Three friends and I were originally planning on heading to the North Cascades for the 4th of July, but forecasts of thunderstorms for two of the three nights we'd be out forced us to look elsewhere. 

After hearing weather was supposed to be better in the Goat Rocks and doing a quick map check, we landed on what wound up being probably the hardest way for us to get in and out of the Goat Rocks wilderness. But we had some good views, lots of quality trail time, and an adventure. 

Day 1 - Keep climbing

After spending the night before at La Wis Wis, we headed into Packwood for some coffee and super-good pastries at Mountain Goat cafe, then headed to the trailhead.

We'd mapped out a rough loop that required going in via the Clear Lost trailhead, which is really just a turnout on Highway 12. Because of this, the trail immediately drops several hundred feet in one mile to a ford of the Cowlitz River. The ford wasn't terrible, which was a relief. Two of us are around 6 feet tall, the other two closer to 5'5" and everyone crossed without incident. Onward to a junction where a spooky old shack marked our first stop for snacks. 

From the shack we continued on to scenic Lost Hat Lake, with a little detour in a basin where we lost the trail for a minute. Luckily another hiker came along and beelined in the right direction. We saw our mistake and were back on track immediately. 

Lost Hat Lake is more than half melted out, but there is still a lot of snow in it, and there had been a fair number of snow patches to cross on the way to this point. Because of all the snow, we were a little nervous about getting up and over the ridge where the old lookout site is, since it's (roughly) northeast-facing. So we moved on quickly from Lost Hat, hoping to get up and over the ridge, and thinking of Plan Bs if we couldn't. 

Luckily, we made it over the ridge, but large, intermittent snow patches start just past Lost Hat, the longest probably only 200 feet, but exposure was high -- the higher you climb the further you'll slide if you slip. 

The two heaviest of us went first, kicking in steps along the way and walking slowly. We crossed all of the snowfields safely, though the very last snowfield before the top was no fun for me; I had to make a weird step to get off the snowfield, and wound up on some loose gravel. Maintaining three points of contact helped, but it's not a move I'd like to repeat. 

note: Everyone in the group was using trekking poles and had microspikes or yaktrax with us, though we didn't put on the traction devices during this trip -- in most cases, we hit the snowfields too late in the day for the microspikes to have made much difference. 

The trail is better past the old lookout site; even the north-facing aspect is totally dry, but the risk here is narrow tread on loose, gravelly soil. Again, we hiked carefully, making it down to Lost Lake by early evening and had a nice dinner before doing some stretches and turning in. 

Day 2 - "Wait, did that say 4,400 feet of elevation gain??" 

Our biggest elevation gain day. In mapping out the trip, we felt sure there had to be a mistake when our GAIA app said 4400+ feet of elevation gain, but...there was not a mistake.

Originally we'd hoped to cross The Knife and camp in Snowgrass Flats, but we were skeptical about being able to do that, since snow had been such a concern the day before. We crossed paths with a fastpacker at about 11am. He was heading out the way we'd come in, and he said the PCT was fine; just that there was one sketchy snowfield but it was totally navigable. 

However, the Coyote Trail slowed us down. We spent most of our time on it because it was so steep, and it does this frustrating huge-climb-into-a-mega-descent maneuver, only to require hiker to gain it all back in a mile and a half to get to Elk Pass. Ergh.

Overall, the trail is in OK shape, but there's an exposed section of it just before it drops to Packwood Saddle that half of us hiked quite slowly. There's no snow here; it's just slippy gravel, but the two of us slipped a couple of times each. Not a great feeling with a full pack.

By the time we hit Packwood Saddle, we all needed a snack break. Two of our group were out of water. The rest of us had plenty to share, but we decided if we didn't see water in the mile and a half to Elk Pass, we'd head north on the PCT instead of up and over the Knife. 

There wasn't any water between the Saddle and the Pass. And we decided not to do the Knife for a few reasons:

• It was around 3 30pm when we got to the pass; pretty late in the day to be starting another challenging section of trail.
• The Knife looked clear, but we decided it wouldn't be smart to continue up and over it without refilling water. 
• We had heard mixed reviews of the snow situation on the Knife and given prior concerns about exposure, thought it would be better to leave it for another day, particularly since our itinerary had us crossing the Knife twice. 

(It's worth noting that the first available water we encountered on this day wasn't until we were a quarter-mile north of Elk Pass on the PCT, from a small trailside tarn -- if you hike the Coyote Trail, bring a lot of water.)

Despite fairly positive reports of the PCT trail conditions (we heard: "It's fine" and "It's totally clear, you'll be fine"), the sketchiest snow crossing we did was on the PCT north from Elk Pass, so the excitement of the day wasn't over. 

After the trail rounds the ridge north of Elk Pass, there's a very long, exposed snowfield, and anyone heading north is hiking downhill on it. Again, we took it slow, and used our hiking sticks for balance. Because it was late in the day, the snow was soft, so it was easy for feet to slip out of the already-stomped steps. It wasn't fun, but we all got across safely, and some of us celebrated by glissading down a very moderately sloped embankment to the first water we'd seen all day. I celebrated by run-walking down mercifully stable trail to the tarn.

Just past this tarn was a gorgeous campsite. We'd planned on staying at McCall Basin, but after we saw this spot, we changed plans. It had a gorgeous view, and we were vindicated in our choice of not crossing the Knife when we watched clouds come in that evening. These of course also ruined our view of Rainier, socking in the entire high country above us, including the Knife and most of the basin we were in. 

(Also on this day one of our group found an adult tick crawling on her after we'd been on the Coyote Trail. This of course sent me into paranoid overdrive, but no one else found any for the rest of the trip. Thank [insert deity here].)

Day 3 - Routefinding and Decision-making

Unfortunately, the clouds that came in after dinner the day before never cleared, so we ate a quick breakfast, eyeing the sky for sun that never quite got through, then headed down the trail. 

At this point we'd revamped our plan several times, going back and forth about whether we'd come out via the Clear Fork trail (which we knew was likely to be brushy and hard to follow, but provided a direct route back to our car) or the PCT north past Shoe Lake (prettier, but longer with camps that were likely to be more full, and required hitching or roadwalking back to our car.) Incidentally, during the entirety of this trip we saw probably 20 people total. Not a lot for a holiday weekend in the Goat Rocks. 

We decided to make the call at Tieton Pass. On the way down, we passed a father-daughter-doggo group who told us they'd come up Clear Fork and it hadn't been bad, except for a bit of route-finding through an old burn. We started to think maybe the Clear Fork trail would be the way to go. 

But, by the time we got to the pass, the Clear Fork trail was looking pretty uninviting compared to the manicured PCT. After talking again about the pros and cons, we ultimately decided the direct route would be better, since we wanted to camp at the Cowlitz River ford and get an early start to beat traffic on our last day. We dropped in, and immediately felt committed to Clear Fork. 

I was pleasantly surprised at what relatively good condition the Clear Fork trail is in. With the exception of what was probably a quarter- to a third-mile of routefinding through old burn towards the bottom of the descent, the trail is easy to follow. There are a three major creek crossings that require rock-hopping, log-walking or fording, but nothing that anyone in our group felt unsafe doing. And of course, we saw no one else. 

This wound up being our longest day, clocking in at 11 miles, and by the time we got to the final ford of the Cowlitz, we were happy to be able to cool off in the river and chill at camp. 

Day 4 - Cheese Squares

Our last day. We packed up camp and zipped up the hill, doing a neat one-mile warmup hike to our car, where we changed into less-sweaty clothes and beelined for Packwood and more of those pastries before heading home. Our pick: the cheesy biscuits and these amazing flaky popover things with asparagus, egg, and pesto. 

Overall a great trip, and I'm very thankful to have spent it with friends. There were several points where I would have turned around without encouragement from them, and our talks in camp and on trail were enjoyable. 

Very Rough Trail Maintenance Needs Report: 

• Throughout this loop, we encountered ~20-30 blowdowns of significant size (that is, ones that we had to stop to figure out a way around them). Most of these were on the Clear Fork Trail, and most of those were in the burn, but there were probably 5-7 on the Coyote Trail and on the way to Lost Hat Lake, and at least two on the PCT north from Elk Pass.
• The mile of Coyote Trail north of Packwood Saddle really, really needs some rebenching. 
• So does the trail coming up from Lost Hat Lake to the lookout. 
• Lots of mucky mud sections on the Clear Fork, and at least one area that could have a turnpike put in. A downed yellow cedar nearby could serve as stringers. 

What started out as a four-night, leisurely car shuttle route to explore the NW quadrant of Goat Rocks, turned into a three-nighter, followed by a hasty evacuation due to a relentless thunder storm. We completed the clockwise route, just quicker than planned, beginning at the Lily Lake TH (also known as the Clear Fork Trail #61), followed it to its junction with the PCT at Tieton Pass, then followed the PCT south to the Snowgrass Flats area. From there we hiked cross country to pick up the Lily Basin Trail #86 and followed it (eventually racing) out to its trail head under a barrage of hail, thunder and lightning. Bugs were not a problem on the way out.

Roads to trail heads: most of the route to the Lily Lake TH is in very good condition except for the final quarter - half mile which is very rough and rocky. No problems for standard pickups or Outbacks but regular autos could lose their oil pans if careless. The road to Lily Basin TH is in very good condition except for one, quite deep, washed-out trench across a steep pitch in the road a couple of miles before the trail head. Without high clearance and FWD, you'll likely bottom out and just spin your tires trying to navigate over it.

The trails: First off, be aware the Lily Lake trail does not take you within visual of the lake - never saw it, nor even a hint of a social trail that would have led to it. There has to be one but not one of the six of us saw one. The trail however was cleared of fallen trees this spring all the way to Tieton Pass so that much was great. The tread is deteriorated and overgrown in a few places but nothing a novice couldn't handle. Coyote Creek flooded its banks and wiped out quite a swath of terrain. Crossing the creek is simple and knowing where to head to cross is sort of marked with blue and red plastic tape. Be prepared to poke around a bit to discover where the trail picks up on the other side.

The PCT up the Knife Edge is quite rocky (loose), and way steeper than it was 15 years ago when I last hiked it. I think this earth-tilt thing is for real. Traversing Old Snowy was no problem - one small snow patch with decent foot impressions otherwise you're on rock the entire stretch. The stretch of trail down to Snowgrass Flat is impressively torn up with large rocks cluttering most of it. Hard to imagine all of that rock debris is due to just human feet.

The Lily Basin trail is truly a mixed bag. From Snowgrass flat up past Goat Lake to its junction with Hawkeye Point it's in pretty decent shape except for the really steep stretches where the tread is littered with loose rock. The notorious snow bank just north of the junction is alive and well. Three of the group elected to detour around below it. Three of us kicked steps, very carefully, across it and made it to within five feet of the tread below it, but at that point the bank was so steep we lost traction and slid off. Fortunately, it was only a five foot drop to the trail. Two of us 'stuck' the dismount, one continued with a short dirt and rock glissade. Detouring below it requires a very delicate descent, or a truly laborious grunt back up depending on which direction you're traveling. The remainder of the path up to the junction with the Angry Mountain trail is a bit harder to evaluate. We were at Heart Lake when the storm descended and the entire trail up to that junction was a raging stream of muddy water. Before the deluge, I'm pretty sure it was in good shape.

The really fun part came after the Angry Mt. jct. The following 2.5 miles was covered in up to 3" of slushy hail. Of that stretch the truly rotten part was the entire traverse of the west side of the Johnson massive. It's a good mile of very lose tread, nonexistent tread, and around a dozen steep gullies to get over. None were more than five feet deep or very wide, but at the time most were filled with rushing brown water and the lose, crumbly "moraines" on each side sometimes gave away when ascending or descending them. Had it not been for the residual hail, the remainder of the trail would have been an absolute treat. Once below around 5200' the hail disappeared and we happily cruzed the rest of the way. Gratefully, the entire path had recently been cleared, and there was an impressive number of fresh cleared tree-fall. The fragrance from all of the fresh cutting took "forest bathing" to an extreme!

For a delightful and at times stunning day-hike, hiking the Lily Basin trail up to the start of the Johnson traverse and then turning around would be a charmer if you don't mind the drive.

Bugs: very few mosquitoes anywhere along our route. Black Flies made up for it, particularly at the lower elevations. Falling hail is a very effective deterrent.

Flowers: in full bloom at the lowest elevations, in mid bloom at the highest.

A joint WTA/BCHW work party logged out the Clear Fork Trail, # 61, Cowlitz Ranger District, South Cascades on June 15-17.  The trail is clear of all deadfall to Tieton Pass.  However, the trail is washed out about 1 mile short of Tieton Pass and is impassible to stock at this point.  The trail is not over grown with brush.  Coyote Creek is a ford and is flagged for stock.  Chimney Creek is also a ford and not running high.  Cowlitz Crossing is a ford or a rather small diameter footlog.  Cowlitz Crossing has a trail cleared on both sides of the river.  Camps are available at the old Skeeter Shelter site at the junction of the Clear Lost trail #76, Coyote Creek crossing, and Cowlitz crossing.

Note that the 'obstacles encountered' I'm reporting here mainly apply to the lesser-travelled side trails (Lily Lake #61, Clear-Lost #76, and Upper Lake Creek #81). Some details follow: This was a six-day Goat Rocks backpack, starting at Snowgrass TH, heading north to the PCT and continuing on the PCT to Tieton Pass (with a short side trip to McCall Basin), to Lily Lake #61, Clear Lost #76, Coyote Trail #79, back to the PCT with a planned return to the Snowgrass TH. But weather intervened, and I had to bail out on the Upper Lake Creek #81 and came out via Packwood Lake instead. Snowgrass trail #96 is very well maintained, I'm sure somewhat due to its popularity. Even on a rainy September Monday, there were 2 or 3 other parties camped near the junction with the Lily Basin trail. I camped here the first night, in a mix of rain & snow which cleared up by late evening. Next day continued on trail #96 to the PCT, and headed North over Old Snowy. This is, for the PCT, a rather "rough" go though the trail is actually pretty good. Some steep snowfields with notable exposure and some sections on a narrow ridge top with loose rock underfoot - not recommended for those prone to vertigo. There's a roller-coaster ridge walk here for about 1/2 mile which is stunning. And steep. I found very little water between where trail #96 hits the PCT and about 2 miles North of Old Snowy where the PCT again drops to a large rocky meadow and a nice stream. There are lots of dry, rocky side-channels along this section that I'm sure are flowing with water earlier in the season or on a warmer day. After a night at McCall Basin (a highly recommended side trip!), I continued North on the PCT to Tieton Pass, and took the left branch onto the Lily Lake trail #61 down the Clear Fork of the Cowlitz River. The upper section of this trail is a bit rough and beat up, with a few blowdowns and some low brush but overall not that bad. Don't wait, like I did, to put on gaiters because when the brush is damp, it is amazingly efficient at filling your boots with water. Lower down at the Coyote Creek crossing the trail is gone, but blue flagging tape marks a route through the washout. All stream crossings are un-bridged but easy rock hops this time of year. At the junction with the Clear-Lost trail #76, the trail deteriorated further. This trail takes a fairly steep, direct line with some side-hill and switchbacks, but the trail bed is rocky and chewed up by horses for several miles. My camp that night was along the ridge, near some un-named ponds and an unmarked trail junction. My guess is that the left-hand trail headed off to Coyote Lake; my compass and instincts said stay on straight here which turned out to be right for once. Elk bugling most of the night. Cool! Next day the Clear-Lost does some up-and-down to an open valley below Lost Hat lake - this is where the horse packers stopped, and the trail got to be in much better shape. Still rocky and a bit brushy, but no more chewed up muddy wallows littered with ankle-turner rocks. The nature drama just goes up, with the views and vertical past Lost Hat Lake to the top of Lost Lake Peak. The trail really does go right over the top of the peak. Stunning! Here is the junction with Trail #65; turning South drops quickly down to Lost Lake (Good campsites; some garbage left around though. Too bad.) and then connects with the Coyote #79 trail. Here, it seemed like most hikers and horse-people were going West down to Packwood Lake, but I took the road less travelled and turned South-East here. Several blow-downs along here that weren't cleared, but nothing too bad. Good campsite at Beaver Bill Creek which I took. Next morning the plan was to stay on the Coyote trail South over Chimney Rock, down to Packwood Saddle, then up again to Elk Pass and the PCT junction, then do the traverse over Old Snowy Southward. Light rain started but from here the trail has good tread, with again some blow-downs periodically all the way to Packwood Saddle (good campsite here, water available by going West on trail #81 dropping a couple hundred vertical feet). After here, the trail continues with an "almost pleasant" steady grade upward to the PCT junction at 6700' (or so). But the rain and wind increased, and as I headed South past the PCT at Elk Pass junction rapidly reached a gale. There was no going on. Bailout plan (sketched out ahead of time with my Long Suffering and Patient SO) was to exit via Packwood Lake, and I this I did, backtracking to Packwood Saddle and taking the Upper Lake Creek trail #81 out via Packwood Lake. Of particular note: the Upper Lake Creek trail #81 hasn't seen much maintenance in a while. The first 2+ miles below Packwood Saddle have numerous blowdowns, and very little sign of use (I saw only elk and deer tracks the entire way down). When the trail reaches the river, it stops at a large cairn with a 4 foot drop to the water. Total washout. You/I get to ford the river (only mid-calf deep but it had been a long day already) and pick your way down the gravel bar until you see another cairn, same side, about 150 yards downstream, where a quick re-cross of the river gets you back on the trail. This is where I camped, as the light was fading along with my spirits and energy. Lake Creek trail gets better from here down to Packwood Lake, with many fewer blowdowns and no serious obstacles. Saw my first people in 4 days camped by the lake, and picked up some tips about where I could get a cell signal again (I had none since I stared checking just below Elk Pass in the storm the previous day). I took this guy's advice (thanks!) and at the old ranger cabin I connected with the "road" down past the flow-control dam and indeed got 2 bars on my phone about 1/2 mile further on. Made the SOS call for a pick-up at Packwood Lake TH.

Headed out for a lowland hike as the rain and snow forecast kept me out of the high country. I had not explored this watershed of the Cowlitz before and what an absolute delight. Reminded me of other low elevation ancient forest walks that are left in the NW. Only a few things worth noting and passing along here for the sake of others. For one, the final .8 miles of the Forest Service road is indeed quite rough. I drive a Nissan Xterra which had no problem, and I would characterize the road as needing a Subaru, or Rav4 or some AWD vehicle. There are deep ruts from run off and it is quite steep. Certainly would not take the family Civic up the last mile! Also, the road is severely overgrown and is reduced to being one lane for much of the way. Fortunately, it is lightly traveled, but you would not want to meet someone coming from the other direction, each doing 20-30. At the trailhead, the trail is indeed cleared of all logs all the way to Coyote Creek. I hiked right past Lily Lake, which can be barely seen through the trees from the trail. I set up camp about one mile before Coyote Creek and then dayhiked up canyon from there the next day. The trail may lack logs to Coyote Creek, but it is thoroughly overgrown with huckleberries, and you will be absolutely soaked with dew or rain on your hike in or out. Crossing Coyote Creek itself is a wet experience as there are no bridges in this wonderfully wild place. The water was about knee deep on me, but I am 6'2". I think for some it would be a bit tough unless you are experienced and know how to use support. After Coyote Creek and up to the crossing of Cowlitz River there are numerous logs down. None present serious problems for able hikers, but the way I would describe it is that you will want to be someone who can easily scramble under over and around obstacles without joint or back trouble. It is an absolutely wild and gorgeous walk and one I recommend to anyone wanting that deep forest experience. I saw lots of frogs, always a treat, and plenty of elk tracks, though no elk. The bear grass is lovely right now, and the bugs were hardly present.