Thursday morning, we used the Metate parking area of the Granite Basin Recreation Area. We followed Granite Mountain Trail #261 for 0.2 of a mile and Balancing Rock Trail #349 for another 0.2 mile before connecting with Clark Spring Trail #40. This trail heads southwest parallel to the Granite Mountain Wilderness, 9,808 acres with rugged granite boulders, offering views of Granite Mountain and Little Granite Mountain. We only partially hiked the trail as it is quite steep with some difficult water bar climbs. We were surprised to encounter 1 runner and 4 hikers on this trail. Our total distance was 3.31-miles with elevation ranging from 5,584 feet to 6,073 feet.
A Battling Bishop 