The hike itself rises through a beautiful valley with a bustling river, but the trail is fairly rocky and quickly reminds your knees that cartilage is precious. We ascended the trail at speed hoping to bag two peaks in one outing. The ascent to Grays was crowded, but the groups quickly spread out as people fell to the wayside and succumbed to altitude and exposure. The sun was bright and the sky clear. The peak of Grays was straight forward and the view spectacular. From Grays, we headed down toward Torreys which was a bit more demanding. The way was steeper and dotted with Mountain Goats who are much bigger and intimidating than you might think. Once up Torreys, we ate lunch and then prepared for the long descent back to our cars. The toll on our legs was notable. Next time, we’ll do 1,000 squats and lunges to get ready for the downhill. Again, we were reminded of the joy of going up rather than going down. In the end, the hike is close to home and its unreal that you can be in such a majestic place so quickly. Its just too bad that the rest of Denver is learning about the joy of the Mountains.