Thompson point 12.28.04

With just perfect weather I headed up the Granite Lakes Jeep road on mountain bike. There is a fair amount of blowdowns over the road in the first couple of miles. Nothing that you can't drag a mountain bike through. I kept a good pace until I reached the creek crossing where I dumped the bike and started the long walk to the ridgeline. I had heavy legs today so I wasn't too happy with the time I was making. I didn't hit sustained snow until 3400 feet and then it was mostly patchy. I followed the logging road that takes you directly towards Revolution Peak. The road dead ends at about 4700ft, I just climbed straight up in the somewhat soft snow until I reached the saddle between Pts 5124 and 5454. at around 5000ft. The weather became quite windy and very cold as I contemplated what to do next. As much as I wanted the summit to reward myself for all my hard work, I found my self drawn towards Pt 5124 instead. I just wasn't sure on how the dogs would react to the last push to the summit. I do wish however that I would have pressed on. I did enjoy some nice views of the Lower Middle Fork Valley. I could see the Columbia Tower just poking out of the fog in Seattle. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself when I thought about how my co-workers didn't even realize how nice it was today. I found a sheltered area to eat my lunch and do a little peak counting from my somewhat lofty perch. I decided to use the snowshoes for the descent, which seemed a bit easier. I reached the bike in less than 2 hours and the coast out was easily less than a half an hour. Total time 4hrs to the saddle and 2:15 out.