The weather window for Grays Peak was short. 5am to 11am should just be chances of rain with no thunder. We woke up early and started climbing. At over 4000 feet, it might have been the biggest single climb of the trail so far.
As we climbed, clouds rolled in and we were soon surrounded by fog. A big climb like this is hard enough when there’s a view at the end. When you think you’re going to be in the clouds at the top, it’s even harder.
Nearing the top of the ridge we would follow to the summit, we met a couple climbers coming down. They assured us the summit was above the clouds. As we got higher, this turned out to be true. The higher we went, the more the clouds cleared.
The trail to the top was mostly nonexistent, but all we had to do was follow the ridge. At times it was pretty scrambly and exposed, but that made the adventure even better.
We made it to the top about half an hour before the weather called for possible thunderstorms. We met a group of CDT hikers that bailed about halfway up. It’s kind of a shame, today was maybe my favorite part of the whole trail so far.
At the top we were greeted by lots of people. A few CDT hikers we hadn’t seen in awhile and plenty of day hikers just looking to bag a 14er. This is the highest the trail will go and probably the highest we’ll go too.
On the way down it started to hail and thunder. Eventually it would turn to rain and we all huddled under a tree at the trailhead. Next up was a road walk down to I-70 where we would meet up with a bike path and eventually crossing under the interstate and go up another trailhead.
Down towards the highway we finally got some trail magic. Rooster, a hiker we’ve been hiking around, had his parents come visit him and they brought enough for a bunch of hikers.
After enjoying some drinks, we started hiking again. It of course started raining harder and harder. We hid in some more trees and drank the beers we had carried out from the trail magic.
With service at the highway we determined the rain should stop in a couple hours. That was enough for us to hike a few more miles and make it to a beautiful alpine lake.
The lake is a little off the trail, but we got there very early. This is one of our shortest days, but 14ers can really take a lot out of you. It was also nice to give our stuff a chance to dry. It’s still cloudy and cold, so it didn’t dry much, but at least the floor of my tent isn’t wet.
We should be able to make it to Winter Park tomorrow. There’s still some climbing, but it shouldn’t be too bad.