Lake George, Gobblers Knob — Thursday, Jun. 11, 2026

Overnight adventure to Lake George.  We picked this destination as a low stakes first back packing trip of the season.  Overnight permits were still available for on-line booking a couple of days before we went, and even with a long drive to Longmire to pick the permit up we knew we had plenty of time to make it to camp.  West-side road is in good shape all the way to the parking area just before the permanent road closure sign.  Hiking over three miles on the old road was a bit of a chore with the warming temps, but we were able to hug the shaded shoulders and as it was our first time it was fun to explore.  The first section of road is the roughest as roads go, with the repaired washouts, the second is very mild.  There is an impressive recent road bed failure - looks like a culvert blew out which is coned off. The final mile to the lake is on proper shaded trail through the forest and even though has a steeper grade than the road it felt good to back under the trees with lots of avalanche lilies for company.

Lake George has five camp spots up on the ridge to the east of the lake, for water we used the inlet creek further along the trail.  The breeze almost kept the bugs in check, but it is most certainly now bug season.  Lots of small flies, gnats, and some early season mosquitoes (still getting the hang of the biting thing).  Not bad enough to go crazy with the spray yet.  We set up camp quickly and then continued on up the trail to Gobblers Knob.  There are still a few short snow patches that you just walk over, the biggest is in the flat area near the pond before the GK trail junction.  No snow on the final approach to the lookout, but you get a bonus blowdown instead.  Go under or over your choice, not tricky.  After the hike to the lake with my overnight gear I was feeling gassed for the last section of trail as it climbs to the top so it took a while.  The views were superb.  We walked the cat walk around the lookout and then settled on the rocks for some view appreciation, picking out all the features on this unfamiliar side of the mountain.  We could even see Mount Hood.  Coming back down I was glad to have my poles for the first rocky section, but really even though the rock is a little crumbly, it was not super challenging.

Back at camp it was getting late so dinner was in order and we put off lake side exploring until the next day.  Just peekabo views of the sun setting  on Mount Rainier from our site, but no complaints with a good level tent area.  The night was cold, low 40s so a late morning start too.  Once packed up we followed the indistinct lake side trail a short distance until it crossed the outlet creek on a small log jumble, not wanting to tackle that with our loaded packs we turned around.  The lake is rather lovely and surprisingly big and it was a shame not to explore it some more.  We should have done that before breaking camp, especially as it only took a couple of hours to return to the car.