Goat Ridge, Goat Lake & Old Snowy Mountain - Elk Pass — Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024

Do you need another trip report about the life-affirming views, amazing geology, splendid wildflowers, and abundant huckle-and-blueberries? If not - how about a report about weather?!

I had 3 nights available to me for a short backpack. I delayed setting out as I practiced tracking the rain forecast on radar, and felt like a smarty-pants as I hiked up Goat Ridge past damp backpackers coming down. 

Then. About 2.5 miles in, the temperature dropped 20 degrees. Then the wind picked up. Then the rain drizzled a little - fine, what's a drizzle - but then the wind really kicked in and the rain felt like insult, and even with all my layers on hiking up out of Jordan Basin with my heavy pack, I was freezing. 

I arrived at Goat Lake around 3pm-ish, intending to push on as I know how crowded the lake gets - but it was so ominous-looking and I wasn't sure how close a good campsite would be between Goat Lake and Snowgrass. Hardly anyone was there, so I snagged what looked like a great site overlooking the valley, set up camp asap, and huddled in my sleeping bag trying to get warm. 

Then the wind really started to pick up. The rain turned to snow. My tent did calisthenics. I was sure my poles were going to snap and I envisioned having to crawl in to a stranger's tent for the night. 

I recalled the weather report saying "snow level 6500 feet" and I recalled thinking  - well, that must mean where snow is lingering, because every other day this week the freezing level was 11,000 feet!" Please, laugh at me. Or learn from me. The amount of precipitation - really the only thing I had been paying attention to - was not great, but the fact that it was frozen and driving hard at me with gale force winds (ok - exaggeration. I don't know the wind speed. Fast) made for a very cold, very anxious night. 

Then. 4am, the wind had driven all the ominous clouds somewhere else. Calm and clear skies reigned. I opened my tent to discover that camping at the top of the valley near Goat Lake means a full on view of Adams at sunrise. The day was crystal clear, only one wispy cloud near Rainier didn't get the message to move on. 

The rest of it is straightforward - hiked the Packwood Glacier trail to Old Snowy (if you've never done this before - a fantastic trail, with great campsites along the way for the hardy among us, but make sure you have GPS as the trail gets lost in scree several times and the cairns are helpful, but not sufficient), scrambled all the way up to Old Snowy (getting harder on older knees, the scrambling part, but still doable), reveled in Adams, Rainier, Helens (so bare without any snow!) and just all that incredible geology, color, and texture of landscape, ate blueberries, said hi to a bunch of very fat marmots, listened to the waterfall of Goat River, slept soundly in normal non-windy temps, woke in the middle of the night, turned over, and saw a shooting star (still can't believe it) and awoke to another stunning sunrise doing pretty things to mountains and reflections. 

Hiked out in the morning, noticed that the Jordan Basin campers - while they get that beautiful peaceful valley - don't get the mountain views or morning sun, and was glad I was able to make it up over the ridge in one go. Next year, more PCT and Nannie Ridge action. Can't wait to return!

Side note: for those seeking solitude, it can be found in Goat Rocks - just not all the time and never at Goat Lake. I was alone on the trail a lot, but when the sun came out and the holiday weekend approached, tons of backpackers all around and really no spot to pitch a tent and be truly alone. I am grateful that the group of 17 were fairly quiet and respectful and pitched their tents together in a tight circle, and the group of 4 loud women kept it down after dinner time - but it's good to be prepared for an adventure with others in this area. 

More Information on this Trip Report

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