Granite Lakes

We drove up to the Middle Fork Snoqualmie Natural Resources Conservation Area to hike up to Granite Lakes. This is an 8.8 mile round trip hike with 2,270 ft of gain. This trail follows Granite Creek through the forest up to Granite Lakes. Today, the trail transitioned from fall to winter around 2,300 ft.

We started the hike in the fog.

There were some fungi growing on the lower sections of the trail.

more fungi

Bridge crossing Granite Creek 1.8 miles from the trailhead.

View of Granite Creek from the bridge

Fresh snow from last night above 2,000 ft

There are many small streams crossing over the trail, we were able to step over on the rocks.

3.7 miles from the trailhead the trail splits, Thompson Lake to the left and our destination Granite Lakes to the right. A 0.7 mile trail leads to Granite Lake with a couple of opening in the forest for some views. Here Dirty Harry Peak

Some distant peaks to the west

Before reaching the outlet at Granite Lake, we found a boot track in the snow that led to the north shore of the lake. View of West Defiance Peak and

Dirty Harry's Peak across the lake. We took a lunch break here.

View of West Defiance Peak from the outlet crossing

There are two wide creek crossings at the outlet. We were able to boulder hop and keep our feet dry.

View of Granite Lake and West Defiance Peak from near the south side of the outlet.

Trees reflecting in Granite Creek at the outlet.

After enjoying the views at the lake, we headed back, this is the larger of the two water crossings at the outlet.

Although we saw many other hikers on the trail today, for most of the hike, we were by ourselves, enjoying our time in the forest.

View through the trees as we hiked closer to the trailhead.

some of the fungi we saw along the trail today:

 

 

 

Granite Lakes

 We drove up to the North Bend area to hike up to Granite Lakes in the Middle Fork Snoqualmie Natural Resoures Conservation Area. This is a beautiful forest trail that is 8.8 miles round trip with 2,300 ft of gain.
The trail was in great conditions, no blow downs, and all the water crossings were easy to do while keeping our boots dry.

There were lots of wildflowers in bloom along with shrubs and trees.

 We found some ripe berries

view of Granite Creek

 wooden bridge over Granite Creek

3.5 miles up the trail, we took the trail on the right to Granite Lakes

small creek over the trail was easy to cross on rocks

 Dirty Harry's Peak to the south


























Mount Defiance to the north, reflected in Granite Creek













wide angel view of part of Upper Granite Lake
We didn't have time today, to look for the boot track down to lower Granite Lake

 As we were driving away from the trailhead, we spotted momma and baby elk

 some of the many wildflowers and other flora we saw along the trail today: