This was my first attempt at a 14er. I hope this report helps others

Physical preparation:

I'm 49 years old. I'm about 30 pounds overweight. However I do about 30 hours of cycling a month. I specifically added some weightlifting (deadlifts and calf raises) to prepare. I also had been doing a bit of "incline challenge" (stairs) walks leading up to this. I live at 6000 feet elevation.

Other preparation before the hike:

Checked the weather report a few days in advance, which looked like this...

Then a few days later..

Honestly the chance of snow worried me a bit. My gear for the hike

• Camelback with 100 oz of water * NOT ENOUGH - READ BELOW
• 32 oz Gatorade
• 420 calories worth of Cliff Bars
• 400 calories worth of cookies
• t shirt
• long sleeve
• heavier sweater
• winter jacket - didn't end up using
• winter gloves
• sunglasses
• neck gaiter
• pants
• ibuprofin
• Merrill goretex boots ** See finding
• snow pants *** forgot!
• light - didn't end up using

Day of the hike

I drove up to the summer trailhead in my Subaru Forester. It was slow going and rutted and rocky. There are 3 or 4 ruts you need to get through that are pretty deep, not sure how you would do it in a sedan. Here is a picture from the drive out at the end of the hike, although it doesn't really do justice about how bad the road is. There was a sedan or two at the parking lot, so it's possible. However I think it's a bit of a risk. I gave a guy another hiker a ride up the hill who parked at the lower lot.

Got to the parking lot at about 6:00am on Tuesday. It was still dark. Parking in the lot was about half full.

I started up the trail at about first light at around 6:09am.

Started heading up the trail, which was very well groomed.

Once I could see that there was no snow on the peaks I became less worried the weather report ...

The trail was well marked, you're not going to get lost here. I found that in the meadow at the bottom I had no cell service (Verizon) but once I got up higher, cell service was excellent. Once the trail steepened, I took my time, taking lots of rests. There are plenty of step ups greater than 12 inches, so I wanted to make sure I didn't kill my legs earl on. I must admit the views up what was up ahead was a bit intimidating. For example the following glimpse at Torreys looked pretty gnarly. But don't give up! It's not as bad as it looks...

The views on the way up are absolutely awesome

Took the Grays switchback trail, which is impossible to miss. Relatively easy walk up to the peak of Grays. I just took my time, resting here and there and enjoying the views. I encountered some other hikers trying to go from Grays to Torreys but couldn't find the trail so were just hoofing it across rocks. It took about 3.5 hours for me to reach the summit (SLOW, I know)

Also, even though cell service was great up higher, I did turn on airplane mode just to check the google maps offline mode to know if it would be reliable for later hikes. Seems like it would be ok

Plenty of people on the trail for a Tuesday, but it never felt crowded. I enjoyed the comradery since I was hiking Solo. I still had 4 hours before the forecast of possible snow, and was feeling great physically so I decided to try Torreys. To go from Grays to Torreys, just start walking from the summit towards Torreys. You'll see a sign just as you leave the summit saying to stay on the trail - just go past this a few feet and you should be able to pick up the trail. I found the rocks on the descent to the saddle to be very frosty and slippery, so I proceeded very slowly.

Took a pause at the Saddle to enjoy a snack. A few hundred feed lower helps a bunch with the breathing. The saddle is also a great view of both directions. I then started up Torreys. Not nearly as tough as it looks from afar

Took my time up. The elevation really wasn't too bad for me, took a lot of breaks. Enjoyed the views from Torreys

Someone brought their dog up Torrey's. The dog seemed very happy

Started back down with several hours of extra before the snow forecast. But honestly wasn't too worried about it now. The descent from Torreys was slow. I did not use poles, I just took my time. My boots were fine for this. I did not experiencing any loose or slipping rocks. I can tell you though, that all of the rocks on the trail were starting to take their toll on my feet. There's a definite risk of ankle-roll or worse, if you're not paying attention. There's a lot of step-downs that are greater than 12 inches, so I just took my time on these.

* On the way down, at around the junction of the Torreys trail and the Grays switchback trails, I ran out of water. I should have brought another 32oz. This didn't kill me, and I never had an cramping issues, but it wasn't great on my part

** Closer to the bottom, my feet were really hurting do to the rocks. I feel maybe some heavier boots with a more solid sole would have been better than the Merrill boots.

Had some great views through the canyon at the bottom

Made it back to the Summer trailhead after a record breaking 7.5 hours

To summarize:

I had a great day, best hike ever for me! I'm glad I didn't let the weather report stop me from going. I'm super happy I did Torreys as well. I'd recommend this to anyone thinking about a 14er.