
Granite Basin Lake.

Starting along Granite Mountain Trail #261. It's not a super-obvious trailhead.

Nice views toward the Granite Mountain southern face rock outcrops.

Entering the Granite Mountain Wilderness.

The trail continues to Blair Pass.

The overlook at the end of the Granite Mountain Trail is up there somewhere, but I had my sights on the true summit of the granitic colossus.

Blair Pass. Don't go through the gate, just keep right and start ascending.

Switchbacks along the Granite Mountain Trail, which trends north.

View up toward where the switchbacks will ultimately lead.

Along the switchbacks.

I came up from the lower section on the bottom right in this photo.

Making progress up the switchbacks. The trail was in great shape.

Approaching the top of the slope where the Granite Mountain Trail reaches the rim and heads east.

View back after reaching the rim. The trail came up from the left somewhere.

The trail makes one more switchback up this portion, but just wraps around to the right ahead.

Along the rim. The trail continues to the point in the center, but I won't be going there.

View back.

Another shot along the rim.

Ah, Granite Mountain comes into view (left).

I left the trail and started along this social trail. Granite Mountain visible center.

Heading through a gully with some cairns.

A cairn, but the route might be unclear at times. When in doubt, stick to the bottom of the gully system.

The first half of the off-trail portion of the route avoids most granite boulders and stays within some light brush, seen here.

It's a really interesting landscape, but near-impossible to give specific information except to stick to the gully base. The cairned route leads east, sort of away from Granite Mountain.

The southern sub-peak of Granite Mountain comes into view just before the route heads north.

Entering the Class 2 gully that leads north.

Class 3 boulders as I head north.

View back. The route I followed came in from the gully/wash on the top right in this photo.

The wash led to the base of Granite Mountain, visible ahead, and then headed east up a rocky drainage.

Ascending the rocky drainage on the south side of Granite Mountain.

View back. You can see a cairn in the center. It's a little brushy and rocky, but certainly not unpleasantly so.

Another shot back as I near the final ascent to the saddle on the west side of Granite Mountain.

Last bit of ascend to the saddle on Granite Mountain's west side. The summit block is up there somewhere. Class 2/3 leads from the center of this photo up to the summit on the right.

Granite Mountain summit, view southwest toward the route I came from using the gully system visible in this photo.

Close-up toward the gully I ascended from.

Granite Mountain summit, view north.

Close-up to the southeast at a cool section of rocks on a sub-peak.
Hire me or show me some love!
Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I’m not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!