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Grays & Torreys are a pair of 14'ers that have been on my bucket list for a while now. First, they are close to Denver and easy to get to, and second, I'm trying to knock out the Front Range and move on. We had a new member of the hiking team that joined us this year-my new son-in-law. He's not one for exposure or high places, but somehow we got him convinced to give it a try, and he did great. The main parking area at the trailhead at 0500 had a few spots left, and we snagged one with our jeep. It's a rough ride up that road for sure, but it's good for waking you up for the journey ahead.
Alpenglow on the peaks
Sunrise on the willows
At the beginning of the trailhead, there is a privy/toilet there just in case before you start off on the trail. We then crossed the foot-bridge while it was still a bit dark with headlights on just for about 30 minutes before the alpenglow began to show on the peaks that morning. The initial part of the hike at lower elevation takes you through an extensive willow field and several stream crossings which is pretty cool. It isn't until the way back down that you can see and appreciate the beautiful wildflowers in the afternoon sunlight that surround some of the trail, which lead your eyes to an abandoned mining operation from years ago. We took our time on the ascent to Grays navigating the many switchbacks, and pulling up our neck gators when passing others in respect to their "airspace" and this crazy COVID we've been dealing with. After several breaks and rest stops, we arrived on top of Grays at 0840.
Grays Summit capture
We really took our time, had a few "stingers" and some of those Smucker's Uncrustables PB & J sandwiches. We used to make our own sandwiches, but I have to tell you that these little round pre-made sandwiches are pretty tasty, and easy to pop into the backpack. We stayed on the summit for about 30 minutes fueling up, took a few pictures, and left for Torreys at 0920 and arrived at Torreys' summit at 1020- again taking a few breaks for pics and to catch our breath.
Back down to the saddle
The loose and steep grind to the top
The climb to the summit is STEEP and slippery with scree. On top of "ol Torreys, we had lunch and stuck around for almost an hour-just couldn’t get enough of the views! The weather was on our side that day, so we took advantage of it identifying peaks, Dillon lake, Copper Mountain, and Breckenridge. I looked around for summit registers, and didn't find one for either summit. And, we couldn’t find any geo-markers either- so much for my foot shot.
Torreys' Summit capture
Lake Dillon area
Rain was forecasted for later afternoon, like it always is, so we started making our way back down through the snow field (walk carefully through here unless you want to make an attempt to glissade!), arrived at the trail junction, and finally at the trail head at 1345. All in all, it was a great day, and great way to bag two 14’ers!
Through the short snow section to the trail junction
Willows & Wildflowers
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Thank all of you for the responses!! This will be my first 14er (planning to do the combo). I attempted with a friend last year (Mt. Massive) but she got altitude sickness and we turned back around 13,300', I was so disappointed!!!! You posted some beautiful photos. Thanks again for sharing!!
Hey, thanks for sharing, super helpful. I have climbed 14ers before (as a teen and as an adult) but now live on the East Coast and am headed to Colorado in mid-July, about the same time you climbed this last year. I'd like to bring a friend on her first 14er. She's a fit and frequent trail hiker (lives in Albuquerque) but has never done a high peak, so I want to pick an easier one for her.
I'm thinking to just do Grays Peak, not both, unless we make good time.
Could you please clarify what time you began the hike? I'm trying to work backwards on how early we need to start, including driving there, so that we reach the peak as early as possible and descend before any summer storms brew up. (We'll have a pickup truck to get to the upper trailhead).
Hello Carrie- Thanks for reading! As you can see, we started out before dawn, so looking at the timestamps on my pictures, it showed 5:00 a.m. MDT. We made the summit of Grays at 8:40 a.m. MDT, and we really took our time with several breaks, etc. We did head over to Torreys Peak around 9:20 a.m. after we had a few snacks on the summit, and made the summit there around 10:25 a.m. We probably stayed up there about 50 minutes and headed back down, and arrived at the parking lot at 1:45 p.m. Like I said, we just took our time enjoying the journey, instead of just trying peak bag. Hope that helps!
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