No Goats But Great Views - Goat Lake, 6.2.19
Look out people, I am on a roll! After yesterday’s great hike at Ebey’s Landing, today I set out at 6:30AM with Greg Dilley and Cindy Lou Who to Goat Lake. This would be a good early season conditioner hike as it turned out to be 12.5 miles round trip. I was breaking in a brand new pair of boots but it is my third pair of this particular boot (Solomon Quest 4D GTX) and I absolutely love them. They are the best hiking boots I have ever owned and the only reason I have to replace them is due to wearing the lugs down to nothing. BTW, I had no issues with the boots all day and they felt great after 12.5 miles.
The Goat Lake trail is a loop. It starts out on a gentle uphill grade and once parallel to Elliot Creek it goes fairly flat for several miles making for an easy way to warm up.
Greg and Cindy
After about three and a half miles we entered the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness and the trail narrowed and began to climb up through remnants of an old growth forest full of giant trees.
Gateway to the wilderness
Huge trees, awesome boots
We encountered quite a few people coming down from camping the previous night including a scout troop with a kid who broke his ankle. He was on two hiking poles and his foot and leg were duct taped up to his knee. Poor kid. Later when we got back to the car a sheriff and the forest service were heading up the trail to help him the rest of the way down. Good story for his grandkids someday.
About a mile before the lake the trail begins to climb and eventually goes by lovely Elliot Creek Falls before you arrive at the lake outlet.
Goat Lake from near the outlet
Astute readers may recognize this as the place Bridgit and I had backpacked into back in June of 2015. This was my fourth trip here. After eating lunch by the lake we decided to see if we could reach a special spot that both Greg and I had been to previously. It is a large flat rock outcropping about halfway around the lake with a huge waterfall right next to the rock. When I had been here in 2015 the “trail” beyond the campsite area was so overgrown with nasty devil’s club and nettles that I could not get any further. Today we had better luck. We followed the trail (if you can call it that) up and down and all around through thick vegetation, up steep slopes that involved a bit of rock scrambling and crawling over swollen streams but we finally got to the sweet spot for viewing the entire lake. This spot also gives you the full frontal view of Foggy Peak and it was so worth the effort. Cindy earned a new nickname, Betty Bushwhack for her gallant resolve.
Pano of Goat Lake and Foggy Peak
Majestic Foggy Peak
Foggy Peak along the way back from waterfall rock
Glad to be outside
Our return journey came down from the lake and then cut off to the lower Elliot Creek Trail which followed Elliot Creek all the way down the valley before rejoining the main trail near the trailhead. Elliot Creek is flowing strong this spring and is just a beautiful creek.
Elliot Creek
We had a fantastic day with great weather, no bugs, a bit of an intro to bushwhacking, amazing views and good company. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go get ready for tomorrow’s outing!