(Laurel) Some more detail: I decided I wanted to run a fourteener (or two) for my birthday. Yes, it's a crazy idea, but why shouldn't I combine two of my favorite things--summitting high mountains and trail running. Fortunately, I was able to recruit two friends. Rebekah is a two-time Boston Marathoner, but new to trail running. Maggie is a seasoned trail runner and we've run together a few times before.
We left southern Boulder at 6:30 and drove up to Idaho Springs. I maneuvered the XTerra adroitly up the 4-wheel drive road to the trailhead. We stepped on the trail at exactly 8:00 and started running. It was a gorgeous, bluebird day and there were only a couple of other parties on the trail. Unfortunately, Maggie was having some GI issues early on, so we split up (against my better judgement, but we put together an excellent plan that I felt comfortable with). Rebekah and I made for the summit. There was some snow covering the trail above 12,000ft, but it was very soft and easily runnable. We headed for Torreys Peak first, and hiked up the steep, rocky slopes. The summit was breath-taking (ha, ha!). It was calm, clear, and we could see for miles around.
After a few minutes, we headed over to Grays. Here, the wind was blowing straight at us and it had frozen the snow on the trail. We put on microspikes and easily hiked to the summit. However, this one was COLD and WINDY. We stayed for a minute or two and quickly began our descent. After about 15 minutes we got out of the wind and enjoyed the rest of the way down. Maggie was at the car sunning herself on a grassy patch reading a book. We wished we had brought a picnic, it was such a perfect day. Overall: 8 miles, 3600ft, 1:56 to Torreys, 3:56 overall.
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