[smclean]

Schools out, first day of summer.. what’s one to do? Why go hiking of course. The mission was Granite Mountain, I was up there last fall but it was shrouded in clouds and you couldn’t see 10 feet in front of you at the top. The weather has been amazing lately so I had my hopes up when driving out to the trail head. Arriving at 7.30 there was only one other car in the lot. The hike up from the trail head to the tree line was nice, but much like any other hike. A bit after the edge of the tree line we ran into some snow fields, from here on out depending on how you work your rote its going to be on snow. Which is great if you ask me. But the reflection of the sun off the snow is a killer, (I realized when I got to the trail head that my sun glasses were back at the house ) upon reaching the summit one is rewarded with sweeping views, Mt. Rainer dominates the skyline to the south, and Mt. Baker can be seen to the north. Unfortunately I was a bit hazy. We saw no one on the way up, and had the summit to our selves for a good 30 minutes before heading down. On the way down we passed about 10 people on their way up. Great hike.

Me at the summit.