Granite Mountain is a famous hiking destination in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. It’s a stone’s throw away from Snoqualmie Pass and other nearby hikes. The steady incline with short mileage also makes it a hiker’s favorite.
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Granite Mountain at a Glance
Access: Granite Mountain Trailhead
Round Trip: 7.4 miles
Elevation Range: 1840′-5629′
Gear: microspikes, snowshoes
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: yes
The Preface
Granite Mountain became my New Year’s Day pilgrimage seven years ago. The mountain has been near and dear to me since our first visit in 2008. But I also visited it later when the mountain weather was questionable.
Once again, the pup and I arrived at an empty parking lot early. Then we started hiking at a quarter past seven after a bit of organizing. Despite the freezing temperatures, I enjoy visiting the first of the year to avoid the mass.
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Granite Mountain Trail
The trail was muddy from the start and sometimes covered in ice. Soon, we reached the Pratt Lake Trail fork and turned right up the steep hill. Even though I used microspikes from the get-go, they were more useful here.
Along the way were many days-old postholing boot tracks. Snow soon became slick on the steep path as we zigzagged through to the first snow chute. Then we took a break by the gully before continuing.
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Skipping the South Ridge
Most people turn around before the gully during a heavy snow year. Although the south ridge looked enticing, we opted to stay on the defined path instead. It’d also save us lots of time carving out a trail ourselves.
The path took us through two more snow gullies before leaving the forest. Then I changed to snowshoes at 4200′ in the open terrain. Shortly, we followed the recent tracks as the landscape around us started to take shape.
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Southeast Ridge
We reached the southeast ridge at 5200′ and traversed the crest to the lookout tower. From my experience, it tends to blow southeast wind around this time. So it would be the worst place to feel the gusts if any.
Slowly, soft snow became ice below the tower. So the final walk-up felt less arduous and more enjoyable. It’s also less windy here for some reason. But the wind speed grew the minute we stepped onto the summit.
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Granite Mountain with Views
We stayed out of the constant wind gusts behind the trees. The sun had been out for a while, but the windchill kept the temperatures low to mid-20s. But it wouldn’t stop the pup from rolling in the snow to pass the time.
The views are always great when the weather is decent, as today. Dark clouds had long covered Mount Rainier, so it wasn’t visible. After savoring the weather on top for an hour and a half, we left the empty summit.
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Onward to Tusk O’Granite
Taking last year‘s route, we dropped onto the northwest ridge. It would be under a mile to Tusk O’Granite next door. We bypassed the steep and icy south slopes by hugging the windy crest.
We reached the woodsy pass below Tusk O’Granite and took a short break to avoid the wind. Then we contended with more fresh powder on the east crest for the final 400′. Before long, we were on the timbered summit ridge.
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The Windy Tusk O’Granite
It was too windy to stay longer than we needed on this summit. I also couldn’t enjoy the gorgeous views with the powder flying everywhere. So we checked out the top and quickly dropped onto the south ridge.
We went south on the ridgeline and moved through snow and ice. By the flat area were tracks from below that looked to have turned around. After one last look at Granite Mountain, we followed the trails down the south side.
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Outro
After dropping 1700′ of elevation, we walked onto the Pratt Lake Trail. After a short break by the icy stream, we continued on the beaten path. Before long, we were back at the Granite Mountain Trail fork.
Two dozen cars were in the lot when we reached the trailhead in the early afternoon.
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