No buddies for the day so I decided to try and tag two summits today. It's been a long time since I did even one summit, but with all this daylight and a fantastically sunny day there was no question about it.
First goal was to summit Granite Mtn. My first and only previous visit to Granite was in Nov 2008 when I was only a few hundred feet short of the summit when leg cramps really kicked in.
Since it was going to be hot I wanted to be on the trail early, but since the trail is about a 2 hours drive that didn't quite work out for me... but I was on the trail about 8:30am or so... and the lot was almost full of cars already.
Granite Mtn OneWay Profile TOPO
How to keep birds off your shoulders
tiger lily and indian paintbrush (?)
Tiger Lily
Leap frogged with two other groups all the way up the mountain.
The trail is currently diverting people to go right up the boulder ridge route instead of the official route ('easier and longer') around the ridge and up the back side. The intersection is currently under a small snow ridge (that should disappear soon) and it seemed a lot of people on the scramble had no idea there was another option.
FWIW, that scramble was fantastic! I was a bit uncomfortable being solo, but I tried to stay near other people just in case something went horribly wrong (it didn't).
View of Lookout and boulder scramble route
Granite on Granite Mtn and under Granite LO
Lower part of Boulder scramble
Ridge
Final Boulder Slope
Almost 4,000 feet down...
Pika
View toward Rainier from Summit
Shared some of my water with one fellow at the summit who was in need of it. Later I realized that I had more water than I thought and wish, for his sake, that I would have given him more than he asked for. It was HOT.
Beargrass is still out in abundance. What is it that causes many of these to grow straight while a great many of them have some degree of 'S' shape curves at the top? My only thought was that it might be related to how much snow covered them and for how long.
S Curves
S Curves? Why?
Meadow Slopes (or avalanche chute in winter)
Beargrass abounds
Beargrass and view
Beargrass around trail
Bugs were out, but only mildly menacing. Not enough for me to put on the bug spray or pull out the head net. They certainly were nothing like what is currently swarming on Mt. Pilchuck.
I took less photos than usual. Partly because it was so hot, partly because my lens has gunk in it (being mailed back to Canon this week) and partly because I was playing with taking some video footage for this test-run of a hiking video. Now that it's thrown together it feel like a cross over of an armature video of a stalker on the trail. Not at all what I was going for, but I'll share it anyway.
My second objective of the day was to summit Mt. Pilchuck. My first Pilly summit was in a snowstorm so I wanted to see the views. As it turns out, the bugs were horrible. They sucked all the enjoyment out of it so I turned around at the top of the chairlift remains. Probably won't write up a TR for that (but then again, maybe I will).
Stay Hydrated & Happy Trails!
~E
"Ill habits gather unseen degrees, as brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas." ~John Dryden
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"Ill habits gather unseen degrees, as brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas." ~John Dryden
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Is there still that much snow up there that you can't take the regular trail around the back up or were people just following the lemmings up the ridge?
I've taken the back trail when it was mostly snow covered before and as long as you have microspikes (if the snow is firm) it isn't bad.
I'm just not a big fan of boulder scrambles if they can be avoided. I go into slug pace mode it seems.
There is quite a bit of snow on the backside still (I'll get a photo up later tonight) but mostly the turn-off point to go one way or the other simply isn't obvious so people just follow the dirt tread (and everyone else in front of them).
I did see a few people down on the summer trail while I was ascending the scramble route.
"Ill habits gather unseen degrees, as brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas." ~John Dryden
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"Ill habits gather unseen degrees, as brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas." ~John Dryden
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There is quite a bit of snow on the backside still (I'll get a photo up later tonight) but mostly the turn-off point to go one way or the other simply isn't obvious so people just follow the dirt tread (and everyone else in front of them).
I did see a few people down on the summer trail while I was ascending the scramble route.
Yea that's what I suspected. The ridge route is obvious.
The back way if snow covered/not well traveled isn't so obvious unless I guess you have waypoints marked/are pretty familiar with it.
Oh yea are the bugs a big problem yet?
when I was up there on thursday I ran into a couple guys who took the other route around and said the boulder route was MUCH easier than the snow. Not sure what another week of warm weather will do to the bowl, but I'm hoping it'll clear it out.
P.S. I was scared of the boulders too since I was alone and didn't make it all the way up. I'm glad you did! Great pics too, I loved that hike.
I love your tiger lily shot, they are one of my favourite flowers.
Wow that's one friendly pika, nice close up!
And what is with the sun in your photos? Where are the rainy, drizzly Elvis landscapes I've come to love?
I was up on Granite today and will just add a few comments, first the trail route is almost snow free, just a few steps over snow and the rest on trail, also someone needs to go up and get the traveling summit register which is in the ammo box under the lookout and is being used as a summit register for Granite, with many pages already filled and no one reading what it is there for.
I hiked it with my older son that same day, about an hour later than you Elvis. My son kicked my a$$ going up and down, never worked a hard day in his life, suffers no wants, sleeps until noon, but he's a good kid nonetheless. We went for the rock ridge route, good friction on good granite, unless you're a dog. After working about a third of the way up, Ranger hit the canine crux. I lugged his 75 pounds across a gap that for a primate was a piece of cake. I decided then to bail off the ridge to the right down into the snow-filled bowl. I did the mountain hemlock self-belay down the slippery heather slope. Ranger went for the four-legged glissade on the snow. From there we picked up pieces of the trail between patches of snow all the way to the top where my older son was waiting having made the ridge route. Great day, but hot.
You didn't see the Traveling Summit Register while you were up there, did you?
!!!
I read that it was on Granite, figured certainly someone else would get it, read it again later and thought "hmmm... maybe it will still be there, but probably not." and then completely forgot about it until I read your post.
That was probably the only time I'll be that close to it!
"Ill habits gather unseen degrees, as brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas." ~John Dryden
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"Ill habits gather unseen degrees, as brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas." ~John Dryden
My Trip List
And what is with the sun in your photos? Where are the rainy, drizzly Elvis landscapes I've come to love?
I was doubtful until it actually happened.
The weather forecast said there was a 31% chance of a thundershower... so I brought all my raingear, just in case.
At least I left the ice axe & Stabilicers at home.
Tigermn:
Here is my pic of the regular trail on the backside of the ridge (taken from the ridge). It looked like there was more snow further along the trail, but it didn't get a picture.
Looking down from ridge onto regular trail on backside
Stones:
Too bad we missed each other!
~E
"Ill habits gather unseen degrees, as brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas." ~John Dryden
My Trip List
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"Ill habits gather unseen degrees, as brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas." ~John Dryden
My Trip List
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Great pics too, I loved that hike.
no comments from TAH about all the weekend warriors sans packs or water?
!!!
I read that it was on Granite, figured certainly someone else would get it, read it again later and thought "hmmm... maybe it will still be there, but probably not." and then completely forgot about it until I read your post.
That was probably the only time I'll be that close to it!
I was doubtful until it actually happened.
The weather forecast said there was a 31% chance of a thundershower... so I brought all my raingear, just in case.
At least I left the ice axe & Stabilicers at home.
Tigermn:
Here is my pic of the regular trail on the backside of the ridge (taken from the ridge). It looked like there was more snow further along the trail, but it didn't get a picture.
