Goat Rocks
September 2014
After a summer of portaging on my canoe trip I felt like I was geared up to do more backpacking and hiking. I had been to the Goat Rocks about 20 years ago and had always meant to go back. There was a prime campsite that I wanted to try. It is at the head of the valley where Goat Lake flows out and the whole valley opens up before you with a wonderful view of the mountain.
The Goat Rocks Wilderness area is stunning. Jon joined me for this adventure. We took full packs and started at the Snowgrass Trail Head hiking a loop counter clockwise. We hiked on the side of a ridge up the Lily Basin Trail to Goat Lake which is at an elevation of 6420 ft. We had great weather and were able to explore around Goat Lake and its outlet waterfall. I spent a lot of time observing 2 healthy herds of of mountain goats that moved across the hillside right above our camp. There were over 33 in all. There were young ones in the group and they didn’t seemed bothered at all by the human traffic passing by.
Goat lake still held ice even though it was September. There were still a few wildflowers but they weren’t in their prime. We saw a few hardy horsemen come in with their horses. The trails were a bit rough in this area so they often got off and would lead their horses instead of riding them. A bank of clouds rolled in, pushed along the ridge and then spilled over into the valley. We had the most incredible views from camp but discovered in the middle of the night that it was exposed to a howling wind which made it hard to sleep.
To wake up in such a beautiful place is always a reminder that I am so lucky to have these opportunities. We packed up and hike down the Goat Ridge Trail back to our car. This hike was 12.8 miles long with an elevation gain of 2590 ft.
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