Alpine Scramble - Granite Mountain & Trico Mountain

Day 1: There were 4 of us so we took my high clearance vehicle.  Was surprised to find the road to the TH newly graded so not difficult at all.  Scatter Creek was low so no problem driving across that either.

Good trail (4.5 mi) to where you turn off for Tuck & Robin Lakes.  Some wore trail shoes for this.  Many tasty blueberries along the way so took time sampling them.  Took a short break at the junction to Tuck and Robin Lakes.  Trail easy to follow to Tuck Lake.  It sure is wider than what I remembered it to be (4/5 yrs ago) and a lot more sandy.  Bit harder to get to Robin Lakes from Tuck, but basically follow the south edge of the lake using bootpaths and cairns.  We got off route a few times, but were able to get back on very quickly with a little searching.  The way is steep, but we had all day so it didn't matter how much time we took.  Found a good campsite next to lower Robin Lake at about 3:30pm.

Day 2:  Left camp about 8:15am in beautiful, clear weather.  Circled around the north side of lower Robin Lake and then crossed the piece of land between the 2 lakes following a bootpath. Once across, cairns started appearing as we started climbing up the ridge SE to a saddle at about 6700'.  We stopped to watch a herd of goats for a good 15 minutes during this time.  We went to a ridge above the saddle and then had to downclimb maybe 50' to the saddle and cross over small patch of snow.  Continued up, heading more east east now to the Granite and S Granite Mtn ridge and followed bootpath and cairns to the summit of Granite.  Took a break, took photos and then 3 of us continued on to S Granite while 1 relaxed at the Granite summit while waiting for us.

Beta describes S Granite as 0.6miles and easy, but we found it harder than easy.  No distinct bootpath and no cairns so we tried to follow the ridge.  Got cliffed out so had to traverse lower on the west side.  We eventually made it down to the saddle between the 2 peaks and then picked a route that stayed more in the trees to reach the summit.  The scramble wasn't that hard, but guess we just expected it to be a lot easier.  Returning was no problem, but traversing lower on the west side may be the easier way to go rather than trying to stay on the ridge.

We eventually all regrouped near Granite's summit and started for Trico.  We basically circled the east side and a portion of the north side of upper Robin Lake (beautiful scenery and great bootpath) for most of it.  Got on the ridge west of the Granite Mtn Potholes and followed good bootpath and a few cairns to the summit.  Made one navigation error where 2 participants ended up going up a short, loose gully while 2 others went back to find the bootpath.  Not a major problem as we reconnected in less than 15 minutes, but discussed later whether we should have separated in this circumstance.

Returned to the campsite at about 6pm.  A couple were brave enough to take a dip in the lake. Brrrr.  Everyone felt is was a good day.  

Day 3:  Left camp at 7am.  At The Brick in Rosyln at about  11:30am.  No traffic back to Seattle. Great weekend with a wonderful group of women.   One student got her required rock scramble from this trip.