The trailhead to this hike shares the same road as the one to Hannegan Pass. It is reached about 2.5 miles off of Highway 542. The road is in great shape. (Hard to believe isn't it)!

The trail starts off on a well maintained, quiet forest. After 2.5 miles or so, you leave the cover of the woods and walk between shrubs and low lying plants aligning the trail. The ground is wet but not muddy. As you go further, views open up and you reach a knoll exposing Mount Baker, Shuksan, Sefrit and many more peaks and ridges. Before reaching the viewpoint, you climb multiple sone steps and rocks. This area was icy in the early morning.  Continuing on you find yourself in a lovely meadow dotted with snow and colorful berry bushes, grasses and plants. 

I traveled across part of the long traverse that leads to the summit and ridge but I stopped after hitting some narrow and sketchy sections. Had I not been hiking alone, I think reaching the summit would have been doable. I ended up spending about an hour just below the traverse enjoying the scenery. I didn't see anyone else until I headed down to the trailhead. Despite not making it to the top today it was extremely beautiful and serene. 

This trail involves walking through dry forest, followed by wet ground and moist plants, meadows with yummy blueberries, open hillsides with lush bushes and lingering wildflowers, steep rocky steps and increasing views the higher you go. After approximately 4 miles if you decide to go to the top, care is needed crossing the slope below the summit ridge. Part of the path is narrow and covered by reedy plants making the ground difficult to see. But this section is short and soon the path is clear and reaching the summit is straightforward. There are a couple of junctions that give you a choice of going in different directions. If you go the wrong way, you'll find that path dead ends and you know to backtrack to get back on the right route. (I later thought that placing a few cairns would have been helpful - next time).

It was a gorgeous day. Sitting at the top there is so much to see in every direction. The elevation is slightly below 7000 ft. If you've done any hiking in this area, many of the peaks surrounding you are familiar and its' fun to recognize them and know you have been there too.

The mileage can vary on this hike but typically expect to hike 8 - 11 miles depending on how far you go. And yes it is steep but I didn't find it unbearable. Go at your own pace and find your comfort level in reaching your destination. There is a lot of variety and a lot to enjoy on this hike.

A coworker and I headed up to Goat Mountain on Friday for the first of our weekend of hiking around Mount Baker. Neither of us have done much on the trails in this area, and I was impressed and surprised to see what great condition Goat Mountain trail is in, particularly considering it is an old fire lookout route. 

The first 3 or so miles switchbacks at a fairly moderate pace, especially considering how steep most hikes to lookouts are. The forest is open and the trail is pretty wide and soft underfoot; great hiking. 

Once we popped out of the forest into the meadow, the trail got more rugged. In places the stairs were 2+ feet tall, making that section tiring to hike through. Luckily, it was cool and cloudy so we weren't too hot, but of course that also meant we didn't get any of the great views Goat Mountain is supposed to have. We could see Price Lake at the base of Shuksan, and parts of the Mount Baker Ski Area, but no peaks. 

However, we'd picked that hike in hopes of finding berries, and while we didn't find the ones I was really hoping for, we found A TON of hucks and blueberries. We spent almost 2 hours picking on our way down, and filled all the containers we brought. There were plenty left over. I'd never done a hike dedicated to berry picking, and I'm thrilled that this one was so heh...fruitful. 

We picked a bit of a gloomy day for a Goat Mountain hike, but I enjoyed it all the same. (Plus, we were here for the berries, not the views.) The road to the trailhead was in fine condition, accessible to any and all cars. The trailhead parking lot is small, but the poor weather made for a nearly empty lot when we arrived in the early morning — though I’m not sure how busy the area gets on a sunny summer weekend.

The trail begins with forested switchback after switchback until you finally open up into the most heavenly berry patch you ever did see. Presumably, there are also stunning views of Mount Baker from up here, but I can’t really speak to those. The uphill climb is not quite over yet, as the trail continues upwards for quite some ways (thought it turns into a bit of a bootpath for the final stretch). We stopped hiking before the final steep ascent because we knew the views weren’t likely to improve and we had a dinner date to catch, but we were able to catch a few peek-a-boo views of the mountains and lakes across the way.

A beautiful hike.  Wildflowers in bloom and lovely. 

The road is suitable for all vehicles.

The hike begins with relatively steep switchbacks and doesn't let up.

Bugs were slightly annoying ~3 miles in.  The trail continues from there as more of a climbers path that gets even steeper.  There's a split in the climbers path where you should go up instead of continuing traversing - see photo.  This ends up being an easier and safe route.

Views at the top were great.  Getting to the very top required a snowfield crossing without exposure (I didn't have an ice axe and felt fine) and going up a bit of steep scree, below class 3.