14ers

There are 54 mountain peaks in Colorado that are above 14,000 ft. People who are way cooler than me call them 14ers. My friend Benjer talked me into hiking a double 14er (Gray's Peak and Torrey's peak) with him on August 1st. So we headed out at 4:00am (ouch) because you need to get off the mountain by about noon or you are in danger of getting caught in a sudden lightning storm. We managed to traverse the worst "road" and the largest ruts I'd ever seen in my life in a Ford Taurus to get to the trailhead (where we were laughed at by some locals in big trucks).

We left the trailhead for the summits at 5:45 am. The way up to the summit of Gray's Peak was hard, but not too bad. We took plenty of breaks and guzzled water and Gatorade. On the way up, Benjer realized his shorts were on inside out. When he was switching them to rightside in (?) he almost fell down a rocky cliff! It was hilarious.

On the hike upward, we saw hundreds of little rodents called picas. Picas are like chinchillas but not as puffy/furry.

Well, we made it to the summit of Gray's Peak at about 9:00am. Gray's Peak is the 9th tallest peak in CO at 14, 270 ft. The view was incredible! And we could see a lot with our binoculars (like A-Basin, Keystone, Silverthorne, and Lake Dillon).

While we were up there, this skinny little stick man ran (yes I said ran) to the summit, drank a little bit of water, took a couple bites of a powerbar or something and then ran back down. Benjer and I decided we are more built for bocce ball. After a few pictures and a rest to enjoy the view, it was on to Torrey's Peak.

To get to Torrey's Peak, we just had to go down a few hundred feet from Gray's, cross a ridge, I guess it's called a saddle, and then back up a few hundred feet to Torrey's. But the last part of Torrey's was almost straight up and covered in loose gravel. We were bushed when we summited (nice terminology, eh?).

Torrey's Peak is the 11th tallest peak in CO at 14, 267. We took some more pictures there and then made the long, hard trip back to the trailhead. And I mean hard. Going down is rough on your knees! I had some trouble walking for a day or two after we were done, but a good time was had by all.I'm beat.