Grays Peak / Torreys Peak Trip Report

Date: 8/8/2002
Trailhead: Stevens Gulch
Round Trip Distance: 8 miles
Elevation Gain: 3,600 feet
Start Time: 6:50
Finish Time: 11:30

Directions to Stevens Gulch trailhead: Take exit 221 (Bakerville) from Interstate 70. Go south on the forest service road. Some guide books say the road is #189, but I have also seen it labeled as #321 on maps. The road is easy to find; it begins about 100 yards south of the interstate after you pass a parking area on the left. After about 1 mile the road reaches a fork. Take the left fork (there is a sign that says Grays Trail). The road then circles Kelso Mountain (13,169') and ends at the well marked trailhead. In total, you will travel about 3 miles on this road. I made it up the road in a minivan, but I would recommend a 4wd vehicle. There are some large rocks protruding from the road, and I heard 3 or 4 scrape the bottom of the van as I was driving on this road. There are restrooms, a camping area, and a parking lot near the trailhead. The map on the left shows the road to the trailhead and the entire trail up the mountain.

I decided to do this hike on the fifth day (Thursday) of a one week family vacation to Beaver Creek. I live at an altitude of only 700’, so I wanted to have a few days to get used to the altitude. I also wanted to hike during the middle of the week because of the popularity of this trail. It took me about an hour to drive from Beaver Creek to the I-70 exit, and then it took about 15 or 20 minutes to drive the final 3 miles up the Forest Service road to the trailhead.

The trailhead was easy to find. I just went over the large bridge (see the picture to the left) across the road from the parking lot. During first part of the hike, the trail leads up the right hand side of Stevens Gulch. Kelso Mountain is on the right, and a large ridge is on the left. Shortly after starting the hike, I got my first glimpse of Gray’s Peak. After about 2 miles of hiking, I saw the information sign in the picture below. My topo map shows a road going off to the left at about this point, but I don’t believe the road exists any more. Both Gray’s and Torrey’s are visible from the trail at this point. Gray’s is the rounded peak on the left, and Torrey’s is the more impressive looking mountain on the right.

First Part of Hike	Ridge on left	View of Grays	Information sign	Grays and Torreys

I continued along the trail and soon crossed a wet rocky area. The trail then turned to the left and went up to a ridge running south towards Gray’s Peak. It took me about 1 hour to complete the first 2.3 miles (1,500 feet of elevation gain) of the hike. The rest of the trail was steep but easy to follow. The elevation gain is 1,500 feet during the final 1.3 miles of hiking. There is a trail junction at an elevation of about 13,200. I continued straight (left) at the junction because I was climbing Gray’s first. The trail to the right leads to the saddle between Gray’s and Torrey’s. Take this route if you want to climb Torrey’s first. I came down this trail on the return portion of my hike. When I reached the summit of Gray’s (14,270’) at 8:50 there were three other people there. We were quickly joined by 5 or 6 others. I spent about 20 minutes on the summit taking pictures, eating a snack, and enjoying the view.

Wet rocky area	Steep section	Look back at gulch	On Gray's summit	Torreys from Grays

While on the summit, several people noticed a large gray cloud heading towards us from the south. A few of us decided to head down the saddle towards Torrey’s and then make the decision whether to climb that peak. The trail down the saddle is listed as a class 2 in Roach’s 14er guidebook, but I thought it was pretty easy hiking. I got to the bottom of the saddle in about 10 minutes, and by then, the gray cloud had passed. The sky was now blue, so I headed up to the summit of Torrey’s. The climb up was only about 600’ of elevation gain and took about 20 minutes. I highly recommend the extra trip to Torrey’s peak. I thought the views from this mountain were even better than the views from Gray’s. I spent another 20 minutes on the summit of Torrey’s talking to some of the other hikers. I then headed back down the saddle to the trail that led back to the Gray’s Peak trail. It was marked with a wooden sign that just said “trail”, but it was easy to see that this trail would lead back to 13,200’ junction that I mentioned earlier. The trip down was easy, and I made sure to stop and take some pictures. I got back to the trailhead at about 11:30. I was excited to have successfully ascended my 2nd and 3rd fourteeners.

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