Granite Mountain with Carlos

Published on 2004-10-27 by Michael Stanton

Granite Mountain, 10/27/04}

Carlos Pessoa and I took advantage of the great weather this morning to get in a "Dawn Patrol" hike. Somewhat delayed by his fascinating guitar and keyboard setup at home, we eventually were hiking at 6:00 am. The trail was dry, the air was crisp, and there was hoarfrost pushing up on the edges of the trail like crystaline entities. Once above the trees there was a dusting of snow on the trail. Golden sunrise found us in a frozen bog with the Lookout building visible above. We took a time-consuming steeper line up deep snow drifts on the final slope, discovering the much better "real trail" on the descent. We felt like free men standing on the balcony of the Lookout, sipping drinks and admiring a snowy group of peaks. Hiking down, we encountered three parties going up. Most wise we all were on this blue sky day!