July 14th Peaks #2 & 3 of the Colorado Six Pack of Peaks Challenges and my 2nd and 3rd Colorado 14ers. I prepared for this hike on July 13th by driving to the trailhead. The final three miles to the trailhead is a rough, rocky, and rutted road. I drove up around 0700, so I could get an idea of how far I could make it in my Santa Cruz and to see how much parking was available. I made it to the trailhead easily in the Santa Cruz using AWD, but it was a slow and steady drive up. There were several dozen trucks and SUVs parked at the trailhead as well as along the road coming up. I saw a lot of hikers parking a mile or two down the hill and hiking up. I had read that this trailhead parking area fills up early, just like Mount Bierstadt parking lot. With that in mind, I planned to once again get up early and arrive at the trailhead before 0500.
Awake again by 0200 and on the road for the Gray’s and Torrey’s Peaks Trailhead. About a 45-minute drive. As I approached the three-mile dirt road, I realized that I had forgotten to put my 2-liter water bladder in my pack. At that point I almost turned around to drive about 35 minutes back to the trailer to get it. Instead, I found two empty one letter bottles I had in the truck and filled them using a 3-gallon jug of water I had in the truck for use in filling the water tank in the trailer. This gave me two litters of water and a half litter of electrolytes. Plenty for me, since I was starting early and I always camel-up prior to any hike with at least one liter of water. 😊
I arrived at the trailhead right around 0400. There were only about five vehicles in the parking area. That said, as I prepped my gear and put on my shoes, the lot filled up almost to capacity. Meaning when I began my hike at 0429, about 30 vehicles had made their way up to the trailhead. Had I gone back to retrieve my water bladder, I would have been parking about a half mile to a mile down the road. ☹
There were a few groups of hikers that started before me. I could see their headlamps off in the distance. It seems they were all moving quickly and were taking a lot of breaks. Me, well my plan was to be slow and steady so I could maintain my breather at the higher elevations. The hike started at just over 11,000 feet. A continuous forward push with no breaks me. When I did stop, it was only for a few seconds. Just enough time to breathe deeply and to take a few photos. By the time I reached the summit I had passed them all and was the first hiker to summit Gray’s Peak at 14,276 feet in elevation today.
My elevation gain to Gray’s peak was just about 3,030 feet in elevation. Miles 1 and 2 gain 671 feet and 486 feet respectively. Mile 3 was a robust 1,033 feet and the final .84 miles to the summit gained another 839 feet.
After a short time enjoying the summit, it was time to drop down to the saddle between Gray’s and Torrey’s Peaks. The descent to the saddle was about a half mile with an elevation loss of 542 feet. The climb from there to Torrey’s was about the same. Torrey’s Peak is only about 7 feet in elevation lower than Gray’s. On the way down from Gray’s I ran into two young ladies vacationing from North Carolina. One of them, I believe, said that she had done roughly 20 Colorado 14ers of the years.
Heading down from Torrey’s was fun and the time flew by. Of course, I was able to talk the entire way with my friends from North Carolina which made the time go by so quickly. We are all here for another week, so the plan is to hopefully get in another hike together.
My total miles for Gray’s and Torrey’s Peaks ended up being 8.47 with a total elevation gain of 3,614 feet. Peaks #2 & 3 of the Colorado Six Pack of Peaks complete. As well as my 2nd and 3rd Colorado 14ers. 😊
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