We've been hoping to explore the Goat Rocks wilderness for a while, it truly lived up to its reputation! tl;dr - Vast sweeping vistas, incredible cloudscapes, views of peaks all around, a pristine lake, incredible fall color and the most delicious blueberries!
We car camped at Chambers Lake campground after a long bumpy drive along FS21. The road has potholes in places but is drivable for all cars. We saw several folks at the campground who were there for a day hike. We packed out all our stuff given the shutdown and chose not to use the trashcans at the campground. The campground does have functional toilets, we saw other folks using them. The weather didn't seem promising, it was rainy and cold Saturday evening (low 30s at night). We woke up to high 30s temps but clear skies!
We started our hike from the Berry Patch trailhead which is just 5 minutes away and chose to go clockwise around the Goat Lake+Snowgrass Flat loop. Most folks set out from the Snowgrass trailhead in the counter clockwise direction since the ascent is gentler. We preferred tackling some elevation off the bat, had the trail to ourselves for the first 3+ miles. We did a spur trail which added about 0.75 miles along the way but got us some epic views of Adams, St Helens and Rainier. The trail got gentler as the slopes opened up, awash with color. There are a couple of streams for running water before the ridge climb starts. The sumac bushes are at peak color and full of bright red fruit. Once we headed up to the ridge and stayed right (left goes to the Lily Basin trail), the views opened up. The slopes are covered with blueberry bushes at peak color and lots of berries, the juiciest we've had on any hike this year. We traversed the slope and dropped down to Goat Lake, which is this absolute jewel of blue/green with expansive views. We saw several folks packing up here, seems like a dream spot for camping.
Venturing on from Goat Lake, the views just keep getting better. We stopped at the edge of the Snowgrass Flat dispersed camping area for lunch, surrounded by shades of red, gold and yellow and treated to amazing views of Adams. The trail eventually starts descending into the trees, the last 3 miles are relatively uneventful and can feel like a bit of slog after the stunning vistas we just passed through.
We ended up at the Snowgrass Flat trailhead and ran up the road to get to our car parked at Berry Patch. My watch clocked over 14 miles and 3K of a magical adventure in the Goat Rocks wilderness. Can't wait to be back here next summer for some extended backpacking.
We could smell a bit of smoke at times when on the ridge earlier in the morning, but we saw a lot of smoke and haze on our drive back on SR 123.
Comments