Grays Peak - Highest point on the CDT

Day 62

Date: 02.07.2022

CDT Mile: Mile 1'266.2

Miles hiked: 12.6 miles / 20.2 km

Elevation: 3'957 feet ascent (1'207 m Aufstieg) / 5'062 feet descent (Abstieg 1'544 m)

Camping at: Motel 8 Dillon

When my alarm went of at 5am my tent was dripping wet, inside and outside. Camping that close to a river ain't the best thing. But we were too tired yesterday to walk another 2 miles to a may better camp site. I got up and tried to 'dry' my tent with a towel, which I had to twist several times. I am sure I cleaned a lot of water weight off like this already, but the tent was still super wet and heavy. It was cold outside and putting on my wet socks and shoes wasn't something I was looking forward to. But carrying them in my pack and putting on dry socks would have added more weight to my pack. Knowing it's gonna be a though day again by climbing the highest point along the CDT, Grays Peak, I tried to make my pack as lightweight as possible, hence putting on wet socks! Ducky and I started hiking at 6am. Not much later I ran into the Moose couple we have seen yesterday already. They were on the trail and I tried to scare them off so I could hike on. I am sure they are used to people so I wasn't scared, but still made sure I keep as much of a distance as I could. The climb up to Argentine Pass was steep but graduate and well doable. Also, there was a nice trail. But my belly told me he needs more calories, I haven't eaten breakfast yet. So on the top of the pass at 13'205 feet (4'028 m), I made a short break and eat 1\4 of my left over cookie from yesterday. We hiked on over some hills with stunning views down to the valley we camped and over the mountainpeaks. I could have stayed there all day and enjoy the views. It took us a lot of time to move on cause I stopped and made many pictures, plus we are already above 4'000 meters and the air is thinner up here. But being in high altitude for the last 4 weeks helps enormously. We climed Mt. Edwards with 13'817 feet (4'215 m). Thereafter a really, really sketchy section started. It was nuts! I could hardly believe this is the official CDT. There was no trail, we just had to climb along the narrow and exposed ridge line. On both sides it was going down several hundred meters. If you fall, that's it. In Switzerland there would be ropes, a trail and for sure a warning sign. Or you would wear climbing gear. But for sure not trail runners and a heavy backpack. I hiked very carefully and watched every step. We have also seen a group of mountain goats with mountain goats baby's. Incredible how they scrambled along the rocks! However, they had to pass a snow section and one mountain goat twisted three times 360 degrees, but managed to keep on standing and landed on rocky ground. I have never seen that before! The section was long and then we had to scramble or climb up Grays peak. Straight up the ridge line, however this was not that extremely dangerous anymore, but brutal steep. It took us 5.5 hrs to climb 6 miles! Ok with taking many stops for pictures and enjoying the views too. On top of Grays peak with 14'254 feet (4'347.5 m) were many day hikers. It was full of mugglers, as we call them😁. The other trail, the one we are also hiking down, is very nice, not dangerous and very well maintained. No wonder so many people are up here. People collect 14-ers in Colorado. 1.5 hrs later also Boss and Vista made it and shortly later also SwissChris. It's about time cause it's just pass noon. One should climb down to lower elevation at that time due to the thunder storms. And the clouds are coming up. So around 1pm we climbed down, saw some more mountain goats and just when we made it to the upper trail head, it started to rain heavily. We hiked 3 more miles down along a dirt road to the lower parking lot. We got super lucky and 2 cars (being 5 people) drove us to Dillon, even though they had to drive the other direction to Denver. But an hour drive is nothing here (back and return)! We went to a brewery, got food and a couple of drinks. Then REI, I got a new pair of shoes and back to the hotel to relax and recover. My legs are definitely feeling the past couple of days with all the elevation and rock scramble, my knees are a little swollen too. Tomorrow, we want to be back on trail already again. It was another absolutely wonderful but though day. I guess I could do with a longer break but hey, we gotta make it to Canada before winter comes!

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