Old Snowy Mountain - Elk Pass — Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025

Did a ~14 mile clockwise loop (goat ridge - goat lake - unmaintained packwood glacier trail - old snowy - PCT - snow grass flat - berry patch trailhead). A fee things to note:

Unmaintained Packwood Glacier Trail is a great little shortcut between Goat Lake and Old Snowy. We relied heavily on Gaia for staying on the actual “trail” and if you stick to the Gaia track the trail is steep but much more tame and reasonable than we were expecting. Look for cairns and fresh gravel. There is a patch of trees mid-way through the route and the trail weaves right through the middle of them avoiding a boulder field, but is easy to miss.

Old Snowy: about 60 feet below the summit there is hard packed and icy snow on the trail to just under the summit. We managed sketchily to reach the summit but would have been more comfortable with micro spikes. Poles were very handy. After the weather moves in October 8 I imagine there will be even deeper snow there and it will be impassible.