Granite Mountain — Sunday, Jun. 26, 2011

Snoqualmie Region > Snoqualmie Pass

It was a gorgeous day to hike Granite Mtn, blue bird skies in all directioins. I reached the trailhead at 9am, right as a WTA work party was getting ready to set out on the trails (thanks!). For the first 2.5 or 3 miles I was completely alone on the trail. Trail conditions in the wooded areas were great, very dry until later in the day (on the way down) when snow melt must have picked up and created a couple slighly muddy areas, not bad at all though. Once it opened up to the traverse, moving east, through the meadows I started running into more folks, on their way down. While I only saw a few trilliums here and there, I did notice a lot of flower buds during this stretch of the trail, so in a few weeks the wild flowers could be out and it would be fantastic. The last section of the hike, when the trail bends NW after the traverse, is completely covered in snow. It is very well tracked out, I had no problem following the route. I made it up and down fine with my "light hiking" shoes alone, although lot of people had trekking poles and gators-- which might be a good idea if you have them. The views were amazing-- not much I can say here. The route down is pretty fun if you don't mind slidding a little, very fun. All and all, it was a fantastic hike!!