Granite Mountain — Saturday, Nov. 8, 2003

Snoqualmie Region > Snoqualmie Pass

It turned out to be a rather pleasant day weatherwise. Broken clouds and even some sun. Not much of a wind which makes Granite much nicer but tucking on the south side of the lookout (all shuttered for winter) cut the breeze to nil. It also made looking at Mt Rainier much easier - well, its top anyway. Okay, it was pretty darn slippery from where you enter the back basin to the top on the summer route. It was packed snow. There were also areas of glare ice where water flows across the trail just above the ""pond"" area. Below the pond, the last switchback was snow that had been packed to ice. There was also considerable mud but most of it was surface and it was not really slick. Once you enter the basin, there probably is 2 to 4 inches of loose snow. It was very pretty up there with the broken sun and snow on the granite boulders. Lots of people going up and when I got down to the parking lot, it was full altho, some of them might have done Pratt Lake but many of them were on the Granite Mt trail. If the forecast holds true, the conditions will get more snowy over the next day or two. That could make hiking easier (better footing in the soft snow) or real messy if too deep. The hiking season is approaching its end possibly whereas last year it lasted into early December. Have a good one and watch your step.