"Solo hike on Labor Day weekend. Was at the TH @ 7:00AM and found the parking lot with about 10 cars, when I returned @ 10:30AM it was overflowing. No clouds the entire hike, high 60's Fahrenheit. Lovely little hike." — zachmitch • Sep 4, 2022

"Awesome hike. Beautiful day with 360 degree views of the Cascades. Tons of Blue Berries. Hiked up the ridge on the final ascent and on the normal trail on the descent. Definitely a great workout." — joeerickson • Sep 4, 2018

"Good day up Granite Mountain. Late start at 11:00 AM. 3.5 hours up. Trails in good condition. Snow only above the treeline about the 5000-foot level. The snow was soft and easy to hike/kick up mid day. Recommend poles for stability, micro spikes/crampons optional. Most folks just hiked up, some in boots, some in trail running shoes. We used poles. Ice axes recommended for a good glissade down. The snow trail is in good shape, soft with a cornice on the right side. Take care going up. We only made it to about 5400 foot level, past the major boulder/scree field, as a storm blew in and rain making the rocks somewhat slippery, and it was unclear how long the rain would persist. Many people used crampons for the final summit. It will have to wait another day for us." — markhadland • Jun 16, 2018

"I hiked up to the top of Granite with less than a foot of snow on top. It seemed like the last chance before the winter snow starts to fill the avalanche area. However it turned to warm rain on the following days, so the snow is probably all gone, even at the top ... for a little while yet. An uneventful hike, since I stuck completely to the trail, the weather was fine and the snow was all tamped down. The views from the top are great, and comprehensive. I met a couple there from Colorado, and they wanted to know about some interesting, moderately high mountains to climb. From Granite I could easily point out McClellan, Defiance, Snoqualmie, Kendall, Alta, Abiel and Humpback, as examples that might pique their interest. 3730 ft gain, 9 miles, 7 hours" — markgarrett • Oct 16, 2017

"Took a day off of work to hike the peak in mid summer. Pretty buggy through the meadow/bench section but the summit was sublime. YouTube video is on my channel. https://youtu.be/TgEXL9D6U6M" — MosquitoFood • Aug 5, 2016

"Planned an ambitious day bagging Granite, West Granite, Pratt, and both Banderas, but ended up turning back after starting along the ridge from Granite to West Granite. There was just enough snow on the rocks to hide the holes and make everything super slick, so we decided it was best to save that expedition for another day. The late start didn't help. Pretty rainy, but the clouds were generally high enough to still get some alluring views." — TynanRammGranberg • Nov 7, 2015

"Let's see here. A huge avalanche took out parts of the trail in February this year, causing the USFS to create new routes around the mess. 5/8ths approx of the hike was just normal moderately steep trail hiking. But the last 700 to 1000ft of the hike is still layered in mixed wet and icy snow. Lots of fairly steep cornices on the final approach up the ridge have to be hiked to reach the top. Snowshoes with good crampons and a heel bar, or regular boot crampons were highly recommended if you wanted the freedom to step without having to be sluggish and obnoxiously careful. On the way down I took an ill-advised route to give me a nice short-cut that ended up in me running into a steep snowfield that looked 50+ percent in grade. Without a partner or rope...my option was to climb back up 500ft, or use stop and go self-arrest with my ice axe for a few hundred feet until the field leveled off. I did the ridiculous thing, and purposely self-arrested my way slowly down the field. Other hikers in the area seemed a little confused and slightly alarmed. Then I met a marmot on the way back down a rock field immediately following the the snow field I had SA'd down. He wasn't impressed with how c..." — Snowcarcass • Jun 3, 2012

"I have mixed feelings about the route that was forged after the most recent snow on Granite Mountain. About halfway up the trail was abandoned for a steep direct ascent up an unusually wide creek bed that could only have been widened out so far by continual avalanche activity. This was made even more obvious by the clear remnants of said avalanche nearly down to the turn-off. By the tracks, I gathered that at least 10-20 others had chosen this route, and so up we went, kicking in steps where they weren't already. Just when it felt like it couldn't possibly get steeper, it did, and around 500 ft below summit the path moved to the southwestern ridge to avoid the near-vertical ascent. This helped as the ridge is riddled with emerging talus, some of the only relief from the extreme exposure, but hindered as the wind has been hammering the melting snow, creating hard ice that is nearly impossible to kick steps into. Amir and I agreed to go as slowly as safety required, and the final 500ft took us nearly 45 minutes to ascend. Well worth it though, the skies were crystal clear , and the sun was great company. After a change of socks and cocktails we geared back up, prepared for a very ..." — Jeb • Dec 22, 2011

"I hit the Summit in just over 2 hours, no snow until the last half mile, just past the ponds. If you have a dog i'd advise you to take the snowy trail route, but if you're up for a scramble, all the snow can be avoided by taking the rock field to the tower. Blue sky and sunshine everywhere east of Rattlesnake and Mt Si, and a beautiful cloud front down around 4000 feet from there to beyond view to the Sound." — Jeb • Aug 13, 2011

"7.4 mile hike - Beautiful, sunny July day. No snow until just before the summit. Made my first attempt at glisading on the way down. It was only 100 feet or so, but kinda fun." — mtnhiker • Jul 5, 2011