A spectacular day of almost complete solitude! Got an early start at 6:45 am this morning and did see anyone for hours and hours, until I was on my way back. The trail is wet, muddy, but snowfree until the Thompson Lake junction. All creek crossings are fine. Once on the Thompson Lake trail, intermittent snow patches begin to appear almost immediately. But they are quite short, and the snow is soft, mashed-potato snow. I never felt the need to use spikes. Unfortunately, there was occasional postholing without warning. I probably sunk about 6-10 inches. The snow patches are not much deeper than that, and they only exist in the open areas. Huge thanks to whoever cleared the overgrowth from this part of the trail!! It was bad.
I will say that when I reached the junction with the Thompson Point trail/old road, I was grateful I hadn't chosen that one today. The trashy snow seemed to continue onwards in that direction, so it would have been slow, annoying going. For the Thompson Lake trail, the snow did continue for a short time (see picture), and then disappeared for awhile when the trail re-entered the forest. One new blowdown here...it's a big boy. You can either go over or under, and both take some work. Nice lush forest though. Snow re-appeared during the descent to the lake basin. I was very glad to have my poles, because that is a steep descent, and the snow/ice was slick.
Once to the first viewpoint of the lake, things got interesting. There was a bootpath of sorts that followed the sharp switchback to the left/down. I took that (carefully) and followed the trail until it empties out at the boulder field just shy of the lakeshore. The bootpath stops, and it is very wise not to continue. I tentatively tested it, and my hiking pole hit a hidden hole with no seeable bottom. In other words, the snow is hiding DEEP cavities between the rocks, and you absolutely cannot tell where they are. This is ankle-breaking territory at best. The top viewpoint is very pretty, and if I were to do it again, I would just stop there.
Make sure to save some energy, because climbing out of the basin is unforgiving! Passed a family backpacking and maybe a couple more people headed to the lake and that's it. Once back on the Granite Creek Trail, passed some more folks heading to Granite Lakes, but overall, not super busy.
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