Goat Rocks 8/27 to 8/30

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TomHilton
Posts: 10
Joined: August 17th, 2012, 1:03 pm
Location: San Francisco

Goat Rocks 8/27 to 8/30

Post by TomHilton » September 3rd, 2012, 12:05 pm

First of all, a great big Thank You to the Portland Hikers community. This was my first trip ever in the Cascades, and the information I gleaned here (from the forum and the trail pages) helped make the trip much more enjoyable.

Now, on to the story.

The plan was a four-day trip in Goat Rocks Wilderness. My idea was short hiking days, with afternoons free for dayhikes (or hiding from the weather, if necessary).

We--my son Max, his girlfriend Julia, and myself--set out from Portland (where they live) late-ish Sunday afternoon. After a bit of backtracking to the Big 5 in Vancouver to get a sleeping pad, we ended up at Chambers Lake a little before dark.

Next morning as we drove to Snowgrass trailhead and finished packing it got progressively more overcast. It was the kind of sky that if you see it that time of morning in the Sierra, it means you should probably count on spending the next few days in your tent. I figured it would be a race between us and the weather, and just hoped we got to our campsite in time to get the tents and tarp up.

We started up the Snowgrass trail; forest, some flowers (Pearly Everlasting, Valerian, Lousewort), occasional screened views of Goat Ridge. We made good time up to where the trail climbs out of Goat Creek valley. I'm slow on the uphill--I shift into first gear and just keep plodding--so the kids kept getting ahead and then stopping to wait for me. Getting closer to the Bypass junction we started seeing the first of many spectacular fields of lupine.

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At the junction we had a short packs-off rest stop, and admired the great wildflower meadow there (Lupines, Paintbrush, Lewis' Monkeyflower, Elephant Heads, Cinquefoil, et.). Along the Bypass Trail we started running into the PCT work party--folks we would end up seeing several times over the next couple of days. Further along the trail we got some views to the south--still overcast.

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We turned south (east, actually, but south in the bigger scheme) on the PCT and soon started getting our first views into Cispus Basin--shrouded, but still spectacular.

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Lots of great flowers along this stretch (lots of some kind of daisy, lupines, etc.). I'm always a sucker for any Mariposa Lily, so I loved seeing all the Calochortus subalpinus here.

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And, amazingly (to me), it was actually starting to clear up.

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There's a nice campsite perched to the right of the trail about a quarter mile before the waterfall, but it's a good ways from the nearest water. There are reportedly some campsites near the waterfall stream above the trail, but the scramble was steeper than we wanted to do. So we continued on to the prime Cispus Basin campsite, in the grove just past the Cispus River crossing (center right, below). As we were turning off the trail to the campsite we ran into the first of many PCT thru-hikers--a guy who, it turns out, lives about 2 miles from me in San Francisco.

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This is a great site: spectacular views up to Goat Rocks and down the valley, with some nice sheltered nooks out of the wind. Just a wonderful spot to hang out and enjoy the day.

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Mid-afternoon, we hiked over to Cispus Pass and a little way up the ridge. Great views back into Cispus Basin...

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...and, from the pass itself, down the Klickitat valley and over to Nannie Ridge.

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The east side of the pass had a large, steep snowbank; I didn't envy anyone who had to deal with that (and judging from the use trail circumventing it, a lot of people had decided not to).

Near the pass we encountered the work party again, enjoying a dayhike after a day of hard work on the trails. As we started heading back, we also ran into another three thru-hikers. Last year, on an early August dayhike to Mt. Eddy, I had encountered several thru-hikers who bore harrowing tales of endless snowfields and neck-deep streams in the Sierra. This year, these guys told us, the Sierra was (relatively) easy; it wasn't until the Cascades that they ran into 'early season' conditions.

Back at the campsite we read, played Hearts, ate dinner (capellini with my homemade pesto), and generally reveled in the beauty of the place, until bedtime.

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TomHilton
Posts: 10
Joined: August 17th, 2012, 1:03 pm
Location: San Francisco

Re: Goat Rocks 8/27 to 8/30

Post by TomHilton » September 3rd, 2012, 12:06 pm

Next morning it was socked in again, peaks in the clouds. Hoping it would turn out like the day before, we packed up and hit the trail, heading for the general vicinity of Snowgrass Flat. As we headed out of Cispus Basin we got a brief glimpse of most of Mt. Adams before the clouds closed up again.

At the Bypass junction we stayed on the PCT, figuring the high route (PCT up, Snowgrass Trail down) looked more scenic than the lower way (Bypass down, then Snowgrass Trail up). Mt. Adams remained largely cloud-covered, but we did get some nice views of Goat Rocks.

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And more great flowers, of course.

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At the next junction we turned left and started keeping an eye out for a good campsite. Lots of sites already occupied on the lower part of this trail, and at the Snowgrass/Lily Basin junction, but we found a decent site near the stream at Alpine Camp. We set up tents and tarp, and settled in. As with pretty much every place we had been so far, the meadow next to us was filled with wildflowers.

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It cleared some over the early afternoon, and Mt. Adams began to reveal itself.

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I wanted to get the views of Adams we had missed along the way, so even though it was backtracking we did a short dayhike back up the Snowgrass Trail and a little ways north on the PCT.

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And we did get the Adams view.

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Late afternoon it started clouding up some more (it had never fully cleared), and a little before 6:00 pm it started drizzling. It rained on and off for a few hours, but wasn't a huge inconvenience; we just cooked and ate dinner under the tarp. This was the only real rain we got on our trip, so I think we were pretty lucky.

TomHilton
Posts: 10
Joined: August 17th, 2012, 1:03 pm
Location: San Francisco

Re: Goat Rocks 8/27 to 8/30

Post by TomHilton » September 3rd, 2012, 12:07 pm

Next morning was overcast again. As we ate breakfast and packed up, the mists rose from the Goat Creek valley and enveloped everything at our level--pretty much like San Francisco only chillier, and instead of buildings it was mountains we couldn't see.

We packed up and headed north on the Lily Basin trail. As we hiked, brief gaps in the mist gave us tantalizing glimpses of the landscape, including a dramatic view of the Goat Creek waterfall. About a mile on, we passed the campsite we should have taken the day before, on a knoll above a lovely subalpine valley with spectacular views of the upper Goat Creek valley and a gorgeous cascade dropping from Goat Rocks. Next time, for sure.

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As we traversed a lupine-filled slope a little past there, my foot suddenly slipped out from under me and I wound up tumbling a little ways off the trail. No damage to speak of, but an unwelcome reminder of just how slick everything was in this damp mist.

Near Goat Lake the trail crossed a few snowfields; the lake itself was still frozen over. I don't think I've ever seen a lake that frozen this late in the season.

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Beyond Goat Lake, the trail was increasingly muddy and slick, until we got to the ridgeline. From there it was smooth sailing down into Jordan Basin. The prime campsite (the one by the tarn above and west of the trail) was free, and we grabbed it. Consensus in our group was that this was an even better site than the one in Cispus Basin. Spectacular views (or so we surmised, since at the time we couldn't see much) and--yes, this one's a shocker--gorgeous wildflowers.

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I had envisioned dayhiking Hawkeye Point, but with everything socked in there wasn't much reason. So we puttered around camp for the afternoon. Late in the afternoon it started clearing, and we engaged in the exciting pastime of watching clouds go by in the hope of catching a glimpse of Mt. Adams. Which, eventually, we got.

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In fact, it cleared up very nicely by early evening.

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We ate dinner (capellini with smoked salmon cream sauce) on the rocks with the view, and afterwards we stayed there and played cards and watched the light fade on Mt. Adams. After sunset the mists returned, but never enough to obscure our twilight view of the mountain. The moon rose over Goat Ridge, silhouetting a lone tree on the ridgetop, illuminating the mists swirling around the basin. It was magical.

Next morning it was cold and perfectly clear--not a cloud to be seen. The last day is always bittersweet, but at least we had perfect weather for it. At the lip of Jordan Basin we heard a loud, very close pika whistle; we spotted the guy about 50 feet away, and watched for a while before continuing. This was the first of several parting gifts. The next big one was the view of Rainier from Goat Ridge as we approached the saddle where the trail crosses over. (Unfortunately, my camera battery was dead at this point, so no photos.) Then, a quarter mile or so after the saddle, the great broadside view of Goat Rocks.

We made it out in a hair over 2 hours. Lunch at the Mt. Adams Cafe in Randle, then back to Portland for showers and a return to everyday life.

Addendum: One thing I'm kind of curious about...the Falcon Press guide says Mt. St. Helens dumped six inches of ash on the Goat Rocks area (and it's apparent in a lot of places). That's essentially an entire layer of topsoil, and volcanic soil is generally great for wildflowers (the best displays in the Sierra are in the volcanic areas like around Carson Pass). So I'm wondering if the wildflowers at Goat Rocks were as amazing before 1980, or if they're at least partly a result of the Mt. St. Helens dump. Anyone here who was up there before St. Helens, and can give some perspective on this?

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oldandslow
Posts: 175
Joined: August 22nd, 2012, 12:47 pm

Re: Goat Rocks 8/27 to 8/30

Post by oldandslow » September 3rd, 2012, 2:56 pm

I hiked into the Snowgrass Flat area 3 or 4 times before the 1980 eruption. There were nice wildflowers. A year or two after the eruption we camped above Snowgrass Flat. There was so much ash, it was like camping at the beach.
Goat-Rocks--ash.jpg
About 5 years later we camped at the same place and the flowers were outstanding.
Above-Snowgrass-Flat.jpg
At the time of the eruption, there was some supposed learned opinion that the ash was inert and would not have any affect on the wildflowers except to bury them for a while. That view is not consistant with my observations on subsequent visits to the area.

TomHilton
Posts: 10
Joined: August 17th, 2012, 1:03 pm
Location: San Francisco

Re: Goat Rocks 8/27 to 8/30

Post by TomHilton » September 4th, 2012, 7:06 am

Thanks, that's exactly the kind of info I was hoping for.

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hlee
Posts: 513
Joined: April 16th, 2012, 12:41 pm
Location: St. Helens, Oregon

Re: Goat Rocks 8/27 to 8/30

Post by hlee » September 4th, 2012, 1:44 pm

Really great TR! Sorry your battery died. :( But you have some great photos from most of the trip at least! Cards and backpacking and mountains and wildflowers sounds about perfect to me. I'll have to remember to always take 3 other people with me when I go out, so we have enough to play canasta...

Hannah

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.
-- T.S. Eliot

TomHilton
Posts: 10
Joined: August 17th, 2012, 1:03 pm
Location: San Francisco

Re: Goat Rocks 8/27 to 8/30

Post by TomHilton » September 4th, 2012, 2:33 pm

hlee wrote:Really great TR! Sorry your battery died. :( But you have some great photos from most of the trip at least! Cards and backpacking and mountains and wildflowers sounds about perfect to me. I'll have to remember to always take 3 other people with me when I go out, so we have enough to play canasta...
Thanks!

Canasta is a game I've never learned; we were alternately playing Gin and Hearts. And for maybe the 3rd or 4th time in my life, and the first time in decades, I actually shot the moon. 8-)

lordkevin
Posts: 1
Joined: November 27th, 2012, 2:24 am

Re: Goat Rocks 8/27 to 8/30

Post by lordkevin » November 27th, 2012, 2:28 am

These are very nice pics...
lord

TomHilton
Posts: 10
Joined: August 17th, 2012, 1:03 pm
Location: San Francisco

Re: Goat Rocks 8/27 to 8/30

Post by TomHilton » December 10th, 2012, 9:59 am

lordkevin wrote:These are very nice pics...
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed them.

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