Grays Peak Trip Report 09/07/2007

Peak(s):	Grays Peak - 14,275 feet
Date Posted:	09/07/2007
Date Climbed:	09/07/2007
Author:	DenverGirl

Gray‘s on a crazy Friday
So I got my butt out of bed at 4:38am. I prefer to car camp so that I don't have to do this, but I am watching a friends animals and had no choice. I drove up to the trail head at 5:40am and made a few stops on the way for misc items. I made it there by 7:15am only to discover to my surprise that it was PACKED!!!! I found out later that there was a group of school kids with roughly 30+ people in the group spending a day summiting as part of their class-work - HOW COOL???? So I packed my gear and made it out by 7:40. The trail was super busy with all levels of people going up and coming down...I couldn't believe it for a Friday morning. I ended up hiking near a very nice older man and woman who were quite talkative and set a very comfortable pace. I haven't done squat this week, so I figured why push myself? I made it to the sign in just under an hour. I continued on my way and kept my head down and my mind on the goal. Unfortunately due the fact that I am trying to quit smoking, my flesh is willing, but my lungs are weak. throughout the first couple hours of he morning the sun was moving in and out of some very low clouds. In fact those that summited early were covered in low hanging, damp, foggy clouds. I considered turning around at a few points, but I knew each time that I looked up that these were not threating, so I just kept on keeping on. The day began to really shape up once I got above 13,400 feet. The sun came out the wind was warmer and the sky was gorgeous Colorado blue. I took my sweet time in getting to the summit right around noon...seeing as there was nary an ominous cloud in site and nothing but sunshine I stayed up on the summit for almost 45 minutes and just enjoyed the view. The climb down was rather uneventful...but there were definitely some great people on the trail - not a grump in the group!!! Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Gray‘s on a crazy Friday

So I got my butt out of bed at 4:38am. I prefer to car camp so that I don't have to do this, but I am watching a friends animals and had no choice. I drove up to the trail head at 5:40am and made a few stops on the way for misc items. I made it there by 7:15am only to discover to my surprise that it was PACKED!!!! I found out later that there was a group of school kids with roughly 30+ people in the group spending a day summiting as part of their class-work - HOW COOL????

So I packed my gear and made it out by 7:40. The trail was super busy with all levels of people going up and coming down...I couldn't believe it for a Friday morning. I ended up hiking near a very nice older man and woman who were quite talkative and set a very comfortable pace. I haven't done squat this week, so I figured why push myself?

I made it to the sign in just under an hour. I continued on my way and kept my head down and my mind on the goal. Unfortunately due the fact that I am trying to quit smoking, my flesh is willing, but my lungs are weak. throughout the first couple hours of he morning the sun was moving in and out of some very low clouds. In fact those that summited early were covered in low hanging, damp, foggy clouds.

I considered turning around at a few points, but I knew each time that I looked up that these were not threating, so I just kept on keeping on.

The day began to really shape up once I got above 13,400 feet. The sun came out the wind was warmer and the sky was gorgeous Colorado blue.

I took my sweet time in getting to the summit right around noon...seeing as there was nary an ominous cloud in site and nothing but sunshine I stayed up on the summit for almost 45 minutes and just enjoyed the view.

The climb down was rather uneventful...but there were definitely some great people on the trail - not a grump in the group!!!

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

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