When you drive up the I-90 corridor out of Seattle, you are surrounded by a wide selection of options for hikes and scrambles. Being that it’s so close to sprawling Pugetopolis, these hikes tend to be really crowded, especially on weekends. Coming from southwest Colorado where many of the hikes and peaks are harder to access, I’m amazed at the variety of people I see on these easy-access hikes. From the mountaineering boot-wearing alpinists-in-training, to flip-flop-sporting teens carrying no pack or water, the masses swarm these peaks. I find it totally weird to be surrounded (sometimes literally… some of these hikes are like cattle drives to the summit on a sunny Saturday) by such a variety of people at one time. I may never get used to it!
So, when I hike in this area, I go on weekdays. One Monday in early June, I decided to wander up to Granite Mountain and see what it had to offer. I did this hike as a sort of litmus test – I had climbed Pilchuck Mountain two days earlier, and I wanted to see how my body would handle doing steeper hikes back to back. These valley-corridor hikes sure provide a good hill workout! Granite Mountain trail has two general zones; an ass-kicking steep first half through the trees that turns into a knee-buster on the way down (bring your hiking poles!), and a top half that wanders bucolically (yes. I looked that up, it is a word) through the open, willowy meadows to the final summit ridge where a fire lookout tower sternly perches.
the lookout on the summit. cornice to my right.
Here in the pacific northwest, a lot of peaks have these lookout towers. I’m amazed at the effort that was put into building these things, sometimes on summits that are difficult to access without carrying a load of lumber, glass and concrete mix. Some of the towers are filled with historic photos and stories of the lookout construction or local history. Pretty cool! If I’m going to climb a remote summit and suffer the insult of a big old man-made structure perched on top, at least I can have a little history lesson. Okay, I’m being grumpy about them. But I’m not totally opposed. They did provide a valuable service for many years (fire lookout… lots of forests…) and now most of them are being taken great care of in an effort to preserve the history behind them. Kudos to the PNW mountain community. Some of them are even set up as over-night spots with a bed platform and countertop for cooking with a camp stove, such as the one up on Hidden Lake Lookout up by the Canada border. Not so bad, B&B style summit bivy… But I digress. Back to Granite Mountain.
lookout tower perched on the summit
I climbed Granite just after the snow had melted out of the avalanche gullies on the tree-covered middle half of the mountain. Apparently a lot of people have died here on Granite over the years, due to crossing these gullies during high avalanche danger without understanding the risk. From below, it’s not obvious here what you’re getting into; read your map and understand what it tells you! Once I rose out into the meadows on the shoulder of the mountain, the views opened up and it was an easy cruise to the snow-packed summit ridge.
left to right: Kaleetan, Chair, Bryant, The Tooth, Snoqualmie
The view to the northeast was inspiring – perched over Denny creek were Kaleetan Peak, Chair Peak, Bryant Peak and The Tooth with Snoqualmie Mountain one ridge away. Eye candy, although my little mini-camera doesn’t do it justice! I didn’t know it at the time, but I was about to climb The Tooth twice in two weeks. On the way down, I was visited by a curious marmot who no doubt was scoping me for snacks. He stalked me for a while. No luck for the little fellow. Have you ever noticed how when marmots run, their tails spin around in circles like a furry propeller? 
A good day and a worthwhile hike. The trail down offered views of lots of lovely Beargrass (a new one for me) and I was glad I started really early – by noon, the aforementioned masses were streaming up trail in the heat of the day. Overall, my body did great with the hike; I was dead tired starting out and it took longer than usual to warm up my stiff legs from having climbed Pilchuck so recently, but once I broke free of the trees, I got my second wind and felt great. However, recovering from the back-to-back peak hikes took me about three days. Longer than I’d like. Big picture: Be careful for a while on the back-to-back days, and keep adjusting my food planning and training schedule to improve my fitness and recovery.
one of the few level parts of the hike through the trees
Beargrass starting to bloom
