Feb 18, 2022 - 9.5 miles & 3,500' gain: The first real lung burner of the season, Dirty Harry's Balcony + the bonus Peak has a little bit of everything for a variety of hikers. The Balcony is the main event with expansive views of I-90 climbing up to Snoqualmie Pass and at only 4.4 miles roundtrip & 1,600' gain its low enough to be essentially snow free for most of the year.
There are actually a couple different points where the trail dumps you out onto a cliff face with a great view to the east. By mileage I think the lower viewpoint is actually the official balcony but zero confidence in that statement, both are excellent.
After you peek out over the eastern cliff faces and turn to the west, that is when you transition to an old timber road and really start to climb. After the mountains packed in the snow in March/April and never let it go, its hard to remember back to the dry start to the winter but we had to climb above 3,000' to find real snow and it didn't get deep until closer to 4,000'.
Dirty Harry's summit is just over the line onto private property but if you watch your parcel lines you can side hill to achieve the ridge. While watching your step as you approach the awesome cornice edge, you can soak in views of the Granite Lakes and the Middle Fork Snoqualmie valley.
Two winters ago I visited the Granite Lakes and I think beyond the red arrow represents where I ended up popping out on the Dirty Harry hike.
For the return trip I strapped on my shiny new snowshoes just for kicks. I didn't realize the clips that hold the shoes together when on the backpack needed to come off before use so those were a donation to the mountain... but otherwise it was really fun to step off the beaten path and skim right along. Oak thought he was obligated to follow in my track for about 50 miserable yards before he showed some wisdom in those old bones and got back into the boot track.
Once we got back down out of the snow the mountains had one more gift for us:
