Lost Trail: Angry Mountain

The Goat Rocks Wilderness reputation for stunning scenery is rivaled by major access challenges from downed trees to washed out roads. Decreased access as resulted in over used trails on other, accessible trails.

Angry Mountain. Photo by Rachel Wendling.

Nestled between snow-capped Mount Rainier and Mount Adams, the Goat Rocks’ reputation for stunning scenery and relative proximity to population centers, such as Southwest Washington and Portland, Oregon, draws more adventure-seekers every season. The Angry Mountain Trail was once known as a good way to enter the wilderness and provided hikers with a variety of loop options for their trips.

With hundreds of trees across the trail, the Angry Mountain Trail has been practically inaccessible. The Goat Rocks Wilderness also exemplifies the challenges presented by dwindling public investment. As more forest roads succumb to washouts and storm damage, more people are being driven to an ever-dwindling number of trailheads causing ecological damage from trail overuse. Investment is needed to restore access for hikers and trail crews, expanding the number of available trails and dispersing hikers to lessen the impact on this delicate ecosystem.

Unique features:

Goat Rocks Wilderness has superlative beauty with park-like alpine meadows and aqua blue lakes.
Goat Rocks Wilderness terrain is comprised of remnants of an extinct volcano.
Goat Rocks is more moderate and accessible to throngs of hikers looking for a scenic high country adventure.
The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail travels through the core of Goat Rocks Wilderness and is often cited by hikers as their favorite section of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Stories from the field

Lost Trails Found: Summer Progress Report

Sep 19, 2018

2018 was an incredible summer for our Lost Trails Found campaign! Take a peek at some of the work we accomplished throughout the season.

An Effort to Clear the Path in Goat Rocks Wilderness

Feb 07, 2018

Years of storm damage, fallen trees and road washouts have dwindled the Goat Rocks accessibility to a handful of trailheads. WTA volunteer trail maintenance crews spent weeks throughout the summer working across the Goat Rocks trail system, clearing logs, fixing tread and roughing-in re-routes in the hopes of expanding the number of available trails and dispersing hikers to lessen the impact on this delicate ecosystem.