Grays Peak, at 14,275 ft., is Colorado’s 9th highest mountain and Torrey’s Peak, at 14,272 ft. is Colorado’s 12th highest mountain. Grays Peak also has the distinction of being both the highest mountain in Colorado’s Front Range and on the Continental Divide.
Trailhead at 11,236 ft (3,425 m) | Torreys Peak at 14,272 (4350 m) |
Total elevation gain of 3,746 ft (1,143 m) | Grays Peak at 14,275 ft (4351 m) |
Round Trip of 7-10 hrs. | Round Trip of 8.4 mi (13.5 km) |
Grays Peak - a class 1 (YDS) trail to the summit | Torreys Peak - class 2 sections near the summit |
The trail classification system used in this blog is the YDS, Yosemite Decimal System
https://www.devilslakeclimbingguides.com/blog/understanding-climbing-ratings
These peaks can be hiked separately, but it is only adds about one mile and 550 feet of extra elevation to bag both. We decided to go for both, which added less than two hour to our total time of 8 hours and 13 minutes.
This is an easy to follow class one trail to the summit of Grays Peak, then you hike down to the saddle and up the long ridge to Torreys Peak. It is along this long ridgeline section that you encounter some class 2 sections. We climbed both peaks on Tuesday, July 31, 2018, part of a five peak Colorado vacation.
Since the peaks are close to Denver, the parking lot fills up early, but there is additional parking on the road leading to the trailhead. On weekends it might be difficult to find parking close to the trailhead, so arrive early.
Directions
The trailhead and parking area are 19 miles from Silverthorne, Colorado via I-70 and 55 miles from Denver, via I-70. The last 3.1 miles to the trailhead is over a dirt road that quickly degrades, therefore, a 4WD with high clearance is recommended for the last 3 miles. We managed not to scape bottom in our Subaru Outback, but the drive was slow in places. We saw a few cars parked along the beginning of this road, so the peaks can be accessed with a car. This will add about six miles to the round trip hike, so expect the hike to take an additional two to four hours.
From Denver head west on 1-70 for about 50 miles until you reach the Bakerville exit (#221). Exit and head south to the dirt parking area at the start of Stevens Gulch Road, FR 189. If you are in a 2WD car, you will need to park within a few hundred yards of the beginning of this dirt road as it quickly degrades into a 4WD high clearance road. After one mile stay left at the junction and follow the road an additional two miles to the trailhead. At the trailhead there is a moderate size parking area, toilet, and a few campsites.
From Silverthorne head east on 1-70 for just under 16 miles until you reach the Bakerville exit (#221). Exit I-70 and head south to the dirt parking area at the start of Stevens Gulch Road, FR 189. See the directions from Denver for details on the road to the trailhead.
Trail Info
Our group of three, all in our sixties, split up for this hike. Two of us summitted both peaks and our other mate decided to summit only Torreys Peak.
The trailhead is across the dirt road from the trailhead parking lot, you cross a nice bridge, then briefly hike in a conifer forest on a well maintained trail with a gentle incline. By the time you have hiked one-half mile you are above tree-line for the rest of the hike. Also that gentle slope at the beginning changes to an overall slope that exceeds fifteen degrees for most of the hike.
Remember to start your hike early, afternoon lightning is the biggest killer each year on Colorado’s 14ers. https://americanhiking.org/resources/lightning-safety/
The photo below was taken near the trailhead, looking WSW. Grays Peak is about four miles from here.
Our GPS track is overlain on a Google Earth image below. The two slightly difficult parts are going down to the saddle from Grays Peak and the walk up the ridgeline from the saddle to Torreys Peak, but neither stretch has any technical difficulty. There was a moderate amount of traffic on the trail, but nothing compared to our hike a few days earlier on Quandary Peak. We hiked Quandary on a Sunday and these peaks on a Tuesday.
Below a view of Torreys Peak from just over two miles into the hike. Most of the trail is similar to that seen in the above photo, although the incline of the trail increases overall as you ascend towards the summits. The route we took was up the ridge line on the left of Torreys, an alternate class three route follows the ridge line to the right of Torreys Peak.
The photo below was taken at about 12,600 feet, looking NE towards Kelso Peak, at 13,164 ft. The alternate class three route starts at the saddle in the foreground below Kelso Peak. The route follows the ridge on the left side of the saddle to Torreys Peak. This route is not for the faint of heart or amateur hikers. Prior to attempting this route, do some additional research, this link provides a good overview of this class three route. https://rootsrated.com/stories/kelso-ridge-the-thrilling-way-up-torreys-peak
The most important point on the trail is the fork at 2.9 miles and 13,270 feet. The right branch goes to Torreys Peak and the left branch goes to Grays Peak. We took the left branch so we could tag Grays then Torreys. Grays Peak is just under one mile after the fork.
Below, a small crowd at the top of Grays Peak, 14,270 feet. We rested here for about fifteen minutes before heading north down to the saddle that separates Grays from Torreys. The short hike to Torreys Peak took us just over one hour.
A view of the ridge line leading to the summit of Torreys Peak. This ridge line contains the only class two sections of the hike, this part of the trail is moderately steep with some loose scree. The trail stays away from the large cliff face, so exposure is not an issue.
Our group at the top of Grays Peak, from left to right, Mike, me and Aubrey.
On a clear day, you can see Longs Peak (14,255 ft) 44 miles away, look just a few degrees east of north. Longs Peak is located in Rocky Mountain National Park. To the WNW, at about 27 miles, is the Gore Range. Its highest peak is Mount Powell (13,580ft) at the range’s northern end. Mount of the Holy Cross (14,005 ft) is to the WSW at 36 miles. Colorado’s second highest peak, Mount Massive (14,421) is 47 miles away to the SW. If the day is real clear, looking east you see the eastern ridges of the Front Range, the eastern boundary of the Rocky Mountains.
Camping
We elected to camp on pre-summit nights to allow for an early start. There are a few nice undeveloped campsites adjunct to the trailhead parking lot and up the road past the parking lot. There is a toilet near the parking lot entrance.
The parking lot was empty when we arrived in the early afternoon, but a few other campers joined us as the evening progressed. When we stated hiking at 6:30 a.m., the parking lot was full and this was a Tuesday. So if you want to use the parking lot get, I suggest arriving a tad before daylight, weekends are likely a mess.
History
The first documented summiting of Torreys Peak and Grays Peak was by the botanist and mountaineer Charles C. Parry in 1861. He named the peaks after two of the most famous American botanists of his time, John Torrey and Asa Gray. Asa Gray and his wife summited Grays Peak in 1872.
The two peaks are located in the central part of the Front Range. In the northern part of the range, stone tools and other artifacts estimated to be about 12,000 years old were uncovered. These were found at the Lindenmeier archaeological site north of Fort Collins, near the Wyoming boarder. Towards the south end of the range, on the eastern slope of Pikes Peak, evidence has been found indicating hunter-gathers inhabited this area about 5,000 years ago.
More recently, the Ute people were firmly established in the Front Range by 1500. They migrated between the high mountains in the summer to camps at the base of the range in the winter. The Arapaho and Cheyenne people became the first competitors to the Utes. They migrated into the area, in the early 1800s. They had been expelled, by white settlers, from their homelands in the upper Midwest. The Arapaho intruded deeper into Ute territory often competing with them for wild game, resulting in an adversarial relationship between the Utes and Arapaho.
In 1859 commercial quantities of placer gold were discovered in Little Dry Creek. The arrival of miners soon forced Utes out of the area. In 1868 the Utes signed a treaty that restricted them to the western part of the range. Later they were forced to sign a second treaty in1880 that moved them to a small reservation in eastern Utah.
This area was the inspiration for what became the song “America the Beautiful. The poet, writer and professor Katharine Lee Bates visited Colorado Springs during the summer of 1893, while there she summited Pikes Peak. The scenery so impressed her that she wrote the poem “America the Beautiful” and published it in 1895. A few months later Silas G. Pratt set the poem to music.
Today the communities along the Front Range generate over 80% of the State’s economy.
Fauna and Flora
When you exit I-70 onto Stevens Gulch Road, you are at 9,800 feet, placing you in the upper montane life zone. The short three mile drive to the trailhead takes you to about 11,200 feet, placing you in the sub-alpine life zone. You exit the sub-alpine and enter the alpine life zone, at about 11,500 feet, after hiking less than one-half mile up the trail. For the rest of the hike you remain in the alpine zone all the way to the summits.
The upper montane life zone goes from about 9,000 to 10,000 feet. So you are in this zone for only a few hundred vertical feet as you leave I-70 and drive toward the trailhead at 11, 236 feet. Precipitation is from both rain and snow, with snow packs sometimes lasting into early summer. Lodge-pole pine and white pine are common. Some of the more interesting animals are elk, mule deer, bear, marmot and the pine marten, a weasel that lives in trees.
When you arrive at the trailhead, you are in the sub-alpine zone. This zone goes from about 10,000 to 11,500 feet. Most precipitation is from snow fall with some rain, snow packs last into the summer months. Precipitation averages over 30 inches per year. Temperatures are normally cool to very cold, but summer days are usually pleasant. This zone has a short growing season and in the upper part trees are often stunted. In the Front Range, the Engelmann spruce is common in the sup-alpine zone. Elk and snow hares inhabit this zone along with lynx, and red fox.
Less than one-half mile up the trail you find yourself above treeline in the alpine zone. This zone is prone to high winds and is usually cold, with an annual mean temperature of less than 50°F (10°C). Precipitation averages between 40 to 60 inches per year, almost all from snow, which can last into the late summer in some shady patches. Plants in the zone, while diverse, are short of stature, but the blossoms can be a good size. Common plants are grasses, moss, cushion plants and lichen. Mountain goats are occasionally seen around Grays Peak and Torreys Peak. In other areas of the Front Range, big horn sheep can be found in this zone.
Geology
Grays Peak and Torreys Peak are located in the central part of the 200 mile long Front Range. The northern end of the range stretches into southern Wyoming and the southern end terminates at Colorado’s Arkansas River.
The core of the Front Range is composed of Precambrian metamorphic rocks and intrusive granitic plutons. On the flanks of the range sedimentary rocks can be found that range in age from the Cambrian to the present.
Pleistocene glaciation carved the craggy peaks and U shaped valleys common to the Front Range. At the trailhead you are standing on Pleistocene glacial till and the trail follows a large glacial carved valley to the base of the peaks.
As you walk up the trail you pass Kelso Mountain, on your right side, this mountain is composed of Precambrian granitic mass intruded into the surrounding Precambrian metamorphic rocks of the Idaho Springs Formation.
As you walk past Kelso Mountain, you will leave the glacial till at about 1.75 miles and cross onto the Precambrian Idaho Springs Formation. The rest of the hike to Grays Peak is on these ancient metamorphic rocks. You stay on the Idaho Springs Formation until you are almost to the second summit, Torreys Peak. Near the summit of Torreys Peak you cross from the Precambrian onto a much younger granitic intrusion of Eocene age.
There are several mines to the SE of the peaks. These mines extracted ore from the Colorado mineral belt which stretches from Durango in the SW to Boulder in the NE. The belt passes just to the SE of the two peaks.
The nearest mine, Stevens Mine, is just 0.33 miles south of the trailhead, the road stops at the tailings from the mine. The ore was composed of galena, chalcopyrite and sphalerite, the primary minerals extracted were lead and silver, with smaller amounts of copper and gold. This was a small mine with minimal production, note the small size of the tailings pile.
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