Arrived at the trailhead for Dirty Harry’s Balcony at around 9am on a sunny Veteran’s Day. With the holiday, the parking lot was already 75% full. The restroom was relatively clean, stocked, and surprisingly not stinky at all. With clear skies in the forecast, I decided to make my first visit to Dirty Harry’s Peak with quick stops at the Balcony and the other viewpoints along the way. The trail switches back and forth along the south-facing side of the mountain which provided beautiful, filtered sunlight all day long across most of the trail and warm sunshine at the various overlooks. Surprisingly there was no snow on the trail at all, even at the higher elevations.
I have been to the Balcony and the Museum on several earlier occasions, but this was the first time I crossed the stream just beyond the Museum turn-off (about 3.5 miles from the trailhead, including a quick Balcony side-trip). The stream’s water level was much more manageable than it was in the spring and crossing it was not a problem, especially with trekking poles. It’s “only” another 1.5 miles from here to the peak but it’s approximately 1,300 feet of additional elevation gain. The trail steepens and then steepens again before you reach the summit. The climb is not technical at all and there is no exposure until you reach the top of the ridge where the drop-offs are significant.
Note that Dirty Harry’s Peak is not above the tree line so the views are scattered along the peak’s ridge. The most interesting view was looking over the ridge to the view of the Middle Fork valley, with Lower Granite Lake directly below. (This was a novelty for me because the lower lake is not visible at all from the Granite Lakes trail!) I was hoping to be able to see both of the Granite Lakes but I could not find a vantage point that included the upper lake. On the south side of the ridge there was also a nice view of Mount Rainier, which was backlit with the bright sunshine. After a short snack break, I headed back down the trail relying heavily on my trekking poles to avoid slipping on the steep, rocky trail. The lower part of the trail was busy with many hikers working their way up to the balcony in the early afternoon, but it never felt crowded and all of the dog owners were super-respectful of other hikers.
5 hours, 9.4 miles, 3,600 feet elevation gain
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