Griffin Lake Peak (7.5 miles; d=9.50)
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Griffin Lake Peak Winter Hike Route Map
The approximate track of my winter hike up Griffin Lake Peak, depicted a la Google Earth...
Griffin Lake Peak Winter Hike Route Map
The approximate track of my winter hike up Griffin Lake Peak...
Mile 38 Road Winter 'Trailhead' -- 1,170'
The hike begins here...12 miles from the highway the plowed road ended...we liked the looks of the snowmobile tracks though, it'd make easier walking...
About a half mile in we'd take a right onto the trail road which would lead up to the summertime trailhead...
I remembered this spot from my previous visit...there's actually a tiny creek running through the middle of the picture that I had to ford with my pickup the last time through...
This was the first major climb, and to my memory, the worst part of the hike...I would be quite wrong...
About a mile from the trailhead, the high ridge that we'd eventually be traveling along came into view...our first hint that we still likely had a decent amount of climbing to do...
A mile and a half in we reached the summertime trailhead...from here we'd be leaving the nicely packed snowmobile trail and start breaking our own path through the snow...
Griffin Lake Peak Trail -- 1,600'
The snow was DEEP...real deep...and it's only December!
Griffin Lake Peak Trail -- 1,700'
It took about 15 minutes for breaking trail to get quite old...I appreciated having a partner on this hike to trade off being the point man, though I doubt he shared the sentiment...
Griffin Lake Peak Trail -- 1,760'
A brief bit of sunlight and blue sky...about all we'd get for the entire hike...
Griffin Lake Peak Trail -- 1,800'
The surroundings on the way up were monotonous, yet quite beautiful...too bad it was lost on us as the deep snow pack was quickly kicking our butts...