The day before I had driven up Pikes Peak, plus hiked it a little bit. Aside from the inherent fun I had, it also helped me acclimate to 14,000 feet, an elevation I had not breached since 1997 on my Mt. Rainier climb. After Pikes Peak and some time knocking off Denver-area highpoints, I drove on Interstate-70 to the historic city of Georgetown and got a hotel room. Georgetown sits at the bottom of a canyon, hemmed in by 12,000-foot peaks and ridges and is extremely pretty. The town is well-preserved from its late 19th-century heyday.

The next morning I drove a few miles to the Bakerville exit on I-70 and up a bad Forest Road a couple more miles to the Grays Peak trailhead. I arrived at 6:15 am and already there were a dozen vehicles and a number of people already starting the hike. I got started about 6:30 in cool, clear weather. Apparently Grays Peak is an enormously popular hike as it's close to Denver, has a good trail, isn't too long and gets one above 14,000 feet.

After crossing a footbridge I started hiking up the trail as it contoured east and south of Kelso Mountain, a 13,164-foot peak awash in green grass and wildflowers. The trail is well-maintained and can be rocky in places but for the most part is smooth sailing. I met up with a guy ahead of me and we hiked together a bit and chatted. We then started passing a few other people, and unfortunately he started lagging himself. We reached an area where the trail curls around a small rocky ridge at about 12,500 feet and puts one below the main massif of Grays and its sister summit, Torreys. Because parts of this trail were still in shadow, the small amount of snow still remaining had an icy sheen and sometimes made walking very slippery. At about this area the guy I was hiking with took an extended break; I went ahead figuring I'd see him later but he apparently turned around and left. Oh well.

I continued up the route as it steadily switchbacked up Grays northern face. I was totally above tree line and it was all rock and patchy snow that periodically was icy. But because it was a good trail I made good time and finally summitted around 9:15 am. The weather was superb and not too cold. There were three others at the summit when I was there. There were also some people "ridge running" from adjacent Mount Edwards to Grays' east toward Grays. After a few photos I started down. I was met by two other runners coming up and plenty of other hikers going at a much more slower rate (as I would expect). The runners sure made me feel slow! The popularity of Grays was evident in that as I descended, I passed group after group, at least one every 10 minutes, the whole way down. I arrived back at my truck at about 11:30 by which time the lots were full and cars were parked in any nook and cranny possible. After changing into shorts and sandals, I started the long 400 mile drive into Utah for my next day's objectives. Total hiking was about 6 miles round trip in 5 hours with almost exactly 3,000 vertical feet of gain.