Ranking:4/5 an almost perfect backpack, that will be enjoyed by everyone! What’s not to like? Big views, low mileage and moderate elevation, easy to follow trails, and the opportunity to see lots of the local denizens, Mountain Goats! It’s relatively easy to get here, and the trails are well maintained and easy to follow. Make this a must for someone that’s a second or third year backpacker, and they’ll be sure to be hooked after this one.
Difficulty: 4/10 Again, to re-iterate, the mileage is pretty low, as is the elevation gain. Easy to modest in all regards. The trail system is well maintained, especially the PCT section, and the trails are mostly dirt with easy tread. With wide-open views, the mileage goes by quickly. Most difficult, is finding a good place to camp. There are plenty of available spots to camp around Goat Lake, but many are out in the open, and if the wind is cooking across the lake, you’re going to be flappin’ in the breeze, as well as eating wind blown sand. Also, finding available cover to use for a bathroom is difficult. Suggest if you do need to cathole, bring out your solid waste. If not, it won’t be long until the few tree spots left will become a dung heap…At Cispus Basin, there are a lot of spots also in near the trees, but if you don’t get there fairly early (2pm at the latest), you’ll find your available spots will be right out in the open. So, this area also has it’s bathroom difficulties in the upper basin area. This is definitely one of those locations that would benefit from a solar-powered outhouse…Otherwise, over the years, it too will suffer an “overuse” problem.
Getting Here: From Randle, WA travel east on Hwy 12 for approximately 12 miles. Turn right on Forest Road 21. Follow Forest Road 21 for 15.6 miles and turn left on Forest Road 2150. Follow Forest Road 2150 for 3.4 miles to the end of the road.
Maps:Green Trails #303S, Goat Rocks. Also, custom correct from MyTopo, or of course, my new fav, if you have an acct with AllTrails, where you can print this route right at home on your PC.
Permits: will need a Northwest Forest Pass, or equivalent to park at TH, and need to Self-register at TH.
Goat Lake, Cispus Basin Loop Added 9-04-17
Do you know how hard it is to figure out how to plan a neat 3 day for someone that’s just getting into backpacking? Let’s see…First, it has to be fairly easy, cause if you take someone out the first couple of times, and beat their brains in, they want no more of that…Secondly, it has to be big on views, to get them hooked on doing it, no matter the pain…Fish on!!! And lastly, I think, loops are the best, that way; the scenery is always changing… It seems there are only a handful of treks that will cover all these points and more, and thankfully, I think this one hits all the sweet spots.
Day 1
5.6 miles, 1478ft gain/283ft loss. Fitbit Data: 20,556 steps, 286 floors.
Maria and I head on our next adventure to the Goat Rocks, and after driving for about 2 ½ hours, we reach the Berry Patch TH parking lot, to find the main lot full. Thankfully, the road is wide here, for lots of additional parking along the side. Since I’ll need a larger capacity pack for our duo sleeping bag, (those suckers don’t pack down well!) I’m trying out the 85L Osprey Aether, recently re-designed for this year, in a proper orange color…Gotta be orange, ya know…
After self-registering at the TH, we begin in well-spaced forest, protected from the sun, and the grade begins right away from the trailhead up…
It’s a moderate grade, but still, it persists steadily upwards for the first 1.68 miles non-stop, over well maintained, treed path. Along most sides of the trail, you’ll pass the predominant underbrush, huckleberries, as you would expect from a place called the Berry Patch. The tread is mostly dirt, gentle on the tootsies, making for some fairly easy hiking. At mile 1.35, you reach your first trail junction, with 95A; consider it a scenic bypass around to the other side of the ridge you’re currently skirting. We chose not to take it, as it adds a little more mileage, (not much), but I believe only gives you earlier access to views that you’ll have later on in the trail.
“…I stopped over and over to scratch my digital itch…”
Just before you reach the point where 95A rejoins the main trail, the trees begin to wane, giving way to meadows filled with wildflowers, still blooming strong here in mid-August. The predominant flower seems to be purple aster, but several other varieties also attempt a strong showing. Lots of yellow and white, with spattering’s of the unmistakable red of Indian Paintbrush. Wherever water might have coursed down the hillsides, even if their beds are now dry, the bloom and scent of the multitude of flowers betray where water once ran. And, where the streams still flow, its’ like a rainbow swath of colors mixed with greenery to crowd the banks. I stopped over and over to scratch my digital itch, snapping many shots in an attempt to capture the burst of color. Once reaching the 1.65 mile mark, the rest of the way to the lake, it’s open, with lots to see…
“We still have to go up that???!”
At 2.5 miles, you come to the Jordan creek junction and stay right, continuing through open meadows and rock. The trail hugs the west side of Goat Ridge, and you look down into the Jordan Creek drainage. Still heading steadily up, but never more than a moderate grade, you come to the head of Jordan Creek. Looking ahead, you can see the trail continue up, cutting just below a rocky outcropping before disappearing over the top of a flat bench. Looking back over your shoulder, you get great sightlines of Mt. St. Helens, the blown out side of the crater visible, making it easy to discern just what volcano you’re looking at. This is around mile 4.7, the end of the Jordan Creek drainage. Reaching the bench you can look up another ridge and the trail switch-backing up another ridge you’ll have to gain. At this point, I seem to remember hearing, “We still have to go up that???!” It might have been the wind, I dunno…
“Dahmaaaaahhhtttt…”
One step after another puts us on top of this ridge, and as we’re heading up, I’m going over the check list in my mind, of things yet to do. Like, finding a spot, setting up our tent, and…And…“Dammit!!” Only, I said it with my outside voice, like from season 3 of Fargo, the last utterance of dude who just realized he’d been poisoned before tipping over…But, you have to say it in a whispery, raspy voice with a long utterance, “Dahmaaaaahhhtttt…” Which, of course, immediately drew a quick “What?!” from my hiking counterpart. “What!!?” she repeated again, with just a little more emphasis, sure that I was going to reveal that the apocalypse was scheduled to start tomorrow, and I’d failed to inform her of such important news…
“Uhh…I think I forgot to pack the tent stakes…” Which also elicited another quick response…”What?!” Gee, it’s not like I murdered someone, for cryin’ out loud! Heavy sigh…Well, have to figure something out. But, I have to admit with the wind picking up, I was a little concerned on how I was going to keep our tent from turning into a parasail…
Topping out on the ridge, at 5 miles, you come to the Lilly Basin trail, #86, and there were 3 guys sitting there. We stop for a moment to say hi, and they ask where we came from and where we’re headed, so we tell them Goat Lake. I ask about the sites there, and they say, “Yes, there are still a few good spots left, not that many people, but the wind sure blew all night.” One of the group tells us it was hard to sleep, it blew so hard…Perfect, just freakin’ beautiful…So I share the epiphany I had coming up the hill, with no tent stakes on board…
“He gave me 5 stakes, and they could have been Filet Mignon and a glass (or two) of your finest vino out here…”
“Really? Would you like some? I have plenty!” I’m surprised the breeze didn’t knock me on my face…I couldn’t believe it! To which I quickly responded, “Yes, whatever you could spare, that would be awesome!” He gave me 5 stakes, and they could have been Filet Mignon and a glass (or two) of your finest vino out here. Could not believe our good fortune, thank God! Found out his name was Jordan, and he and his party were heading up the short spur trail to top out on Hawkeye Point, further north up the Lilly Basin trail, which is a rocky prominence overlooking Goat Lake. Thanking them profusely, we continued on toward the lake. You could see the trail follow the contour line around the Goat Creek basin, then disappear around a ridge and you could tell that all you had to do was get around that ridge and you’d be there. About halfway there, we pulled to one side to let a small pack team of Llamas pass by, totally green with envy…Us, not the Llama team…
“Just 30 bucks a day!” they tell us. Money well spent, I’m thinking…The guy pulling up the rear is carrying only binoculars, and a big smile, and says, “someone had to carry the binocs!” to which I reply, “well, everyone has to have a purpose!” I’d like to have his purpose right now, I can tell you that…
Finally, we round the ridge blocking our view of the lake, and can look down onto Goat Lake. It’s an almost perfect oval, with about ¼ of it covered in ices, a big white patch covering the far side of the lake. We notice later, that as the day went along, the constant wind would shift this floating patch to the other side of the lake. It’s surrounded on all sides by steep reddish rock, with Hawkeye point the prominent high point on the west side of the lake, connected to the ridge we had to skirt around. The southern edge where the trail dropped down off the rocky steps that we were on was where the outlet stream from the lake dropped down into the Goat Creek valley. There are sites there also, but little to no vegetation and exposed. On the stepped western edge where we were standing, were a few sparse copses of trees before dropping steeply off to the creek basin south. Looking across the lake basin, to the east, you could see Old Snowy prominently and further along the connecting ridge, the pointy hat called Ives Peak. And, if you allowed your eyes to follow the Goat creek basin all the way south, you get great views of Mt. Adams dominating the southern skyline. Lots to see and take pictures of for sure, but now, we’re intent on finding a place to plop our tent down.
“…It wasn’t called Elephant Lake, or Hippo doing a Watusi Lake, after all…”
We find a spot here on the western, stepped edge, and camp secured, thanks mostly to the gift from Jordan, we get water and prepare for dinner. Around 3 or so, I look over at the eastern ridge of the lake and see a small herd of mountain goats. So cool to see goats at Goat Lake, right? I mean, what else would you expect to see? It wasn’t called Elephant Lake, or Hippo doing a Watusi Lake, after all…Still, was nice to see them grazing on the sparse greenery that grew on the hillside. They were there throughout the remainder of the eve, until the low clouds that were beginning to creep over the northern edge of the lake basin. Stomachs growl to remind us it’s time to eat, and we try something a little different. Tortellini in a garlic and herb sauce with summer sausage. The recipe calls for a cup of milk, is I use powdered milk mixed in with the cream sauce, thinking, “hey, this will be easy!” or so I thought…After sautéing the diced summer sausage, then adding the pre-mixed sauce, directions say to bring to a boil. I wait to see if it’s going to boil, and …And, I wait too long to stir…Again…So, yes, you have to be careful when heating up milk, cause it’ll scorch waaaay tooooooo easily on the bottom of your pan, and there’s no way you’re scrubbin’ that off in the backcountry!!! Well, at least the meal doesn’t taste scorched, but there’s now a silver dollar sized black skid mark on the bottom of my brand new Jetboil pot! That’s twice now I’ve done that with milk, you’d think I would learn…Once at home, some vinegar and baking soda did the trick at removing it…I blame it all on the goats for distracting me from my stirring duties…
By 8:30pm, we were completely socked in, and I kept waiting for a fog horn to sound. That, and the wind that continued to blow, drove all at the lake into their tents to ride it out. If it hadn’t been for those tent stakes, who knows? We might have gone for a ride. As it was, it blew relentlessly all night, the flap-flap-flap of the rain fly and the tent walls breathing in and out kept us awake most of the night…
Living vicariously through your trips. Walking along w you in my mind. Such a beautiful description. Not much for the wind though. Ah, the serenity of being out!
Enjoy it all.
Thanks AnnMarie!! So glad you stopped in and said hi, always good to hear from you! And, thank you for reading, I’m always humbled and happy when someone posts a very nice comment!!!