Granite Creek, Part 2: Gone camping!

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Entry posted by Mithrik · August 25, 2012

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REPLIES:

Jetty Jockey: Thanks for the compliment.

Juan Guajardo: Thanks for the comment.

ggamgus: Thanks, I also like the looks of CP's houses, that's a truly rural feel.

SimCoug: Thanks, but that's nothing compared to your mastery at rural areas. Those are quite an inspiration.

Hey! Wake up you lazy people! It's time to continue our tour, bring a sleeping bag and bug repellent. Because today we are making a field trip to the Granite Heights National Park, just north of the farmlands in Granite Creek.

We move out through the paved road that goes along the farms.

Just across the bridge is the National Park, so don't throw trash to the ground, place it in a bag instead until returning. Littering the ground in a National Park is a crime in Alpena after all.

We keep moving on the road, but this is about to get bumpy, soon the asphalt will finish.

This part of the park is a prairie, you can occasionally see a hare or two along the tree line in this place, as well as a deer, but those are rare sightings in this area .

Do you remember the small marsh in the teaser realized 2 weeks ago? Well, you can have a second look now.

And so, after 20 minutes of traveling along the dirt road, we arrived to the main camp. The road ends here, so we will have to walk the rest of the tour.

Most of the tourists like to stay here if they come in their own cars, but we are not in holiday season, so the only people you see at the moment came with the Park's Commuter Service, that picks up the campers in Granite Creek's train station and takes them here.

The trail going north is where we are going now. It travels by the Cottonwood trees up the main attraction of the park.

Almost there...

And... here we are! Welcome to the Grey Dome!

The Grey Dome is monolithic granite wall of 242 meters tall. It's a challenging hiking experience, because of it's lack of cracks. Few people dare to climb the White Dome without proper gear, and no one has ever been able to climb it bare-handed. It's imposing shadow can reach the main camp at times. The Grey Dome and it's surroundings make the central piece of the National Park, so you can't avoid visiting it.

A small camp is located atop this rock giant, the successful hikers that make it to the top usually rest here before climbing back down.

As the sun begins to set over the horizon, we return the main camp to settle and pass the night, a fellow hiker, that is also a photographer, showed us a picture he took after his first climb of the Grey Dome. You can see it below.

And with that we finish off with Granite Creek. Hope you enjoyed visiting the town and the surroundings. Next time we take the keys of a car and we drive up to La Saye, a bustling farming town, in the heart of the Grand Valley.

See you next time!