Grays & Torrey's

Running these peaks had been on my radar during last years training for PPM but for some reason never got around to it. This past Monday and for no specific reason, I decided to run them. It's been 8 or so years since I was last up there and vaguely remembered any specifics other then great weather, crazy looking mountain goats and my buddy Matt cursing me for giving Torrey's a go.

Up too early, out the door at a decent time and 50 minutes later I arrived at the Bakerville exit off I-70 before 6:30am. And this is where I was going to start my run. Figured the extra miles from the interstate might fun.



What? No love for Torrey's? Well it was far from fun. The road to the trailhead is about 3 miles with 1.4K feet of gain. Nothing dramatic. What was dramatic was the number of cars driving up to the true trailhead. Any time a car would come by, I'd make every effort to step out of the way to avoid the dust and exhaust therefore preventing me from getting into a running groove.

As I approached the trailhead, I could already see the madness begin. Madness of the amount of people getting ready to hike the same peaks I was aiming for. Crossed the bridge and it started. The constant battle of passing heaps of folks. Sometimes it was easy, other times I was forced to stop and work my way around them. And this was the theme all the way to the top of Grays. Honestly lost track counting after 100 hikers.

My fellow hikers, for the most part, were extremely kind and would offer up kind words of encouragement and shock at my summit attempt. Always nice to hear as I don't think I'm doing anything special with my runs.

The trail itself was dry and snow free all the way up Gray's. I was surprised by how runnable (when not crowded of course) the route was with only a handful of sections steep enough forcing me to power hike. The last 3 or so switch backs were my favorite. Folks were dying by this point and I was able to run the whole stretch.

The weather itself was so-so. 45 at the start. Windy and overcast most of the way up. Stiff wind at the top with I'm guessing temps in the low 30's. Thankfully the short sleeved top and gloves were more then enough.

The top of Gray's was straight packed so my stay was short lived. Off to Torrey's and things got interesting as the wind was ripping, my eyes were watering and the descent along the ridge technical. Before I knew it I was on top of Torrey's and quickly off. Made my way down to the saddle, across the only snow field on the route and took my first break of the day to enjoy some alone time to soak in the views.



Yeah the day was ridiculously crowded which never allowed me to get into a running groove but whatever, the views during this short little 5 minute stop more then made up for it. The decent down was fine. Ran, Stopped, ran, hopped, stopped, ran, stopped some more and finally crossed the bridge. The last 3 miles back to the car were all downhill and FINALLY allowed me to get in some uninterrupted running averaging just under 8's on the way back to the car.

Great day? No. But any day in the mountains that ends with me being tired and in one piece is always a solid day. 3 hours 15 minutes (never did hit stop on the watch) of running and I got in 14 miles with over 5,000 feet of climbing.