Fine 360-degree panorama from the summit of Goat Peak (the one between the Bumping and American Rivers east of Chinook Pass, not necessarily any of the various other Goat Peaks), from Rainier to Fifes Peaks to Daniels to Stuart to the Yakima Valley (hazy) to Aix / Nelson Ridge to Adams and the Goat Rocks. Excellent visibility to mountains (except for those low or distant ones blocked by the clouds peeking over the crest from the westside). Sun, pleasant temperature, light winds. Excellent flower show above about 5500'; lots of lupine, penstemon, paintbrush, wallflower, phlox, and some scarlet gilia, larkspur, yarrow, etc. Trail completely snowfree. What more could anyone ask? Well, somewhat unreasonably ... A few less bugs. They weren't really bad, but there were spots along the trail where one didn't want to linger too long (happily, Goat Peak summit was bugfree, as was the trail below about 4500'). The trails were in good condition, except for a number of blowdowns. About the first 2 miles of Goat Creek Trail (starting across the street from the closed Cougar Flat campground along Bumping River) had been logged out, but there were a number of blowdowns thereafter. Most were easy step-overs or scrunch-unders; one or two required a minor clamber, but nothing bad. The long mile of American Ridge trail between the upper end of Goat Creek trail and Goat Peak was a bit more difficult, but quite passable for hikers. There were several downed trees with innumerable tightly spaced branches. Two required a detour (one made a direct hit on a switchback, pretty much requiring hikers to cut the switchback). A couple of others required one to find a way through the prickly thicket surrounding the trunk, which was do-able.

This was a great hike from the east end of American Ridge, over Goat Peak, and on to Kettle Lake. I had intended to continue up the American Ridge trail and hike out the Mesatchee Creek Trail, but icy snow fields turned me back. Instead I hiked out the Kettle Creek trail, then west 2 miles on the Pleasant Valley Loop trail, then 2 miles more on highway 410 to my car waiting at the Mesatchee Creek trailhead. I had begun the day before with an early morning bike ride down to the American Ridge trailhead. The first 3.5 miles was fast and pleasant, recently cleared by a trail crew. Then came several major blowdowns just before a Wilderness sign, followed by more good trail but with some blowdowns. Most of the way to Goat Peak, another 4 miles, the trail is in trees. Then it’s open slopes to the spectacular views at the top. I could see snow further west on American Ridge, but after a fast descent to the Goat Creek trail up from Goose Prairie, it’s a pleasant afternoon walk at around 6000’ in alpine trees or across open slopes along the ridge for another 5 miles. The only problem was that the trail seemed to disappear on some of those open slopes, or was hard to distinguish from an elk trail. I even ended up off trail at one point – it really needs some tread work. Suddenly, as you approach the ridge above Kettle Lake snow appears for the first time. Somehow I missed the trail that switchbacks down to Kettle Lake and ended up following a large cornice up the ridge then down to a saddle. From the saddle I headed northwest down a moderate slope, on elk trails, forested slopes, and snow patches until, by dead reckoning, I walked directly into the campsite at Kettle Lake. The snow had just melted off here, and my only company for the night were mosquitoes and a band of elk. Continuing on the American Ridge trail early the next morning, I was soon relying on old tree blazes to keep on route. But without crampons I finally decided to turn back when it got icy higher up. Fortunately the Kettle Creek trail is a good route down, though it had many blowdowns and I did a lot of early season trail clearing. Also I needed to wade the icy creek twice at around 5000’, so take Crocs or other sandals. The left branch of the Pleasant Valley Loop is very well maintained and pleasant and meets 410 just beyond a bridge over the American River, at an unmarked trailhead. If instead, you want to cross the American River into the Pleasant Valley Campground, go right and look for a logjam.

About 80% of this loop trip is snow free, however, the parts that are still covered make navigation by compass or GPS necessary. We started at the Pleasant Valley Campground and spent about 45mins scoping possible fords across American River. There are actually 3 different log jams that will get you across. We tried the one furthest east, in front of the picnic shelter because it seemed safest. However, on the return to the campground, we took the logjam across from site#4/toilet and it was both flagged and in the end, a better way across. After crossing the logjam, we bushwacked upsteam for about 0.1m until we found the trail(and about 5 elk). The trail up Kettle Creek is a constant low grade, never very steep, but also never flat. At around 4500 feet we encountered snow and from about mile 4 on, we navigated completely by GPS. This included 3 high water crossings, one via the canopy of a recently fallen tree. We were basically heading straight up towards Kettle Lake when we encountered a settlement of some sort, (Horse Camp, NF Trail Crew or Meth Lab is anyone's guess, in an open flooded meadow. While according to the GPS we were close to the trail, we never did find it until we reached Kettle Lake where we camped. The lake is semi frozen but the frog chorus at night is remarkable! In the morning, we once again navigated by GPS up the 600feet to gain American Ridge. We could see that most of the ridge was snow free so we bushwacked about 0.3m and then had a clear trail the rest of the way. Still some cornices on the N slopes so be careful. The Ridge Trail was easy to follow and the junction with Pleasant Valley was signed. No snow on the way back down. A great early season hike(is it still early season???) but the navigation from mile 4 to Kettle Lake and the high water crossings slowed us down tremendously(6 hours to move 6 miles). Leave extra time for it. From the Lake to the Ridge, you can find many safe ways up by trending to hikers left and shooting for the low saddle in the ridge. Bear Grass just starting. Lupine getting ready to explode in a week or 2. Didn't see anyone on any of the trails, nor any foot/horse prints.

Wife and I did a 4 day backpack trip in the Chinook Pass area Sept 21-24. Started out at Chinook Pass at 11am and headed down the PCT to Dewey Lake where we stopped for lunch and a rest break. Trail is in good shape. Most of the camping sites around Dewey are closed for restoration on both sides of the lake. Headed on down the PCT south to Anderson Lake where we planned to camp, but found out it was in the Mount Rainier National Park boundary, so no camping at the lake. There is a camp just about 40 yards up the PCT and off to the left about 150 feet from the trail marked with a Camp sign. We stayed the night at the "Basin Overlook Camp" and enjoyed sitting around Anderson lake until the sun went down. Loads of blueberries and huckleberries. Next morning (late) we headed on down the PCT to the American Ridge trail junction and took it to American lake. A great lake and lots of good camp spots. We got in so early to America Lake (only 50 minutes from Anderson), that we set up camp and then headed off with day packs down to Cougar Lakes. The trail to Cougar Lakes heads off of the American Ridge trail about a mile east of American Lake. From there it doesn't follow either the Green Trails map or my Delorme map on the GPS. It has been rerouted to go up higher on the ridgeline and then drop down several step and rocky switchbacks just above little Cougar Lake. Nearly all the sites at Little Cougar and between Cougar and Little Cougar Lake are closed for restoration. There was only one meadow place that we found that we would have camped in, but there is a horse camp just behind it and that wouldn't be were we'd want to be. The trail to Cougar was rough and very hard to determine as multiple paths go different ways as horse groups have simply chosen where they want to travel and make their own path. The lakes were beautiful, but the trail and the camping were less than appealing. We hoofed it back to American lake by 4 PM and went for a swim to cool off and wash the dust off us. The next day we headed N on the PCT hoping to camp on the far side of Dewey lake (opposite the PCT), but after wandering the complete far side there were no places that were open to camp in except one at the top of the lake were toilet paper, feces, and urine smell permeated the entire place (interesting that site wasn't closed for restoration). So we decided to try Little Dewey Lake and found several great spots for camping on the N side of the lake. Hiked out on Thursday from Dewey back to Chinook Pass in 1 1/2 hours. All in all a great 4 days of beautiful weather, beautiful lakes, and pleanty of fresh air. Only one other party at American lake and one other party at Little Dewey. We had Anderson Lake all to ourselves (along with a herd of Elk that were bugling the entire night long.) All told we ended up hiking 19 miles over the 4 days. Blueberries were all over the place we picked several cups for our oatmeal and packed 2 cups out with us. Fall colors were great and the trail was not too dusty. Very few bugs to speak of anywhere (Dewey had the most mosquitoes, but not bad at all). Saw bear evidence on trail, but no bears.

I started out intending to do a loop from Kettle Creek to Mesatchee Creek. I could not find the Kettle Creek trail head. So, after spending over 2 hours I decided to go up the Pleasant Valley Lake trail, across American Ridge and then down Kettle Creek. The Pleasant Valley trail starts on the south side of 410 at the Fifes Peak viewing area n(around mile 82 or so). Look for the horse crossing sign and this is the trail. Pleasant valley Lake trail (958B) is well maintained, steep, and pretty well used by horses (well maintained but dusty). The American ridge trail is easy to find. American Ridge is a seldom used trail along this section. Parts of it are hard to follow, but the solitude is nice. There was no water until I got to Kettle Lake. As usual, I took the wrong trail from the lake and started out following the American Ridge trail towards Mesatchee creek. It was climbing and the sun was not right so within a quarter of a mile or so I went back to the lake. GOLLY - there is a sign there that says "Kettle Creek". Kettle Creek trail is steep but it seems to get used a lot more than the ridge trail. I looked at old trail reports and it is evident that this is not a popular trail. Still, it was easy to follow and there was wate available. The trail ends (starts) at the Pleasand Valley campground. When you enter the campground, turn right past the information sign. Camp spot 4 was on the right and past it was a toilet on the left. The trail starts on the south side of the river, more or less directly across from this toilet. There is a large log jam to the east (left as you are looking at the river from the campground). All in all -- it was a LONG but good day. The weather as perfect but some of the plants are starting to turn red and brown - a reminder that the hiking season to short.