Um... because it's there?

Since Chris and I moved to Denver a year and a half ago, we've tried to get out there as much as possible to see the things that make Colorado a great place to live. From the People's Fair downtown to supporting whichever team's beating the Rockies, we thought we packed last summer with plenty of fun stuff.

Then the winter hit. We marinated in several feet of snow for long enough to reconsider how we were spending our sunshine days. This year, we promised ourselves, as we shoveled the driveway (again), that we would do even more and make the most of every glorious summer weekend.


So far, we've thrown an awesome party, been camping, hit up a couple of microbreweries downtown, and cheered ourselves hoarse at baseball games (go Padres), a lacrosse game, and concerts at Red Rocks. Despite all this, we still hadn't become aquainted with the Rocky Mountains in all their majestic purpleness. I mean, we've looked at them from our deck, and hiked around the family-friendly groomed trails of the national park, but we wanted to claw our way to the top of a mighty crag and howl to the heavens, "IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT, BEYOTCHES?'


Enter Gray's Peak. Gray's is one of the dozens of so-called "fourteeners" in the Rockies, rising to an impressive elevation of 14,270 feet (4,349 meters, or 2.7 miles up from sea level). We got up at 4:30 on Saturday morning, drove an hour into the mountains, then endured three miles of a busted down dirt road to reach the trailhead at 11,200 feet. Armed with plenty of water, trail food, a camera, and determined grimaces, we set off on the 4.5 mile hike up to the summit.


It was amazing to start the hike in the midst of a full-flowering alpine meadow, then to move up through the tundra and on to... just rocks. Most of the fourteeners can be done without any technical equipment or special knowledge, but this was still harder than we expected due to the thinness of the air. For the last mile or so, we had to stop to catch our breath every 150 feet or so. It's the strangest sensation -- I wasn't breathing hard, I just wasn't getting enough oxygen.


Needless to say, we were ecstatic to reach the summit nearly three hours after we started. We signed the register that's kept in a waterproof tube up there, and talked to a couple of old guys who have been doing this for as long as they can remember. Our original plan was to hike the saddle across to Torrey's Peak, another fourteener next door, but despite our energy level and ample supplies, we weren't equipped to deal with the frigid wind whipping across the ridge. Next time, we're taking gloves, pants, and hats -- and we're going to get that damn summit, too. Like the old man told us, "Don't worry if you don't get Torrey's this time. It will still be here when you come back."

That's Gray's Peak in the center of the photo. We took this at the very beginning of the hike, the first time the mountain became visible.

Here's looking back at that same valley (more or less -- it's just a little out of view on the right). I think this was taken about 80% of the way up.

MOUNTAIN GOAT!! Super cool. I'm not sure why his legs got cut out of my picture, but there he is. We were pretty stoked to see wildlife in such a forbidding environment.

Believe it or not, this is STILL not at the peak. Behind Chris is Torrey's Peak, the other mountain that we would have hiked over to if we had been more prepared for the cold and the wind. It doesn't look cold in these pictures, but it is.

Along that green ridge to the left you can see more hikers wending their way up to where we are. (Can you tell I got dressed at 4:30 am? I really didn't care what I was wearing.)