Grantie Lakes Road 12.15.03

With decent weather today I thought some good leg stretching was in order. I parked just off the Middle Fork Rd. at the second logging Rd in ( about a half mile from where the pavement ends). I knew because of the low elevation start that I would have to carry my snowshoes for at least the first hour. There is consistent snow just past where the road crosses Granite Lakes Creek. There is a well broken snowshoe trail that continues on until the road splits and continues on towards Mailbox Pk.. The portion of the trail that crosses the many forks of the creek is rather unpleasant. There are at least 12 forks and you must drop 3-6 feet and reclimb that on the other side of each of these forks. The trail ends after crossing most of the creeks, I continued on, the unbroken trail was even more unpleasant. I had to stop when the beagle couldn't cope with the very deep snow of the unbroken trail. The jog out went much quicker than expected and I was soon at the truck. There was some storm damage but most had been chainsawed out and was quite passable. This route will probably be even more unpleasant when the snow deepens. I think it would be much more enjoyable to continue on the road that moves towards Granite Lks and beyond.