What a wonderful fall hike! Arrived to the trailhead at around 10am on Sunday, and there were four cars parked already. Only two more cars would arrive that day.

The first few miles are switchbacks through the forest, then the views and colors come out in full force. Tons of berries still! There are a few small streams - several in the forest, one a ways below the first knob, and one on Goat Mountain. Most are quite small, but still seem serviceable if you don't want to pack as much water.

There was a little sprinkling of snow at the top of the mountain, but most on the trail had already melted. That said, it would be a good idea to pack spikes this time of year just to be safe. The final push to the summit is very steep, and I found poles invaluable. 

Goat mountain is a hard climb but well worth the effort! The fall foliage is starting to pop and looks incredible.

Road: I was concerned about this as I have a low clearance car (Honda Fit) but I was able to make it to the trailhead. There are lots of deep potholes, but as long as you go slow and very carefully you can navigate around and through them.

Trail: The first couple miles are through the forest and extremely well maintained. It goes up but mostly with switchbacks and isn't too bad. There is one overgrown section (included in photos) but it wasn't bad. Easy to follow the trail still. After it opens up and you begin the final climb I briefly got off trail but made my way back pretty easily. The trail forgets about switchbacks and goes straight up for a long exposed section. This is where my calves were screaming at me, but once you get up it the views are worth it! Highly recommend trekking poles, especially for going down that really steep section.

Views: AMAZING. I was so glad the clouds didn't cover too much of the view because it was stunning. You can see into the very remote parts of the North Cascades and Canada, and of course amazing views of Shuksan and Baker.

Other notes: There is a bathroom at the trailhead, there is sort of two sections you can park at with the trailhead in the middle, the bathroom is at the upper section. Still some ripe blueberries but its definitely getting to be the end of the season. Lots of mushrooms along the trail. There are a few small streams you will cross where you can filter water, but they are flowing very slowly.

The Tale of Two Trails, but first let's talk about the road to the trailhead. It's rough. There are sections of massive, unavoidable potholes. There are other (short) sections that are perfect. So budget extra time to go slow.

I arrived at about 9 am today, and there were two other cars in the lot. The first part of this trail is through lovely, quiet forest. You barely notice you are gaining elevation. Once you get above the treeline (starting about 2.5 miles in), it starts to steepen. It also becomes a little overgrown. Unfortunately, I can't speak too much about the views at the viewpoints, because I had clouds for most of the day. :( On the descent, things were starting to open up a little bit, and what I saw was lovely.

The official trail ends at the 5600 viewpoint, but a rough climbers trail continues all the way to the west summit. This is when things get interesting. It is quite steep in parts, and coming down was slippery (even with hiking poles!). I also missed a switchback, since the trail continued straight. (That trail dead-ended at a dry, seasonal stream. I backtracked until I found the missed switchback.) Eventually the switchbacks just give up, and you are climbing right on up that mountain. It is also quite overgrown in parts. While I never lost sight of the trail, the tall grass may warrant pants, especially in tick season.

Bummed I missed the views at the top, since I expect they are spectacular and well worth the effort. Fall colors are starting, so that was something to cheer me up.

Totally empty trail today!! Saw a total of four people!

When we started just before 8am there were two other cars in the lot. The road in has some large potholes which I was able to negotiate in a sedan, but it was a bit bumpy. There are multiple runoff streams running through the forest right now and as mentioned in previous reports the last water is found around 5900ft. It threatened to rain all day and it did briefly on several occasions, just enough to make us put on our rain jackets for a few minutes each time. We went to the end of the trail/bootpath which ends at what I heard referred to as the "dog walkers summit" or the hikers summit which is just below the west summit of Goat Mt. From there we dropped down towards the permanent snowfield on scree and traversed around to the base of the west summit scramble. This initial drop down towards the permanent snowfield was very loose. I used a trekking pole and ice axe for stability, there is no snow travel necessary under current conditions. The final section up to the top of the west summit was an easy, enjoyable scramble. We were in the clouds most of the day and got no views from the summit, really the only negative for the day. On the way down we took our time gorging ourselves on huckleberries. Altogether including relaxing on the summit for awhile and an extended period of time spent picking berries on the way down it took us just over 8 hours and we clocked 10.2 miles round trip.

This is a hard hike that's quite steep in parts. The first stretch (2–3 miles) is wooded and shady and the ground is soft, which we appreciated, especially on the descent. There was no snow whatsoever on the trail, no downed trees, rushing streams, or other major obstacles. Bugs were the worst in the meadows and most bothersome when we stopped moving. We had few bugs when we stopped to eat and recharge up on the ridge. We (two adults, mid-30s) hiked Goat Mountain on Wednesday, August 7, 2024. The road and trailhead are easy to find. We stopped at the Glacier Ranger Station to purchase our NW Forest Pass. The machine was broken and we had to go inside to make the purchase, which was no big deal.

We hit the trail at 10:00 am. The entirety of the trail was well maintained and passable. It was narrow and overgrown in spots but we found it easy to pass. The steep stretch at the end is more intense than I anticipated from the descriptions we read. The start of the climb can be easy to miss as the trail also appears to continue straight. There was a little stream bed and someone had marked the way up with a couple of small logs/sticks laid across the trail. I did not take note of the mileage, unfortunately.

I recorded 2,589 ft. of elevation gain and ≈9.4 miles roundtrip. We at some boulders a little ways up from the ridge and did not do the final push.