Stats for selected route:
23.6 miles
9000+ ft total vertical gain
Mt. of the Holy Cross: 14,005ft  Rank: 51

Directions:
From Tigiwon Rd continue onto halfmoon trailhead, once you reach the pass you will drop roughly 1000ft into the valley of the east river. There are many campsites available with good places to camp. From there continue on the the north ridge trail, a fairly easy, well maintained trail that will take you to the summit. Halo Ridge loops around counter clockwise to the other side of the valley. There is no trail along this path and you will encounter hands-on scrambling. Reaching the beautiful Notch Mountain Shelter should be the highlight of the trip, with a beautiful view of Holy Cross that you can actually see from inside. From there you can just follow the very visible Notch Mountain Trail back to the parking lot.

We started late July 15th, around noon. From the beginning there was a serious mosquito problem that plagued us till we got above tree line the second day, not even the monsoonal rains could stop them. The first day was fairly easy, a gentle continuous climb to the top of half moon pass. Once we reached the pass we could see some incoming weather from the northeast, and when we saw the lightning we knew we couldn't wait around and enjoy the views. The rain/hail hit, me and mike dawned our rain gear (mike's was a bit ridiculous) and continued on. About 3/5ths the way down the west side of the pass we found a large natural shelter right off the trail and waited out the remainder of the storm. The campsites were well marked and had plenty of clear, flat areas to put several tents. We set up camp and settled down for the night. That night was near constant thunderstorms, rain and a bit of hail. I had trouble sleeping and worried about the bear bag with all our food in it not being waterproof, and more troubling, my less than waterproof rain coat containing my camera and cell phone in it which I was ironically trying to dry off. But I was too comfortable and too lazy to go outside and fix it. 
The next day, with our alarm set to 4:00 am we woke up to find it was still raining and happily hit the snooze button and finally got up at 5:00. I found my daypack which we had used as the bear bag to be soaked, luckily our food was fine and so was my camera and cell phone. We cooked some strange tasting Mountain House breakfast skillet thing, hydrated up and headed out at 5:45. As far as 14ers go, the north ridge hike was simple and easy even though it looks pretty dramatic on the way up. The trail was well maintained and the gradient was nothing crazy. Once at the summit though, everything changed. Now there was no more trail, you couldn't really get lost, but until you get to the Notch Mountain Shelter you'll mostly be rock hopping. There were three peaks we crossed over on Halo Ridge: 13,831ft, 13,373ft and 13,248ft. Notch Mountain Shelter was the highlight of the trip, a beautifully rustic building with the most incredible view of Holy Cross you can get.
Now I have some explaining to do, originally our plan, once we got to the shelter, was to go off trail (if you could really call it a trail) to the bottom of the valley and follow the river back. But when we saw what options we had to do that, we realized it would be much to dangerous and time consuming to be worth it. So we tried to continue over notch mountain and back north to Half Moon pass. Unfortunately we failed to realize that "the Notch" which the mountain had been named was (without the proper gear) impassible. We therefore made the decision to follow the trail back to the parking lot. Once there we were pretty tired and decided to go ultra light in order to backtrack to get back to our campsite and pack it up. I only brought a water bottle, no layers, no raingear no food. All I had on was a t-shirt and shorts. We made it up to the pass pretty quickly but like yesterday we saw an incoming storm. It was getting cold and windy as the rain started to fall. I pushed myself into a run, remembering the shelter a few miles ahead. We were soaked once we found the shelter and immediately took off my wet shirt and warmed up pretty fast. Once the rain had died down we hurried back to camp, sloppily put all our camp stuff away and GTFO. It was nearing night as we reached the pass again. Turning on our headlamps we headed back down the wet trail, dizzy with exhaustion and damp with the light drizzle that was still upon us. After what seemed like too long we made it back just as the rain picked up again. We threw our wet stuff in the back, and fell into the car. It was 9:00 pm. 

After a half day of class we began the 2 hour and 45 minute drive to Red Cliff from Fort Collins. Once we arrived we were disappointed to learn that the gate to the road was still closed. This would prove to be our undoing; because this added 8 miles to our journey to Holy Cross City. (Our original destination) Well the road was in perfect condition so this was incredibly annoying to walk past DOT trucks entering and leaving the whole time. Although this faded as we grew more tired, and then once we reached the trail head we were out of sunlight. We made the decision to not go to a place we hadn't been to before in the dark, and made the decision to dig and sleep in my first snow cave. It was a lot of work; which Kevin did most of. This was all while I struggled to get a fire started. This was far more difficult than expected. We then enjoyed listening to an elk get attacked by something. We enjoyed the great views of the moon all the while. 

Likability: 8/10 Overall the country was great just wish we could have made it to the city.

Our plans began with us trying to take as little gear as possible into the mountains and see what we were really made of. They quickly evolved into us going off trail as well and exploring some country that may not have ever been explored recently. We began on the same trail head as with our other Grey Rock trips; although this one had a far different end point from our previous treks into the region. We went up the Grey Rock Summit Trail; which as always is a great trek. Then at a point that looked good to us we left the trail and forged our own path. About half way to our campsite we began to debate whether or not to turn back for fear we would be looking for a spot off trail in the dark. Luke and I convinced the rest of our group to continue on for another 15 minutes. This lead us to a great discovery of a campsite. We had great views of the mountains and the plains. Once we decided on the exact spot we all set off to work: Luke was starting the fire with flint, Nathan setting up his tent (not participating in our minimalist trip), Tom was gathering wood, and I began building our wind wall. Once we had a luxurious campsite set up we set in to a meal of chili and elk brats. It was a great time. Then we did something that seems to becoming a tradition Tom and I. We set off to Summit one of the nearby peaks around midnight to check out the spectacular views of the city and front range at night. After all of the fun, we set alarms so we could get up and go back to the peak for sunrise. As always, a sunrise in the mountains is a great sight. This was made even better with great company. We then set off to add a few different additions to camp. While all of this was happening we saw some turkeys and Luke took off with his sling to try and get one. He came back with a great story about how he had failed after learning first hand wild turkeys can fly. Everyone seemed ready to stay and go at the same time, but the fact we had very little food left forced us to decide to leave after only one night there. All in all it was a great new experience. 4/4-4/5/2014

Likability 9/10 Area we went was a burned area so it was a little lacking in color, but the company of good friends more than made up for that.   

This trip was one of our better planned adventures into the great outdoors. We set off on a Friday afternoon around 4:30 PM and then reached the campsite via the summit trail around 7:00 PM. We then all set off on the task to prepare camp. All was usual; including our common occurrence of not getting the water filters to work in the nearby stream. Just after some of the members of our group began to retire for the night my friend Tom recommenced somewhat sarcastically that we summit Grey Rock that night. Well I took this as a serious offer and before we knew it we were off. This took place just after midnight, and we reached the summit about 1 and a half hours later. Staying up there for a little while we decided to return to camp that night. After our very late night it was an early or seemingly early wake up call to get on the trail so we could drive up the road to do some rock climbing. All in all it was a great trip and I recommend the Summit trail over the meadows trail any day. 3/28-3/29/2014

Likability 9/10 One of the best areas I have ever been in relations to how close it is to civilization. Summit Trail is better in my opinion.

What a great trip it was. Not only was this my first time backpacking to Grey Rock it was my first time ever backpacking in Colorado. It began at about 1:00 AM the night of Friday the 14th of February, 2014. I was heading back to my dorm stopped by a friend’s room where they were preparing to go on the trip. We got to talking and I asked to go and it was settled I was going along. I rushed back to my room to get my gear together. By 2:00 I was confident I was ready to go; so I set my alarms and tried to get some much needed sleep. 7:30 AM cam far too early, but that is all part of the thrill of getting to go into the great outdoors. Got over to one of the dining halls had a little to eat. I then waited for everyone to get ready which was all done by about 9:00 AM. Then we were off to go get some food; Followed by the 40 minute drive to the trail head. Then everyone pilled on their gear and got together for a group photo; after the photo we set off up the trail. The hike ended up being a near non- stop elevation gain of a hike. It was beautiful the entire way up especially with some winds and storm clouds providing so amazing scenery in motion. Once we reached camp everyone set off to task to get camp prepared, and that was made so easy with 7 people in your party. After all of the camp necessities were accomplished we began to better the campsite adding another bench and a second fire pit (trench); among other things like taking in the great views of Grey Rock. When not obscured by clouds of course. Dinner: had to be the best backpacking meal I have ever had. It included: kabobs, beans, and many other items I had never before considered backpacking food. Fire one of my most enjoyable parts of the outdoor experience. For which we had the one of the most majestic nightfall backdrops; that included a fog that would roll in and be denser than most I have been in previously, and a great view of the moon and a myriad of stars through the tree canopy. Next morning everyone blew off our thoughts of hiking to the top of a nearby ridge. This led to a lazy morning around a campfire. It all got much more interesting when by luck or skill (probably some of both) my friends Luke hit and killed a bird with a sling shot. This led me and him to pluck it and remove the two tiny pieces of breast meat. Leading us to cook them, and boy did the taste surprise; I would say it was a lot like venison with a hint of chicken of course. All was good, but it was time to begin our hike back to civilization. Which began much as all other hikes do with work and the shedding of layers. This hike though would end in an interesting way; once we had crested the main ridge of the hike we were hit by some of the strongest wind I have ever been outdoors in. This made the hike all the more memorable with a crouch when facing the wind and short sprints when going with the wind. All the better had a great time with great friends.  2/15-2/16/2014

Likability 8.5/10 I took the meadow loop on this trip and looking back it was not as much fun but had better views than the Summit trial.