It was the kind of morning when all you want to do is to crawl deep under your covers and stay there for the rest of the day... so we got up and packed, wondering what happened to the "partly sunny" that the forecast promised yesterday.
As we drove to the meeting spot at Eastgate, the sky remained grey and the clouds lingered low, producing heavy drizzle. Half hour later we left Eastgate under the same conditions, headed for exit 47. Our mood was not the greatest, the Jeep was rather quiet as we tried to brace ourselves for the rainfest.
We were so preoccupied with the unpleasant thoughts we did not really notice the conditions started to change, and what a surprise it was to get out at the trailhead and see patches of blue above us that got bigger and eventually took over the sky completely transforming the mood of the entire day.
We covered the first several miles of the route reasonably fast. The trail was broken, and except for several interesting stream crossings and sizable avalanche debris we we stopped to check out for a brief moment, there was not much to slow our progress.
Things got slower once we left the beaten path, and started heading up towards the ridge of Pratt Mountain. Snow got deep quickly here, and it was the typical energy sucking cascade concrete, yet still we managed to keep a decent pace. Perhaps it was the promise of the great views that drove us up fast, and it's for sure we were not disappointed.
On the ridge the winter transformed the trees into frozen status, frosty white limbs beautifully ornamented with sparkling icicles. Further on the other side of the valley our eyes could feast on grand views of Granite Mountain, West Granite, Kaleetan Peak and many more.
Thank you Mother nature, for treating us with such an amazing day!
RT: 9 miles
Elevation Gain: 3400 feet
Trip Duration: 8.5 hours
