This wouldn't be the first time I have returned from a hike to discover that kidz has made the trip report task very easy for me! :D A few things:

• Road is doable for any vehicle. It's in great shape, just be mindful of the occasional pothole.
• Let's talk bugs. Right now, if you stop at all during the forested section, you will literally become a buffet feast for the mosquitoes within seconds. Above the treeline, they get better, but are still present. I didn't notice any at the summit, but then again, I was distracted by the world-class views.
• SO MANY BLUEBERRIES RIGHT NOW. Holy cow. Huckleberries are few and far between, but the blueberries are endless. 
• The last mile makes you pay for that nice, gentle grade in the forest. The trail abandons all pretense of politeness and pitches straight up. I recommend starting early, so you don't have to do this in the heat of the day. It's in full sun.
• On a sunny Sunday in August, I literally saw FOUR people the entire day. I started at 6:30 am and didn't see anyone until about 10:45, when I was on the way down almost back to the forest. Amazing hike for solitude and views!!
• Trail is heavily overgrown in parts. You will get wet if early morning dew is present.

After sleeping in the back of our cars the night before, four of us, Andrea, Mark, Susan, and myself got started at 6:50am. The forested first part of the trail up to the meadows is a great trail, with just the right amount of grade, as it didn't feel like we gained 2000ft. Once up in the meadows there was some huckleberries, and wildflowers.

When we got up to just below 5600ft, we split up, with two of us going up the trail and going to the West Peak summit, and the other two going to the main summit (east peak). We would rendezvous with them later on the main summit.

Andrea and I continued up the trail through the steep meadow to where the trail stopped at a knoll. From this knoll, there was no way down to get over to the true summit of the West Peak. We had to back track down and then carefully traverse around the westside of this knoll below the cliffs. We had to be careful as there was a couple of no fall zones above some drop offs down to the snowfield below. Once we had wrapped around to the northside of the knoll, we went up the spine with mostly class 2 scrambling with exposure to our right to get up to the summit of Goat Mountain-West Peak.

After our summit stay, we dropped off the NE side, and zig zagged our way down first some supper steep heather, then some nice slabs and rocks, where we kept finding nice ramps that would get us down to the snow down below. Quite rugged and beautiful on the eastside of the knoll and the West Peak. Once down at the snowfield, we traversed toward over toward about 80ft above the saddle. We found a place to cross over this ridge after a couple of tries. Here we had to go down some super steep heather to wrap around to the saddle. I put on microspikes here to help with footing, and I left them on for the entire ascent and descent of the main(highest peak). We then got back on the ridge to get down to the saddle. This ridge was full of krumholtz. It probably would of been easier to just drop down lower, ad sidehill to the saddle. Here we headed straight up towards the summit, again zig zagging on up to avoid more kruholtz and cliff faces that were to our climbers left. After one short scramble portion, we had to go right through a short 20 foot section of thick krumholtz to where there was some flagging. From here it is just some steep heather and rocks up to the southside of the summit, and then a walk up to the summit. Here we met Mark and Susan, who had been up at the summit for about 30 minutes. Awesome views from this summit. We could see so many peaks on this beautiful day. We could see Winchester Lookout and a partial view of Twin Lakes off to the north. We also could see Tomyhoi and even could see Luna Peak where we were in the previous weeks. I had cell service, so I sent a text to my friend Ups and Downs who was over at Church Mountain summit. He had service so we exchanged some summit pics, which was cool!

After our summit stay we descended the peak together. On the way down we ran into first a group of other climbers who the other three knew, and then a group of eight mountaineers that the other three knew the leader of the group. After our chat with them we headed down, taking a break to replenish our water at a small steam, before hooking back up to the main trail at just below 5600ft.

After dropping down to 3800ft, we took a path over to the Goat Mountain Lookout site. This path rises about 300ft to where it drops down to the lookout site which sits out on a mossy rock. The four concrete blocks are still there, and has a great view of Shuksan and Baker, along with Artist Point area, which was packed with cars. We took this path back to the main trail, and hiked back to our cars.

We finished at 5:20pm. 12 miles with 5844ft gain. Fun trip!

• *2.1 miles of Forest Road to the trailhead... well maintained and 
• Plenty of parking on a Thursday at 8:30
• Beautiful shaded fir needle lined trail for the first 2.5 miles and 2000' vert.
• Forest canopy opens up after that so if you've got good weather mojo sun protection is in order for the rest of the hike.
• Be sure to pack enough water for a 8 mile 3000' vert hike. There were a number of 'moist' stream beds up to the 5200' knob and tent sites but nothing that you could really get water from.
• There is however a good water source halfway up the 'unofficial trail' heading up to the 'false summit'.
• I chose to continue up the unofficial trail for a fantastic overlook to the north but the extra 1000' of vert felt like double that and the 'trail' was definitely 'unofficial'. The 'trail' was screaming for hiking poles. (which are now on my list)
• Bugs were not a major issue but there were 8 fewer little black biting flys by the time I got back down to the trailhead.
• Wildflowers were abundant.
• Smoky skies didn't help the incredible views of Baker, Shucksan and Sefrit.

It's been hot so I got going early.  At the trailhead 7:30.  No one else parked.  Bugs were there but not bad until afternoon warmth and then they started biting.  Trail a bit bushy for 1/2 mile after the end of the timber, but then clears out.  No ticks.  Flowers are everywhere, in all colors and flavors.   The views from the Knoll are a knockout. I turned around here.  I'll leave the higher grounds to the younger folks.  Just two hikers coming in as I went down,  Nice day. 

The road is in much better shape than in past years but a few of the pot holes are returning. Still, not a problem when taking it slow.

The trail is in great shape with a few exceptions. The brush is growing into the trail where you enter into the open areas but it's still easy to follow. Wild flowers are blooming all over the upper reaches. Valerian, paintbrush, penstemon, wild rhododendrons, heather, columbine. 

Our hike began in a cloudy day and once we reached the open meadows the fog was thick at times only revealing limited views of Baker and Shuksan occasionally, As the sun went down the fog began to clear. The full moon rose east of Shuksan the went down west of Baker. Amazing views.