Climbed:	07/28/2008
Author:	Limey

Grays Peak - with the masses
I already posted this in a forum thread but I would like to keep track of all my hikes so here it is official. So I decided to stick on some moleskin and hike up my second fourteener mountain today. Only 51 more to go and I am gonna round that off to 50 tomorrow, I am going back up to do Torreys as I had to come down coz the weather turned bad. One minute its sunny and hot as hell, the next we are getting pelted with hail The road to the trailhead is 3 miles long and I never got out of first gear. What a nightmare that was! It is strongly suggested that you have 4x4 with good ground clearance but my Subaru is AWD and I read on here that a honda civic made it to the top so I went for it. When I got up there I had a few shouts of praise from the pretty much full parking lot crowd. It wasn't exactly disney world but I was amazed at how many people were up there on a Monday morning. So gone were my fears of not packing heat because of the recent mountain lion attacks, I am sure I could outrun some of these folk. I started walking up with a group (about 9am) but soon enough everyone was spread out. I got chatting with a cool girl named Dusty from Castle Rock and it made the ascent more enjoyable. It also helps when ya need someone to take your picture I have only ever done one other 14er, Quandary back Oct 07 with some friends and on that trip we came across some mountain goats. Well low and behold today I had the same pleasure. The male goat just strutted right past us with a get out of my way look but the baby and momma took the long way around us. As we were getting closer to the top there was a group of about 15 people coming down and I am glad they did as there wasn't much room up there. I found a rock to plonk down on and ate lunch, then this older gentleman came up with two friends. I asked him how old he was and he told me, 79 years old!!! He was from Colorado and had been climbing all his life. He had two friend's with him, both in their 60's and they had climbed Torreys first which is 14,267ft and then they came across the ridge to do two 14ers in one day! It was their first time doing a 14er. Well that spurned me on to nip across to Torreys myself as its only another hour hike but then suddenly out of nowhere a storm started approaching and once we heard the thunder, everyone decided to start making a move back down the mountain (noon). Pretty much got soaked on the way down but we all made it safely. Looking forward to tomorrow Rest of pics here... http://picasaweb.google.com/Limeydc/GraysPeak Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Grays Peak - with the masses

I already posted this in a forum thread but I would like to keep track of all my hikes so here it is official.
So I decided to stick on some moleskin and hike up my second fourteener mountain today. Only 51 more to go and I am gonna round that off to 50 tomorrow, I am going back up to do Torreys as I had to come down coz the weather turned bad. One minute its sunny and hot as hell, the next we are getting pelted with hail
The road to the trailhead is 3 miles long and I never got out of first gear. What a nightmare that was! It is strongly suggested that you have 4x4 with good ground clearance but my Subaru is AWD and I read on here that a honda civic made it to the top so I went for it. When I got up there I had a few shouts of praise from the pretty much full parking lot crowd. It wasn't exactly disney world but I was amazed at how many people were up there on a Monday morning. So gone were my fears of not packing heat because of the recent mountain lion attacks, I am sure I could outrun some of these folk. I started walking up with a group (about 9am) but soon enough everyone was spread out. I got chatting with a cool girl named Dusty from Castle Rock and it made the ascent more enjoyable. It also helps when ya need someone to take your picture I have only ever done one other 14er, Quandary back Oct 07 with some friends and on that trip we came across some mountain goats. Well low and behold today I had the same pleasure. The male goat just strutted right past us with a get out of my way look but the baby and momma took the long way around us. As we were getting closer to the top there was a group of about 15 people coming down and I am glad they did as there wasn't much room up there. I found a rock to plonk down on and ate lunch, then this older gentleman came up with two friends. I asked him how old he was and he told me, 79 years old!!! He was from Colorado and had been climbing all his life. He had two friend's with him, both in their 60's and they had climbed Torreys first which is 14,267ft and then they came across the ridge to do two 14ers in one day! It was their first time doing a 14er. Well that spurned me on to nip across to Torreys myself as its only another hour hike but then suddenly out of nowhere a storm started approaching and once we heard the thunder, everyone decided to start making a move back down the mountain (noon). Pretty much got soaked on the way down but we all made it safely.
Looking forward to tomorrow
Rest of pics here... http://picasaweb.google.com/Limeydc/GraysPeak

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

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