Starting out at the Pleasant Valley Campground east of Chinook Pass, I made a loop trip via the Kettle Creek Trail, American Ridge Trail, Mesatchee Creek Trail, and Pleasant Valley Loop Trail. The trip started out inauspiciously as there is no indication of a trail at the campground. I remembered crossing the American River on a log jam years ago, but my memory was fuzzy. Then a woman with trekking poles came along who was heading for a foot bridge at the west end of the campground. She gave me a detailed description of where it was and claimed to have been on it the week before. I parked the car, packed up, and headed off for the bridge. I never saw the woman again nor did I find a bridge. She was obviously much more confused than me. I did find a nice fat log to cross on just upstream of the campground entrance road. Access is via a brushy fishermans trail. The trail takes off a short bushwhack upstream from the log. The Kettle Creek trail could use some saw work and is uninspired scenically until you reach an easy barefoot ford of Kettle Creek and enter subalpine meadows near the headwaters. A second wet ford can be avoided by following the meandering stream through the meadows to a down log in some streamside trees. The trail then switchbacks up to, shallow, Kettle Lake on a wooded bench. From here I headed west about a mile on the American Ridge Trail, making camp in a beautiful alpine basin. Beyond Kettle Lake many of the shaded slopes were still snowy. I decided to make an early start the next morning and was rewarded with slick, rock hard snow. Fortunately I was able to work around the worst of it and it quickly softened up in the sun. The trail climbs over a viewfull pass and drops under high cliffs at the headwaters of Timber Creek then climbs to incredible views at point 6946 before dropping into Big Basin. The last entry in the summit register was by some snowshoers in February. From here the trail was basically snow free except for a few lingering drifts along the ridge tops. The Mesatchee Creek trail decends through pleasant open forest with a remarkable gorge and waterfall near the bottom. Back on the valley floor, I crossed the American River again on a log jam just downstream of a shallow horse ford. Arriving at Highway 410, I debated hitchhiking back to the car, but decided to extend the day and walk the highway a couple of miles to, discreetly signed, Pleasant Valley Loop Trail 999 which I followed back along the river. Trail 999 crosses the American River on a highway bridge about a mile downstream of the Lodgepole Campground.

Hiked to Goat Peak by way of the Goat Creek and American Ridge trails. The trails are in good shape. A few blowdowns that are easily negotiated. No snow on trails. A beautiful day. Great views from the summit!

I headed out on a bright sunny day to go to Cougar Lakes for the night. The last six miles of the road is bumpy but passable by family sedans - it just goes slow. Keep to the right on all turns and finish up on Forest Service road #1800. Go to the end where there is a large parking lot. After half mile, there is the Bumping River to ford; it is just walk right across but it was doable both in the morning and mid afternoon. I suggest good waterproof boots or Tevas. After that, it is a slow grade up through old growth forest to Swamp Lake. I stopped for a pleasant lunch at one of the camp sites. In another half mile is the junction with the American Ridge Trail. There is a left turn here and soon a nice bridge across the stream. The trail splits and there are no signs. To the left is the Cougar Lakes trail; to the right, the American Ridge trail continues to American Lake and the PCT. I turned left. The Cougar Lakes trail is in bad shape with many deep ruts that go to 3-4 feet deep. There are many large rocks. Nonetheless, it is easy to follow to Little Cougar Lake - a spendid little lake. Most of the camp sites have been closed for restoration but I found a very nice one at the south end of Big Cougar Lake. The lake is cool but not cold and I had a lovely swim. There are many bugs here and I made a generous donation to them. The next day, I continued on the Cougar Lakes trail to the PCT. This was just beautiful with fields of flowers of all colors in full bloom. The junction of the Cougar Lakes trail with the PCT is not marked and would be very hard to see coming down the PCT from the North - it is at 5700 feet and there is a PCT marker on a tree by it. I headed north to more flowers and wonderful views of Mt. Rainier, Goat Rocks, Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Adams. This was the most scenic part of the trip. After 1.5 miles, I turned right on the well marked American Ridge Trail and lunched at American Lake. The flower all through here were just magnificant. The trail continues back to the junction with the Cougar Lakes trail and then to the Swamp Lake trail. The loop could be made either way but I suggest going to Cougar Lakes first as the ascent to the PCT trail from there is much easier on the body than decending due to the poor condition of the trail. This is a great one night trip.

We went up the Goose Prairie trail (#972) on Monday, June 23, 2003. Plenty of water for the first four miles or so. There's a terrific campsite about four miles in around 30 yards north of the trail, just before it crosses a little stream and turns south. The site is sandy and flat, with lots of open sky, bordered by a bolder field. On Tuesday we hiked northeast on the American Ridge trail(#958) from its intersection with Goose Prairie. (We found the intersection not to be particularly well marked or obvious.) In less than a quarter mile we came to a dusty saddle with views across both river valleys (American River to the north, Bumping River to the south) to the neighboring mountains and ridges (craggy Fifes Ridge to the north, Nelson Ridge to the south). As we headed northeast on the American Ridge trail, we stopped on two unnamed peaks, each about 6300 feet high. The first unnamed peak is southeast of the trail by 30-50 yards, so you might miss it if you're not looking for it on the topo, but make sure you don't! Rainier looked huge, truly awe-some, with its peak visible above a band of clouds and its white shoulders below them. We could also see Mt. Adams in the distance. Although it was early in the season, the trail was in good shape. A few blowdowns and snow patches, but not enough to be annoying. No mosquitos, and few other bugs. The American Ridge trail crossed a number of meadows with flowers. Lupines were numerous but most were not blooming yet. Plenty of phlox. The most stunning flowers by far were the yellow glacier lillies, which were plentiful at the meadow-forest boundaries. We were also struck by the red-barked groundcover that looked like miniature madronas, which our field guide identified as ""kinnickinnick."" We saw a few large birds--a golden eagle who gave us a close look, and a grouse who tried to drive us away from her nest and seemed quite ruffled. Lots of mammal scat (which we couldn't identify) but no live mammals, except for one pudgy rodent by our bolder-field campsite. No rattlesnakes, dinosaurs, or ents. This was a great place to be, with a different feel than the wet west side of the Cascades... RZ and MZ

What a great trip! Started up the Goose Prairie trail on Friday the 19th. A steady uphill trail, but not too steep. After 5 miles, I reached the ridge top of the American Ridge trail and headed west for about 1/2 mile. Dropped my pack and headed up to a beautiful viewpoint of Mt. Rainier and other surrounding peaks. Headed down the trail for another 1/2 mile and set up my tent at Kettle Lake. Much to my surprise, the bugs were not bad! (From all the trail reports I have been reading, I expected them to be horrible) Went for a dip in the (shallow) lake. The next morning I headed off for a long day trip (close to 14 miles roundtrip, I think) to reach Goat Peak. The American Ridge trail heading east is very nice, lots of up and down, and many views along the way. (Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Aix, etc.) Headed up to the top of Goat Peak which was SO worth it! 360 degree views of the whole region! (In addition to the peaks listed above, I could see Mt. Stuart, Mt. Baker and everything in between) It was so nice!! Headed back to Kettle Lake- there were a few more bugs, but nothing like I was expecting. There was no snow on either trail and I only saw two people on a day hike in the entire 3 days. Be aware that there is no water along the American Ridge trail between Kettle Lake and Goat Peak, so come prepared. A great 3 day trip... I only wish I had had more time to head further west along the American Ridge trail.