Drove to the Stevens Gulch road, then up to the Grizzly Gulch junction and parked. Hiked about 2 miles to the trailhead, then about a mile up the trail. I was wearing old hiking boots I haven’t worn in two years, but my feet seemed to have changed shape in the meanwhile (probably from all the running) and they were cutting into my tendons above my toes. I ended up removing the insole to allow for more room, which helped a bit, but let me slide around some. I was planning on doing both summits (Grays and Torreys) but decided to just call it a good training hike and return to the car. I am training for the Aspen Backountry Marathon, and can’t afford to take a week off while my tendons heal.

On the way back to the car it started snowing, in spite of the beautiful sky just minutes before (see pics) and I-70 was really messy. Over the divide into Dillon it was still snowing. Sometimes you get get weather on one side of the Divide or the other. On my hike I’d gone from 10,300′ to 11,900′ in 1:09, so not bad overall – maintained about 3.0 mph average.

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