Beautiful day for a hike – I was surprised to see so few people on trail! The hike up to Pratt Mountain uses a couple different trails, so it’s important to know before you go (a note on a confused hiker later). Start up the Granite Mountain trail, making sure to stay left at the junction to head towards Pratt Lake. It’s pretty well marked, so just make sure you are paying attention to all trail junctions (there are a few for Pratt Mountain). The hike up the Pratt Lake trail is nice and forested; I actually really enjoyed the trees and scenery on this hike. There are several stream crossings, but the first one is the trickiest – it takes some skill and balance to keep your feet dry. By the time we had headed down the trail someone had added a few more large rocks to the crossing, but beware that many of them are not stable. I highly recommend bringing poles on this hike, just for the stream crossings. Further up on the Pratt Lake trail there are a few snow patches, some decently long. They are melting out quickly, so beware of post-holing through. We didn’t need microspikes, since the snow that is on trail is slushy.
If you want to head up to Pratt Mountain, you’ll want to take the junction signed for Island Lake (staying left, rather than heading downhill and to the right to go to Pratt Lake). This section of trail is a really lovely walk along a ridge – all of us found it extremely pleasant! Pretty soon the trail climbs steeply up some switchbacks, and approximately a mile later the boulder field you’ll want to head up comes into view. This part of the hike is a scramble, so beware that there is no designated trail, and you’ll be using your hands to climb up the boulder field. However, it’s pretty straight forward, and you can see the top of Pratt Mountain from the boulders. When we went, the snow was still melting out, making the snow sections a mine field of post holing; your foot will go far, and may get twisted in the rocks below. BE CAREFUL HERE. I’d recommend waiting until the snow melts out completely. Because of the snow, the scramble took us quite a bit longer than we anticipated, both coming up and going down. Once higher up, it was a little easier to stick to just the boulders. There was still a decent amount of snow at the summit, but we were able to find the summit register and sign our names.
From the summit you have pretty good views of Granite and West Granite, can look down to Pratt Lake, and on the other side you can see the backside of Little and Big Bandera, Island and Rainbow Lakes, Blazer Lake, Lake Kulla Kulla, and Mt. Defiance. Mount Rainier also stands prominently in your view. It was much cooler and windier at the summit, so bring a wind breaker or warm jacket for your lunch break!
On our way down, we ran into a hiker who was asking how far it was to Granite Mountain. He had somehow missed the junction! I showed him where he was on our GPS map, and highly encouraged that he not try to summit Pratt Mountain, but he continued on the trail regardless. I hope he made it alright, as his shoe choice was not ideal, and he only had a drawstring shoe tote bag for a backpack. I was very surprised to find someone so turned around on the trail, so just remember to pay attention to all of the trail junctions!
A few people we ran into had tried to make it to Island and Rainbow lakes, but there was still too much snow and they had a hard time navigating and finding which way to go. I’m not sure how many people were successful trying to get to the lake basin, so just a heads up if you plan on heading that way.
Trail: Granite Mountain Trail, Pratt Lake Trail, Mt. Defiance/Island Lake Trail
Roundtrip: 11.7 miles as measured via Garmin
Avg Pace: 35:00 min/mile
Start Time: 9:00AM
Moving Time: 6 hours, 45 minutes
Total Time: 7 hours, 45 minutes
Finish Time: 4:45PM
Weather: 41F and sunny, with a few clouds
Comments
yeahthatsme on Pratt Mountain
That's pretty concerning granite mountain is nowhere near where that guy was looking. I have been lost in the Kulla Kullas before. Always thought lakes were great indicators. There's quite a bit of lakes up there though. Lol. Pratt is a beautiful peak.
Posted by:
yeahthatsme on May 31, 2019 10:29 AM
TonyAndrews on Pratt Mountain
Fabulous trip report - thanks! We went up today (6/9) and the snow was almost completely gone from the boulder field. There was some snow left between the false summit at the top of the boulder field and the true summit.
Posted by:
HigherAndHarder on Jun 09, 2019 02:52 PM