With a couple dry days after all that rain we had, I took the opportunity to hike to Dirty Harry's Peak, but first stopping at the balcony. I skipped going to the museum this time.

The trail up to the balcony is in good shape with no issues. This route follows the old Birdhouse Trail. When the trail was updated as the official route to the balcony most of the old bird houses were removed, but then about 6 new pretty bird houses were added (see picture of one bird house). Sadly, I only found two of the newer ones and one of the old bird houses. Does anyone know what happened to others?

After the main balcony I followed the trail toward the museum. This section of the trail has seen many improvements over the years. The turn off for the museum is just before the main stream crossing. The entrance is well indicated by cairns. I chose to go to the peak today and skip the museum, so I had to get across the stream. It is flowing pretty fast right now, but crossing was not really too bad. I made it without falling in. (See picture)

The recent rain melted the recent snows, but then more snow was expected last night. The first snow on the trail started at 4000' elevation. There was only about an inch (or less) at the top. (See picture) The snow could freeze and make the trail a little slick, but I did not have problems today.

There are not many views from the peak, but I could see Granite Creek valley and one of the lakes on the other side of the mountain. (see picture)

This report is perishable and already 24 hours old.

There's been a good stretch of temperate weather and continued precipitation since the last report.  The trees were making some unsettling noises in the wind, but none fell on me and I encountered very little blow-down (none on the trail).

Several segments of trail-creek/creek-trail/puddles are currently in effect, too many to list here, wear waterproof shoes.

The creek crossing at 2990' was a noteworthy adventure in itself.

Virtually all snow has disappeared from the trail, there is some patchy slush near the summit, but not really worth mentioning, sorry to waste your time.

Forgive my lack of detail here as I am no mycologist, but I did pass the remnants of a very formidable mushroom to the right of the trail on one of the last few switchbacks before the summit.  If you come here in the next few days, you too may be able to witness it.

Lunch near the summit was pretty wet.

Due to a late start I ran really tight on time and did not stop to take photos.

If I had, I would have taken pictures from the summit, which would have been an excellent study in grey scale, and inverted rain.  I also would have taken a photo of the creek at 2990', which is a regular miniature white water rapid.  Then I would have cursed at myself for not taking a photo of aforementioned fungal remains because I didn't really think about doing that until right now.

Stay safe and dry-ish.

Bit of a break in the rain today, but there was plenty of water falling from the trees, especially melting snow up high. Wore a rain jacket most of the way just for the dripping and brushing against branches. Surprisingly almost zero fallen trees or large branches across the trail. Brought micro spikes but snow was so wet and soft I never used them. The sections of trail with only a couple inches of snow on top of rocks were quite slippery but spikes wouldn't have helped much without destroying them on rocks. 2 poles were very, very helpful, especially coming down the mushy slip-n-slide of the top 1000ft ish. Trail above 4000ft hard to follow at times, low branches and other plants seem to be blocking it in places, make sure to bring and use a GPS device. If you plan to summit I strongly recommend high-top boots and gaiters. Heck, even some lightweight snowshoes would have come in handy above 4000ft.  

Elevation: Trail conditions

TH: typical mud

3000 ft: spotty snow

3300 ft: trail mostly covered in snow 1-3"

3700 ft: 3-6" snow, all other footprints turned around

4000ft: 4-8" snow, fully breaking trail now

4500ft (summit): 8-12+" snow, knee deep if you step just off the "trail" (aka the slightly more packed down strip).

Hiked out to Dirty's Harry Bathtub this morning via the Web Mountain Trail split off on Dirty Harry's Peak. This is an excellent place to get some solitude on the weekend.

The first 0.25 mile of Web Mountain Trail is really overgrown and currently has a stream running through this portion. Outside of this small section all of the trails were in good condition.

I spent a lot of time trying to find an easy way to access the ridge near Coincidence Point. Ended up on talus every time and did not reach the ridge line. 

From there I hiked back to DHP trail and up to the summit. Enjoyed a long lunch on the clearing facing south that cliffs off into the Dirtybox ridge line.

Only a small dusting of snow on top, no spikes were needed today. 

I read a report from puzzlr on a winter traverse from Dirty Harry's down into the Granite Lakes basin. This was what prompted me to try to take a look at the Coincidence Ridge earlier in my hike.

http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1180153 

Does anybody have thoughts/ advice on descending into Granite Lakes basin from ridge between DHP and Web? 

Ended today's hike with a leisurely stop at the Museum, DH Balcony, and finally Little Balcony via the Ira Spring Connector. Gaia link below. 

11.75mi / 4.5k gain / 7 hours 45 minutes 

Went to Dirty Harry’s today knowing the weather was not the best. Was thinking of only doing the balcony, but then decided what the hell, I’ll head up to the peak. Other than being wet and muddy, as expected, the trail was in very good condition. A little above 3000ft snow began intermittently and by 3600-3800 the trail was completely snow covered for the remainder of the way to the peak, up to maybe 3-6”. Even snow covered though, it was still pretty easy to follow until the last 100-200 vertical feet. This is where I some how lost the trail entirely. I had the trail mapped on my phone using multiple GPS apps and proceeded to bushwhack until I got to what I think was the top. On the way down I did find the actual trail again, it looks like at 4300ish ft a tree came down into the trail that was hard to pass and I went around thus loosing the trail. Had I not had a GPS or the foot steps in the fresh snow, might have been bad. So be careful up near the top. Lesson to hike with a GPS with the map of the trail you are on.

Other than that an overall enjoyable time with the weather keeping the crowd very low. Just very wet.