Road and trail cleared of winter tree fall. Falls flowing well at Cathedral and ones beyond. Fantastic!

The last few times I've hiked Goat Creek I've gone up towards Vanson, so I decided to try something new today and went the opposite way up Tumwater Mountain, a steeper and somewhat less scenic trail. The steepness didn't really bother me, but I definitely missed the old growth from the other side of the valley and conditions are still incredibly dry so much of the flora is desiccated. Anyhow, the trail is in fine shape with the usual minor blowdowns, but if you want to get to the actual peak/old lookout site, it requires a minor bushwhack coming up from the east. Remnants of trail exist, but it comes and goes and can be hard to follow, though the terrain is relatively forgiving. OTOH, descending from the peak to the west and trying to complete the loop was a huge PITA - way steeper, essentially no trail at all, and much gnarlier terrain. Plus, as a bonus, I stumbled into a hornet nest just before rejoining the main trail and got an armful of stings for my trouble (thank goodness for having Benadryl in my first aid kit!). So yeah, approach from the east, enjoy some lovely views, then turn around and go back the way you came.

Total mileage according to Strava: just under 13, with 3200' of elevation gain.

Road conditions: FR 2750 is narrow due to a lack of maintaining the width of the roadbed. Brush is encroaching. Most vehicles can make it but will get rubbed by branches. In future years it may be too poor for some larger vehicles.

Trailhead conditions: There is parking for several vehicles, but no toilet or trailhead sign. Don’t park at the very end of the road, since that is for turning around. We were the only vehicle there, presumably all day.

Trail conditions: The trail tread is mostly in good shape. Even though it was a very rainy day, there was little mud. You can see a lot of work has been done in the past to clear old growth wind falls. Brush and branches are encroaching in several places, so you have to bob and weave there. The trail is easy to see and follow, however. Some stream crossings may be difficult to keep feet dry during the early season, but were easy to step across at this time, even with the recent rains. The entire route is wooded with many scenes of waterfalls in a lush, green setting. Cathedral Falls was barely flowing but still impressive because of the scale of it and the rock formation it falls from. There is a nice trailside camp at an unnamed pond at about 5 miles. The pass and junction at the end of Goat Creek Trail is unimpressive and has no views, since it is still in the trees. The mileage one way was 7 miles by GPS.

Trail is closed due to extreme fire danger. We tried to hike here today, and found the road was closed just past the state park. See photos. 

Great trip but cathedral falls is the big event and it’s not too far in so maybe a good part day or stop on the way to or from something. I trail ran 3 miles in and it wasn’t much elevation gain so great for running. The trail description on WTA doesn’t describe the whole 11 miles round trip, which would be Vanson peak. I didn’t go that far will go back to check it out since the falls and the creek were lovely.