Bagged Two Peaks in One Day

My future home.

MtnRunner and I headed out early morning to run Grays and Torreys Peaks (both Fourteeners) this weekend. I hadn't ever been to either peak so I was more than excited to challenge myself with this and equally excited to have company doing so.

We started out on the 4x4 dirt road leading to the trailhead as the road was pretty pitted with near sink hole size divots.  Once we reached the trailhead both of us were ready to be threading ourselves through the mountains. My breath nearly left me as I looked on across the bridge and took in the gorgeous scenery of the grand state I live in.

A few miles of softly rolling trail lead us to an abrupt climb skyward. It was pretty impossible running so we flowed into a brisk strong hike with short little stops to catch our breath and allow our calves a chance to relax. There were a lot of hikers on the trail (we zoomed past every single one of them) and I was surprised at the amount of small dogs. There were terriers, cattle dogs, and even a white scotty dog. Wow. I was on the fence bringing Argos but decided against it since I wasn't familiar with the trail and terrain. Looking back, I'm still not so sure I would bring him as there were tons of rocky patches. I felt bad for some of those little guys!

 You can barely see the trail where we came from: at the base off to right of that mountain

Cool cloud

Still smiling, especially after sighting several mountain goats.

 Summit of Grays Peak, we couldn't have asked for better weather.

 Summit Cheese!

Heading off to bag Torreys

 MtnRunner throwing on his wings and cruising down to the saddle (Torreys is in the distance top right)

 Destination Torreys Peak

 Wow. Just Wow.

 Looking back at Grays Peak

Torreys Peak bagged

 Noon-time storm clouds rollin' in. Still freakin' gorgeous even in their menacing form.

 I couldn't resist....glacier cold creek. Felt A-M-A-Z-I-N-G on the legs!

(kinda looks like I'm laughing but I'm giggling and gasping for breath at the same time!)

 Wicked cool battered mountain home. 

FUN FACTS:
Grays Peak- 14,270' (Colorado's 9th highest ranked peak)
Torreys Peak- 14,267' (Colorado's 11 highest ranked peak)

Both are the only Colorado Fourteeners on the Continental Divide.

Two fourteeners checked off the list and I was a happy girl. Legs were tired but still felt pretty strong- success! On our way home we drove past a handful of baby bighorn sheep, holy crap they were adorable. Got home in time to head out with Cowboy to teach a CCW class (I kinda fell asleep in my chair for a power cat nap while he lectured. Ooops! Thankfully Cowboy jokingly said to the class, "Hey she ran two fourteeners this morning, what were you doing today?!")

Getting excited about TRR right around the corner. I'm feeling strong and relatively prepared (as prepared as you really can be for something like this). Heading to the gym now for upper body strengthening as I let my quads rest a bit. They are still burning a little due to a five mile jog/hike with some friends last night.