The west end of this trail has not been road accessible since Weyerhaeuser locked their gates back in the early 1980's. This year the east end is also not accessible due to washout on FR26 and closure of FR99 by a locked gate down at FR25. I got in by following the Vanson Peak trail over Vanson Peak and down to Vanson Lake, which is very near the west end of the trail. The trail has not seen maintenance yet this year and there are some substantial logs across the way, so I wouldn't recommend it for horses, but there are less than a dozen significant obstacles. There is some overgrowth, but not much, and no risk of losing the way. There are signs at all junctions. As far as Vanson Peak junction, the way is through a postfire Douglas-fir stand, I'd guess it burned about 100 years ago. Good forest interior wildflowers. The side trails to Vanson Lake (trout, good camping, running water) and Vanson Peak (former fire lookout site, good views) are short and recommended. From Vanson Peak junction to Deadman Lake the trail wanders up and down through subalpine forest (mostly noble fir) and brushy meadows (mostly huckleberries) with occasional views and lots of mosquitoes and wildflowers (they go together with recent snowmelt). No water until Deadman Lake, which is quite pretty, has many good campsites, sandy shoreline, swimming, lots of trout. No water anywhere east of Deadman Lake, either. I spent the night at the lake, warm and buggy. Next morning, left camp about dawn, hiking east. The trail climbs a forested hill and then slabs along lower Goat Mountain through meadows with lots of Cascade rhododendron in bloom, and then crests on the ridge of Goat Mountain and enters the blast zone of the 1980 eruption. It's a pretty spectacular transition. At this point I also picked up a southwest breeze and the bug problem went away. From here, the trail wanders east, mostly on the south side of the crest of Goat Mountain, for about three miles. Much of the route is through the 1980 scorch zone; most of the affected trees have since fallen/burned/rotted but a few blasted snags remain. Part of the route is outside the scorch zone and retains a nice subalpine forest of noble fir, subalpine fir, mountain hemlock, Alaska yellow-cedar, western white pine, lodgepole pine, and Douglas-fir. Much of it is meadow and when I was there the Erythronium, penstemon, lupines, and tiger lilies were in especially abundant bloom. I don't think I've ever seen such a density of tiger lilies. Near the east end of Goat Mountain the trail starts to descend fairly steeply and I stopped and turned back. Did a side trip to climb to the summit of Goat Mountain (follow the goat trails), about 5200 ft, nice views, lots of evidence of goat activity. Got back to the Vanson Peak trailhead by 3:30. Home in time for dinner.