My plan today was to hike to Granite Lakes by taking the connector trail to the Granite Creek Trail but I didn’t notice the trail head as I drove by (it is just a wide spot in the road) so I wound up starting from the Granite Creek Trail Head.
That’s quite OK because the connector trail adds 1.3 miles each way, and because it is longer it is not as steep. A close look at the track below shows that the first 1.4 or so miles of this hike are fairly steep but then it shallows out.
This is a very nice trail and it was a good workout. Granite Creek is a loud (at this time of the year at any rate) companion for most of the way:
The Granite Lakes are sub-alpine lakes in the area known as the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River. When you get to the lake you are in effect in a bowl. Wherever you look, you see the tall mountains that surround the lakes:
On the way down I saw a great example of how nature renews itself. There were several young trees growing out of an enormous old-growth stump:
It was a nice, fairly cool day. I saw about 8 or 9 folks the entire hike. This area is jam-packed on the weekends. In fact, since this trail is just down the road from the massively popular Mailbox Peak, on a sunny weekend just getting into and out of the area is a challenge, with all the people parking along the sides of the narrow road. But today, well, not so much.
A bit more than 8.5 miles and 2,769 feet of elevation gain. Here is an image of the track:
Fun day!