Granite Mt. Hike

Yesterday Valerie and Lindsey invited me to join them on an 8 mile round trip hike up Granite Mountain near North Bend, WA. I was excited to go on a hike with these two experienced hikers. Valerie is the most accomplished hiker/outdoors woman that I know. I told them I kind of felt like the character Mr. Sillypants from the children's series by MK Brown, ill prepared and certainly less competent at hiking than either of them.


Making the 3800 foot elevation gain was certainly easier going up than down. I was glad to have borrowed my husband's hiking poles. Valerie used one and I used one. Valerie and Lindsey patiently stopped every thirty yards or so to let me catch up. All in all, we did the entire hike in about five and a quarter hours and that includes eating lunch and taking photos at the top for about a half hour. During the hike what hurt most was the tips of my toes as they slammed into the toes of my athletic shoes. Granite Mt. and the other trailheads that are at this location are popular. The parking lot was filled to overflowing when we got down at about 1:30. We seriously doubted that anyone starting after noon would be making it to the lookout station at it was SO darn hot by then. We had a real chuckle at the young couple going up with the guy carrying all the gear and the perfumed girlfriend with her glossy long hair following behind. This morning I woke up with my thighs feeling very tired, so no, I did not run today besides it is even hotter than yesterday. Too hot to do anything more than stay downstairs on the computer or swing in the sky chair under the deck and read.




2009 Granite Mountain