TNAB Trip report for Granite Soltice Hike 6/19 2003

Date: June 19, 2003
Hike: Granite Mtn
Route: Standard trail from Exit 47
Attendees: Larry, Jason, Matt, Gretchen, Dan, Maren, Don, Ania, Joan, Bruce, Mark, John, Sherry, Jason and Dat
Comments: This is summer????

Back to the TNAB home page.

Photo Credits: Matt K

There is a short Movie in .avi format - warning 5Mb size

Dan's Pics:

Matt's Hike Summary: Slightly Soggy Summer Solstice Celebration

Trends are made to be broken, and the 4 year trend of beautiful weather on the solstice was pretty well bent last night. We did not actually get rained on, but it was not what one would call a sunny evening either. There was quite the turn out - at least a baker's dozen, and perhaps a couple more than that. (I lost count). Weather was cool, gray, we were occasionally in the clouds, there was some wind, but, on the brighter side, there were no mosquitos. Weather notwithstanding, we had a great solstice celebration on top! I brought the traditional champagne & strawberries, but was promptly outdone by Jason who hiked up a full half-case (!!) of Guinness! In Bottles!!! ah, youth.

Larry had a pack of Alaskan Amber, I had a Full Sail Barley Wine (very good stuff), and Don rounded out the collection with some excellent single malt, not to mention the trusty flask of Bourbon. Gretchen made some nice oatmeal chocolate cookies, and Joan had some rather good cinnamon brownies. (really, it's very good, I mean, cinnamon and chocolate, what more could you want??). And since we were all freezing our buns off (until the bourbon arrived anyway), Ania set up a stove and made a full nalgene of hot cocoa. This was thoroughly enjoyed as an internal and external warmer, although some people had quite a bit *before* noticing that the cocoa had been spiked with Kalhua >-)

Also for entertainment Mark and I went looking for the Geocache we had dropped up there 3 years back. The GPS coordinates were drifting as we stood on the cold, slippery rocks trying to vaguely remember where we'd dropped the thing - one bit of talus looks much like all other bits of Talus. I was looking, Mark was looking, and then pointed out that I was standing on it - or at least the rock it was tucked under. So we added our names to the log (again) and traded the Big Red Chewing gum for a packet of hot cocoa. As the fingers were getting stiff and the shivering getting more pronounced, not to mention sarcastic comments about "Summer" in Seattle, we deemed it time to call it a solstice and head down. The snowpack up there is just pathetic this year, so there was a fair bit of ridge walking before a short glissade to the valley and the usual hike out.

It was still sorta-light when we got out - at least, it was some shade of gray, much like the rest of the day, but hey, it's one of the longest days of light gray shade of the year!

happy solstice,
MK