It’s the first time I’ve gone here later than July, so seeing the trail entirely melted out was amazing. The fall foliage here is stunning! I was at Ptarmigan Ridge a few days ago and honestly… the amount of color and the views here felt even more incredible. Of course the difference being you get views from the get-go at Ptarmigan and this trail makes you work for them first! But in return, it’s a much quieter day on the weekend. We saw maybe 10 groups total all day. Smoke could be visible out towards the fire in the Hannegan area, but was fairly contained the to valley. Air quality felt great, no smell, and visibility was largely unaffected.

Went all the way to the top and did the scramble to the true summit, managing to avoid the permanent snowfield up there as it’s currently receded quite low into the bowl. Lots of hunters out and about, so make sure to wear bright colors so that you’re easily visible. Temps were still really warm today, even at the top. Hard to believe we’re a week out from October!

This is a wonderful trail — well-maintained, cushy underfoot, shady for the first hour or so, and easily reached after merely 2 miles or so on a good forest road.  The hike begins with a long series of switchbacks, but the grade is usually gentle.  After an hour or so the trees thin out and you pass through an area of meadows with lots of wildflowers — asters, lupine, valerian, thistle, and arnica, among others.  Today started under cloud cover, but the sun was breaking through by around noon, at which point I had climbed about 2700’. I decided to stop for lunch at a rocky outcropping just beyond a very nice campsite, which was vacant. I knew the views from higher up might be fabulous, but since the weather was not so clear as I would have liked, I decided to head back down, planning to return on a cool, clear fall day.  It goes without saying that when I reached the car the clouds were mostly gone! I will definitely return.

Neil Modie, Gil Aegerter, and I hiked to the flat-topped knob just below the top of West Goat Mountain.  Mike Brunker, lately of Henderson, Nevada, accompanied us to the ridge at about 5,400 feet.  We hiked in a year when the Cascades' winter snowpack was lasting unusually long into the summer.  Friends have reported high lakes still frozen over in August.

ROAD

Although Forest Road 32 had many potholes, they were easily avoided and the road was so smooth it gave my low-clearance Toyota Prius no trouble.

TRAILHEAD

Three vehicles were at the trailhead when we arrived around 10:40 a.m.  The parking area had a picnic table and an outhouse in good condition.

TRAIL CONDITIONS

The trail was free of snow, free of fallen trees, in excellent condition, and almost completely dry all the way from the trailhead at 2,500 feet to the trail's end on the flat-topped knob 300 feet south of the summit of West Goat Mountain. 

Conifer needles cushioned much of the trail in the lower forest. 

At about 5,800 feet, a trail segment a few hundred feet long traversing the steep, grassy meadow had washed out and was tilted downhill steeply enough to demand careful footings even though dry.

Toward the the upper (northwest) end of this traversing segment was an offshoot trail -- a seeming shortcut straight up the steeply sloping meadow.  In hindsight it may be the best way to get up to the next switchback; soon after we skipped it the trail seemed to fade out abruptly and completely.

BUGS

At the top, an increasingly stiff breeze seemed to sweep away the small black flies that far outnumbered the mosquitoes and had been relentlessly biting during my stops on the way up.  Bugs were a minor annoyance while I was moving.  Butterflies and pale blue moths fluttered above timberline.

WATER SOURCES  

-- The most convenient water source was a robust stream crossing the trail about 400 feet below the summit ridge (elevation about 5,900 feet, GPS 48.92301, -121.64310), in a small gully filled with a lush garden of greenery and delicate flower blossoms. 

-- Gil and I tanked up at a nearby spring, about 20 feet below the trail about 500 feet southeast of that stream (5,800 feet, 48.92206, -121.64183). 

-- In the timber below, the trail switchbacked very close to the basin's noisy main creek, at 4,100 feet (48.91181, -121-65687).

-- Snow patches were accessible a few vertical feet below the path along the crest of the ridge near the top.

FLORA

Both the deep forest and the open meadows above had relatively few flowers blooming.  Near the streams, trickles, and springs, however, I saw lush greenery and many kinds of flowers in bloom, including one or two I've rarely or never seen in many decades of hiking the Cascades.  In a couple of places some huckleberries were ripe, with more yet to ripen.

FAUNA

Two of my companions reported seeing a pair of bears about 100 yards from the trail in a clearing near tree line -- a very light colored adult and a dark colored cub.  The bears ambled away instead of posing for photos.  The only animal I noticed personally was a curious chipmunk.

COMMUNICATION

Verizon's voice, text, and data signals were strong from the trailhead to the summit.  In the meadow around 5,800 feet, the Speedtest app clocked Verizon's internet upload speed at 4 megabits per second and its download speed at 100 mbps, the highest speed the app seemed to be able to register.

TECHNICAL NOTES

The datum for the location coordinates is WGS84.

Location information in this report is from the tracking function of the Gaia GPS Android app, version 2022.5.1, running on a Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G.

Truly one of the best hikes in the North Cascades, or all of the Cascades! Spectacular views!

There are a couple small streams on the upper slopes beyond the old fire lookout, but still I carried 3 liters of water. Trail starts off with fantastic moderate switchbacks through cool shady forest with great smooth tread. Then once the trail breaks out of the woods, it gets steeper and rockier but with more wildflowers as it leads up to a great viewpoint at the old fire lookout site. From there the trail follows a pleasant ridge of sorts, with the views getting even better. The trail then leads up onto an open big upper slope and comes to a point where it goes straight up very steeply. But the views help ease the suffering! The trail then climbs up along the upper ridge to the end at the false summit. A very worthy destination for hikers. But for folks who have an ice ax (and know how to use it), before the false summit, leave the trail and cross the top of a permanent snowfield, skirting below the false summit. Many may also prefer crampons, too. I brought mine but didn't use them. Once past the snow, scramble up loose scree and dirt to the col between the false and true summits, then one final straightforward push to the summit. WARNING there is a huge colony of giant biting flies, so snap some quick photos, then retreat back across the snowfield and hike up to the false summit for a better place to take a longer break.

Took me 4 hr 25 minutes to the true summit, then 2 hr 10 minutes down from the false summit.

A friend and I hiked the maintained Goat Mountain trail with the idea of at least considering the additional 1,000 ft push to the West peak summit. Ultimately, we made it to about 5700’ before turning around. On a nice (albeit hot) Saturday in July we saw maybe a dozen other people the whole time.

The maintained trail is in lovely shape, no complaints other than the bugs. Highly recommend a long sleeve sunshirt. It was much more helpful than spray, which seemed to do little. Definitely worth sticking it out regardless for the phenomenal views of Mount Baker, Shuksan, and other nearby peaks.

Past the viewpoint around 5100’ the maintained trail ends, but there’s still a very clear path for awhile. We decided to give that a go, and found our first little patches of snow. Very minor, you could even go around them if you wanted. I can’t imagine they’ll last more than another couple days. This part of the hike continues the great views and wildflowers that you start to experience around the end of the main trail.

The problem was, at 5700’ the clear path takes you to a choice—proceed to bushwhack through overgrowth on the side hill traverse (the route Gaia showed) or go straight up loose dirt / rock and risk a backward fall that could last hundreds of feet. Since it was hot and we were already pretty chewed up by the bugs, we chose neither and this was where our hike ended. If I had to choose one, I think I would have chosen the side hill.

Hope that helps somebody! Happy hiking!