A happy update to previous trip reports, FR 26 is now reopened and in pretty decent condition. There has been a good bit of work done on the rd. so no need to come from the South anymore.

I had the trail to myself, with the exception of two motorcyclists (which was a bit of a surprise).  You really could make this hike as long or short as you want. The ridge is breathtaking and peaceful.  Next time I will hike down to the lake.

Trail in fine condition and quite a bit of work has been done on the first mile or so.

Went on an overnight trip with two friends and one of my dogs. One is a good long distance hiker. The other one has a bad back and didn't want to go too far. This trail was perfect for both, although the uphill at the beginning is a killer if you are out of shape. The first night we set up at Deadman's Lake and went for a quick swim. Lots of fish but they looked small. (We didn't fish but other people were.) The next day one friend, the dog and I hiked the Tumwater Trail. I have found this trail for the other end but it was in terrible condition. It has recently been brushed out and is in great condition. You go several miles before you get to a lookout spot. It goes up and then down several times. We turned around where it shows a pond on the map. This is more like a glacial tarn that looks like it should be a lake but is really a meadow. The other friend stayed behind and had a good time exploring the lake. 

Our group of 5 started from the Goat Mountain Trail 217 trailhead late in the afternoon.  The heat was significant.  Fortunately the long uphill that makes up the first mile or so of this hike is mostly in the trees.  The trail is in great condition.  While dayhiking on day to back from Deadman's Lake to Goat Mt. we encountered a group of mountain bikers with a bike race trail crew.  They had already brushed much of the trail from the trailhead to the point where the trail crosses the ridge from south to north and starts descending.  They had come to finish brushing to Deadman's Lake.  On our way out we saw their work and the trail is a lot more clear of brush.

Deadman's Lake is pretty and has a large shallow area on the east side.  In fact, one can walk entirely around the lake in knee deep water to access beaches and NW side camping spots.  Bring water shoes as the bottom is quite gravelly in places.

Black flies were in abundance and fairly annoying.  They did not seem to be entirely deterred by DEET. Mosquitoes were not too bad and only seemed to come out in the early morning and evening for an hour or so.

The original plan was to leave a car at the Green River Horse Camp, and walk the full loop clockwise: First heading west on the Green River, going up to the Ridge, camping at Vanson Lake. Then heading east on the Ridge passing Deadman lake and Goat Mountain to close the loop.

The Green River Horse camp had two trail, one unmarked heading south and immediately crossing the Green River into a sand bar on the other side that led nowhere. There other was marked as 213 Horse trail heading west. We did not know if this was the 213 trail on our map or some horse fording trail. We follow it and it matched our GPS track, heading along the river on its north side, so we continued. The trail did not seem to get much use. After about 1/2 mile it was completely washed out. The river bank ate it up. We tried to find our way through the brush in several spot to see if we can find where it continues, but no luck. It was a steep drop to the river bank and we didn't want to go in the river to look for the trail downstream.

Note that the FS web site says trail 213 is open. I even called the ranger station at Randle to confirm and they said it was open. They were wrong.

We went back to our cars. Luckily we ran into some campers at the camp site, and they told us about the option to drive further down (west) on FS 2612 and take a left turn to find where the road meets trail 213 again. We did just that. Since it was already late in the day, we decided to leave one car at the Goat Mountain trailhead, and one where FS 2612 crosses the trail again, and do a short car shuttle but still do almost the full loop. See attached map with GPS track. I recommend doing the same if you have two cars.

The trail down the Green River is overgrown with bushes. In one place the Salmonberry bushes went above our head. Good thing I had long pants because others with short pants got scratched. Other than that it's mostly easy to follow the trail, and the last section with big trees is beautiful.

We camped at Vanson lake and went up to Vanson peak that evening. And again in the morning. The trail along the ridge heading East to Deadman Lake, Goat Mountain and beyond is in good shape (trail #217). The last exposed part is magnificent! Wildflowers are out. We saw 3 Elk down the valley north of the ridge. Views of Rainier, Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood and St. Helens.

I recommend doing the loop clockwise like we did so views get better toward the end. Make sure you do this on a sunny day.

Overall other than the washed out trail, had a great weekend. See link to my full photo album below.

Completed the loop as described in the Backpacking Washington guidebook. I elected to do the hike as a 3 night trip to maximize time at the lakes and tarns. This is a real adventure!

According to the USFS website, there is still a road washout on Forest Road 26. However, you can drive to the Green River Horse Camp trailhead from FR 26 coming from the south. There is a Road Closed sign just north of the turnoff to 2612 from 26 as there is still a washout on the north end, so it is not accessible from that side until the road is repaired. But the red warning sign on the Goat Mountain page on the WTA website ("6/1/17: trail inaccessible; road washout") is NOT accurate - you just have to take the route from FR 99 to 26 north, past Ryan Lake, to get there.

The descriptions in the book are mostly accurate and camping spots are in the places they are reported. However GPS or equivalent smartphone app is highly recommended as at least one trailheads is challenging to find and there are multiple places where the trail has been rerouted from the Topo map.

Vanson Lake and Deadman's lake are both gorgeous, accessible, very tranquil and quiet in September.

One major concern: there is a trail washout very early into the hike from the Green River Horse Camp west on 213 just as it crosses over into private land. It is possible that there is a reroute further back the trail; I didn't backtrack to see but it certainly wasn't evident or marked. As of this writing, the washout is 10-15 deep gully about 20 feet across. It is not passable. I was able to track north about 300 feet by doing so hiked around the gully but this required pushing through deep brush and over a number of downed trees in wet, slippery conditions. It's really hazardous and I've written USFS to see if it can be addressed. There are other places where brief off-trail rerouting is necessary but none are what I would consider a hazard.

Expect patches of snow this time of year on the 217 side especially if heading up to Vanson Peak. Daytime highs were in the upper 50s and night temperatures dropped to freezing on Goat Mountain.

Good berry picking on 217, which is much better kept than 213. My mileage for the loop was 25 miles, including the short hike up to Vanson Peak and back. There is AT&T cell service on Vanson Peak but none elsewhere on the trail.