This is an excellent route for weekend solitude, views, and wildflowers (details below): Norse Peak trail to Goat Lake trail, Goat Lake to PCT, PCT south to Bullion Basin (the southern passage, gentle and pretty), Bullion Basin to FS 7190-410, and 7190-410 back to the Norse Peak trailhead. 13.4 miles, over 7 hours I saw 3 hikers and 2 groups of horseback riders, I started at 5:55.
There are 6 blowdowns on the Goat Lake trail, 5 are easy, one is a little tricky, you have to gain about 15 feet of elevation to get over it. When in doubt, see where the elk hooves go, they are good at finding the best way around and down, they even use switchbacks. There are 2 gullies on this trail that I am guessing 1 out of 10 people will be uncomfortable with, lots of loose rock and they dip down and back up about 6 feet.
Flowers: The flowers in the first half of the 3rd mile on the Norse Peak trail are starting to fade (the blue lupines are being partially replaced by blue harebells, cover photo), but the second half of the 3rd mile still has some nice displays. The Goat Lake trail, most of the PCT, and the trail dropping down to Bullion Basin have excellent flowers. The attached photo album has many videos and photos which show the flower fields you will see (one of those videos can be seen below).
When I left at 1:00, there were 24 cars at Norse Peak, 4 at Ranger Creek, and 10 at Dalles Creek.
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