Granite Creek Trail to Granite Lakes — Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025

Nice hike up to Granite Lake today and not very many people on the trail.  The first mile of the trail was snow-free and then snow gradually increased to several inches as you get closer to Granite Lake.  Two pairs of hikers were ahead of me and laid down a good boot track; but the trail is pretty easy to follow.  There are a number of stream crossings; but lots of well-placed rocks made them reasonable to cross.  After the trail split, Thompson Lake (no tracks) to the left and Granite Lakes to the right, the snow kept getting deeper as you descended down to the lake.  There are a couple of challenging obstacles as you approach the lake, one is a creek crossing with a log where it looks like the only option.  The other challenge is some traversing through some boulders beside the creek that are covered with snow and it could be easy to step through some gaps in the rocks, fortunately I had footprints to follow.  After getting over the log and through the boulders you are almost to the lake, which is frozen over.  I took a few pictures and headed back.  The sun and blue skies made an appearance on the return trip and made for some nice views.  I brought traction and poles; but didn't feel like I needed them.  As the snow got deeper, gaiters would have been nice to have.  Happy Winter Hiking.