Snowgrass Flat — Tuesday, Sep. 28, 2010

South Cascades > Goat Rocks

Quite possibly the best hike of my life. The weather was questionable as we left Kitsap county, but perfect in the Gifford-Pinchot. We didn't read our mapquest directions very well and ended up driving all the way to White Pass before realizing the road to the trailhead is before Packwood. However, the extra travel time ended up to be perfect timing. We had lunch at the trailhead and ran into a forest service ranger who gave us the good advice to begin on the left side of the loop and summit Hawkeye Point. He told us that an 88-year-old woman had hiked it the week before. (She must be in incredible shape. We were breathing hard by the top!) The 360 view of the Northwest volcanoes was phenomenal. It was even clear enough to see Mt. Hood peeking out behind Mt. Adams. Amazing! Only ran into a total of 4 hikers and 2 dogs the entire day. Zero bugs. No access issues. The fall color was just beginning (end of September) and the hiking conditions were perfect. From the top of the spur trail to the peak, two members of our group decided to make the full loop through Snowgrass flats. They swam in the lake and saw a herd of Mountain Goats. The other three members made the hike into an out-and-back. We all ended up at the trailhead within 5 minutes of each other (however the group that went to the lake and Snowgrass flats ran most of the flat sections, and they are both in ridiculously good shape.) Driving the forest service roads, we saw a beautiful bull elk right off the road.