Did Snoqualmie Mt. in the morning and decided to make it a double header. Trail is snow-free to the summit ridge, after which there are a few patches, none calling for ice axe unless it were to get icy, and in any case the trail should be completely melted out in another couple weeks. Chatted with the FS intern staffing the lookout for the weekend and enjoyed the afternoon sunlight and views. Tiger lily, dogwood, paintbrush, lupine and beargrass in abundance in the meadows.

A great dayhike, though there were plenty of people there given it being Saturday. The trail is dusty and dry, and once you clear the trees, you will be in beautiful alpine brush, but heed this warning: there is little shade up there and on a hot day, the unprepared hiker will find herself with too much sun. Also, most people think that when you clear the trees, you are almost at the top, but you are really only half way there. There are periodic watering holes all the way to the top, where there is still snow. Careful on the rocks at the top ! There are some that teeter underfoot.

Granite Mountain is a breeze! (except for the snow still hanging on near the top). The flowers are out, the trail is in good shape, but snow in the bowl underneath the summit is a bit steep in places for non ice-axe users. Most hikers are successfully scrambling up the rocks to the summit ridge. It takes a little bit of effort, but the high country experience and view is worth the effort. What a great hike!

Started early at 0700. The trail is in great shape all the way up to about 4800 feet, then the snow begins. I started walking up the granite, but after about 15 minutes of that decided to backtrack and try going on the snow. Wait until you can see the lookout on top, then follow the right side of the ridge. The snow was much easier and quicker. After a quick lunch, I started back down. That's when the real eye opening experience began. When I left the trail head there were only four cars, and I only passed three other hikers on the way up. On the way down, I passed 103 hikers going up, and at the bottom there were 80 cars!!! Once again, hiking on the weekends is for those poor souls that can't get a weekday off....

Trail is snow-free - except for a solid, boot-blasted jaunt across the last avalanche chute crossing - until you're on the ridge (above 4600 ft). There you face King Kong-sized snow patches. The snow up here is soft and deep - every of my attempts to step onto the snow resulted in post-holing all the way to terra firma, sinking beyond my knees even along the edges of the patch. The trail switchbacks in and out of the snow patch along its eastern edge before finally deciding to cross the patch at its center where it appeared to be over 4 feet deep. My advice - try passing below the snowpatch. The ranger report dated 23 June stated that you can make it to the summit if you kept to the rocks - the views I had of the summit confirmed that. Except for snooze-able lairs of beargrass there were only drippings of wildflowers: paintbrush, bunchberry, lupine, and others. Few insects bothered me while I was on the trail - but while bush-whacking CCW around the snowpatch (the wrong direction, it turns out) the insects were extreme.