Granite Mountain w/Derek 7/20/2016

Looking north from Granite summit
Looking north from Granite summit

What a great hike today!  We were first out of the trail head and first to the summit today – left the lot about 5:45 am and got to the summit about 8:30.

This is one of those hikes where you can see the goal from a long way off:

The goal is in sight
The goal is in sight

That lookout is the goal.  The official trail apparently goes straight up that rocky ridge but we hiked up to the base of the ridge and found a trail that went down and then up around the less-drastic northern end of the summit area.  No way up that isn’t tough, but there are degrees and we took the milder route.

Last section of the trail
Last section of the trail

And then, all of a sudden, Derek got to a switchback and saw that we were really close.  A few minutes later, and Derek was up there:

Derek on summit, right below lookout
Derek on summit, right below lookout

The views up there, at just over 5,600 feet, are 360 with lakes and mountains dominating the view.

Looking down on (l) Crystal Lake, (r) Denny Lake
Looking down on (l) Crystal Lake, (r) Denny Lake

You won’t die of thirst, there were plenty of water sources today, periodically throughout the entire hike.

Water source near the summit
Water source near the summit

We shared the space with a family of Marmots.  Here is the Grampy:

Marmot
Marmot

And beautiful flowers along most of the trail.

Flowers along the trail
Flowers along the trail

Views aplenty:

Looking south from about 5,000 feet
Looking south from about 5,000 feet
Another southern view - looks hikeable
Another southern view – looks hikeable

I do think, looking at the map, that that peak is Silver Peak – if so, we can get up there and in fact that hike has been discussed lately.

Here is the visualization:

http://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/djhiker/granite-mountain-7-20-2016/#.V4_fkJXlupo

According to my brand new Garmin Montana (might not have worked perfectly the first time) the hike was only 8 miles.  I don’t believe it.  Officially it is about 8.6 miles, and Derek’s Garmin was about 8.5.  I think mine needs a little shakedown.

Anyway, totally fun hike today, I will definitely be going back to this one.

2 thoughts on “Granite Mountain w/Derek 7/20/2016”

    1. Yeah, there are plenty of marmots up there and there are “agressive” chipmunks at the summit. They are used to being fed and are not shy about politely asking for a snack. Beautiful mountain.

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