Goat Rocks: Snowgrass, Goat Ridge, Cispus Basin - 8/4-8/6

[awildman]

We did a quick 2-night trip to the central Goat Rocks to show some out-of-town guests the best of PNW hiking. They were not disappointed! It's very, very popular, but for good reason. We started from the Snowgrass TH on Sunday afternoon (50 cars? 100 cars? I stopped counting.), and headed up Goat Ridge to Goat Lake via Jordan Basin. The flowers are just stunning in Jordan Basin right now. We could see a pack of about 24 mountain goats on the ridge above Goat Lake (still frozen), and saw lots of marmots at the lake itself. The flowers are just getting going on the west side of the drainage; lots of lupine, paintbrush, and bistort, but no monkeyflower just yet. We spent the night overlooking the Goat Lake drainage. The next day we hiked to Snowgrass and then up the PCT to Old Snowy, and then into Cispus Basin for the night. The lupine are outstanding in Cispus, but unlike Romman's trip to Goat Rocks, we didn't see any goats, just some fur. We hiked out via Snowgrass the next morning.

We had outstanding weather during our short trip. Warm, clear nights; afternoon clouds, but no thunderstorms. The flies were very annoying but did not bite, and we heard reports that the mosquitoes in Snowgrass were terrible, but we didn't encounter many on our route. It's just about that magical time to go if you're into wildflowers.


hiking up through the flowers in Jordan Basin


Goat Rocks from the trail above Goat Lake (early flowers)


a couple dozen mountain goats (babies!) above Goat Lake


hoary marmot


a frozen Goat Lake


Mt. Adams and the Goat Lake drainage


smoke haze in the evening, Mt. Adams


smoke haze makes for good sunsets


Camp 1


on the trail to Snowgrass


PCT above Snowgrass


a good mix of flowers on the PCT above Snowgrass


decending Old Snowy, Mt. Adams


Packwood drainage from base of Old Snowy


Cispus Basin


Mt. Adams, Camp 2


Milky Way, Camp 2


evidence of mountain goats, but no sightings


Mt. Adams alpinglow

[mjuliana]

Very nice. I never get tired of looking at photos from this area.

[romann]

Very nice. I never get tired of looking at photos from this area.

+1 - such an awesome place! There's much more flowers than 2 weeks ago. Great to see goats back at Goat Lake .

How did your dog do on Old Snowy?

[retired jerry]

Nice!

I think maybe that's about the best trip to take in Goat Rocks - see most of it

[awildman]

How did your dog do on Old Snowy?

He stayed at the saddle. He isn't much of a peakbagger. Did Pepper make it to the top?

I think maybe that's about the best trip to take in Goat Rocks - see most of it

Agreed. It has a really high ROI, if you don't mind sharing it with dozens of others. Any backtracking is along really phenomenal trails, so it's not as painful.

[kepPNW]

Just looks beautiful, Allison! Thanks so much for the report.

I think maybe that's about the best trip to take in Goat Rocks - see most of it

Agreed. It has a really high ROI, if you don't mind sharing it with dozens of others. Any backtracking is along really phenomenal trails, so it's not as painful.

So you did it Sun-Thur, and even still there were a lot of folks, huh? Ah well, I suppose "dozens" isn't that bad, given the number of miles and the scenery.

[retired jerry]

Lots of people from trailhead to Snowgrass Flat and PCT, then it thins out some

[drm]

I can't figure out why Goat Lake is so resistant to melting out. It is mostly south-facing, right? It's not particularly high in altitude.

So it must somehow collect a lot more snow.

I'm really holding my breath, and wanting to do Goat Rocks this year when that lake is mostly melted out. I'll miss the flowers - this time - but I expect it will have other charms later in the season.

[mjuliana]

I can't figure out why Goat Lake is so resistant to melting out. It is mostly south-facing, right? It's not particularly high in altitude.

So it must somehow collect a lot more snow.

I'm really holding my breath, and wanting to do Goat Rocks this year when that lake is mostly melted out. I'll miss the flowers - this time - but I expect it will have other charms later in the season.

Here's what it looked like last year in early October.

[retired jerry]

Yeah, it's always late to melt out

and yeah, it's south facing so that's weird

it does have steep cliffs both east and west (and north) so it must not get a lot of sun

maybe that also causes more snow to collect there?