Granite Mountain
Date: June 3, 2012
Difficulty: 7 out of 10
Distance: 8 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 4,000 feet
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Exit 47, I-90
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Dry to heavy snow at the top.
Hiking With: Dr. Robert McElroy & Macho the Dog Wonder.

Dr. Robert McElroy invited me to hike with him and a few of his friends on Granite Mountain, exit 47 on I-90. The purpose of this hike was to stair-step the winter trail up to the forest ranger’s lookout tower and glissade down on the descent.

When we got out of our cars at the trailhead, there were a couple of forest rangers hanging around. Well, that meant Mr. Macho Man (my dog) had to be on the leash….which is totally miserable for me and him. So, I told Rob I would take off before the forest rangers did so I could take the leash off down the trail. I didn’t know the trail conditions or more importantly I didn’t know that one of the avalanche shoots had a major snow/mud avalanche around March and destroyed part of the trail about a third of a mile in. I tried to negotiate my way through the debris, but somehow I missed the trail and found myself on the other side of the mudslide completely unable to find the trail. I was able to use my cell phone and call the Doc, who was now ahead of me and gave me a little advice on where the trail was. After a hard push I caught up with the group in twenty minutes.

We wanted to take the winter route up, but due to a lack of snow….we stayed on the summer trail until we got out of the tree-line and took the snow straight up to the look-out tower. Snow conditions were perfect, no snowshoes needed http://youtube.com/watch?v=1Egl0SMdD0c&feature=g-upl. We stayed at the top long enough to change our wet shirts, munch down a sandwich and drink some hot tea.

It was a much faster pace down; descending in snow goes much quicker than a normal dry trail and much easier on old knees. When I got back down to the parking lot, a young couple asked me if they could get a ride back to Seattle because they lost their car keys on the trail. This meant that I had to forgo my stop at the North Bend Bar & Grill!