Granite Creek Trail to Granite Lakes — Saturday, Mar. 1, 2025

Beautiful hike as always! Sadly, quite a bit of the snow is going fast in this warm weather. Summer hikers rejoice, but snow hikers won't leave disappointed. Most of the trail is either dry or muddy from snowmelt, several stream crossings that might require some rock hopping.
The last ~0.5 mile from the Thompson Lake junction down to the lake is thickly snow covered. There is ice in some places that's not hard to avoid. No fancy hiking tools needed, unless you count a pole or two. The lake is still frozen over and absolutely stunning. You can even walk out onto the ice a little way safely. Overall, an amazing hike!
Roads were clear and by 4:30pm the parking lot was at about 20% full. Bathrooms are still closed but there are a couple open 0.5mi down the road.