Can't remember what year I did this one,
must have been 1995. This was my second 14er, I believe, before I
had any books on the subject. Not knowing that there was an easy
approach from I-70 near Bakerville, I drove down Montezuma Road from Keystone
and followed the forest service road in as far as my car would take me.
Hiked down the road up Peru Creek into Horseshoe Basin, came to Grays Lake
way up high. I just started climbing
up an old mining road, past some cliffs, and found the summit. I
think I had to scramble up some rocks to make the summit. There were
people going up and down a trail to the north, gee, that might have been
an easier way. :-) I saw a couple mountain goats, and cautiously
got my camera out of my pack. Snuck up on them and snapped a few
pictures, then one of them was sniffing my pack, so I guess they weren't
so shy. I walked down the north trail just a little ways, the other
goat moved aside a few feet so I could pass,
but they weren't nervous. I thought I'd try to make the saddle route over
to Torrey's, but when I got down to the saddle I realized I was low on
time, food, and water, and thought better of it. I descended a scree
slope from the saddle into a gorge, navigated around some cliff bands,
and followed Chihuahua Gulch back to the road where I left my car. Took
a long time - every time I thought I was headed downhill to get to the
road, there was more hill. Finally I got to the road, and by the
time I reached my car it was getting dark.