Granite Lakes, Lake Christine

The short trail past Pothole Lake, Bertha Mae Lake and Granite Lake is pleasant and the latter two lakes scenic (see photos). Mt. Rainier can be glimpsed through the trees and at Granite Lake outlet seen clearly (photo). The trail does continue to Cora Lake beneath High Rock, but it was further than we wished to go on this day. It can be reached via another road and a shorter trail. The story of this trip however is the atrocious road to the trailhead. Road #8410 has sections with deep gullies (> 1 ft deep) that finally make it impossible to proceed the final 200 yards to the TH.Road # 84 had clusters of large potholes (=craters). The roads made what should have been a pleasant short day hike into an ordeal. Crossing Hwy 706, hoping for a west side view of THE Mountain we took Copper Creek Rd up toward Lake Christine. Bad as it was road #67 was an improvement over #8410. The trail started steeper than normal grade, then alternated between moderate to steep. The lake was open, but surrounded by snow patches. No Rainier view from lake and complete snow cover discouraged us from going higher for the views. We did, however, find time for some blackberry pie at the nearby Kopper Kettle restaurant.