It's wildflower season and a trip to Snowgrass in early August is my idea of a great day. We were amply rewarded by tremendous displays of lupine, paintbrush, and assorted wonders, but it seemed about a week too early for the Snowgrass (aka Beargrass) to be in full bloom. The loop hike is a 13 mile tester that spends about 6-7 of those miles in wide-open country with tremendous views of the Goat Rocks, Old Snowy, Rainier, Adams, etc. At Goat Lake we watched a large herd of mountain goats graze on the snow-covered slope. I've backpacked here in the past, and this day I wished we were staying for the night, but duty called at home. On the way out we stopped to talked with the Slugman, who was loaded for a multinight outting. He was gathering oxygen well up the steep climb into Snowgrass Meadows. I'm sure we'll see his post as soon as he gets back out. Hope it was a great trip, Slugman ! Bugs were modest in the approach and final legs of the hike, but ery calm up above. Trail was in good shape, with just a few muddy sections.

We hiked this trail to the views of Packwood Lake with Mt Rainier behind as described in the South Cascades / Olympics 100 Hikes. The view is spectacular once the trail leaves trees (peek-a-boo views of Adams are available during the first mile, too), but otherwise the trail is fairly humdrum and the bugs-to-flowers ratio was tilted in favor of bugs. Several blowdowns beyond about 2 miles up the trail, though none difficult to get around or over.

Hiked the Snowgrass trail until it intersected with the PCT, chatted with a man who was packing with his two goats carrying all the equipment. The older I get, the more inviting that looks! Backtracked to the Lily Basin trail and hiked it in total awe to the still frozen Goat Lake. Lunched at the lake then continued on following Goat Ridge back to the car, I guessing about 13 miles total. And I might add, certainly the most beautiful 13 miles I've ever hiked in Washington. Flowers, flowers, everywhere. Vibrant green foliage, iced-blue frozen lake. It was a visual delight. Give yourself lots of extra time for this loop hike to stop and look around, take pictures, and just enjoy the beauty. It's quite a gradual, easy grade both ascending and descending and trail is in excellent condition. Would be a perfect trail to backpack so more time can be spent lingering, and maybe seeing the evening and morning wildlife. Too hot today for many animals to be out; saw only one marmot and one goat...and the usual skeeters and irritating flies. Take the bug dope.

We set out for a 3 day circuit in the Goat Rocks, despite the dearth of trail reports for the area. The plan was to hike through Lily Basin, past Heart Lake, into Snowgrass Flat and then turn north toward Elk Pass and Lost Lake. Short version - too much snow!!. Step one is finding the unmarked FS 48 road. Hint, its the first left after the lumber yard. Blakley is the name. The first 4 miles of trail toward Lily Basin are snow free, snow patches start just as you gain great views of Rainier and Packwood lake. There are a few small downed trees and one large mess to scramble over. Patchy snow continues through Lily Basin to the junction with the Angry Mtn trail. Whenever we lost the trail we followed the mountain goat footprints which invariably got us back on course. Several of the patches are steep and fall would be nasty. There is one large snowfield just before the junction. From the junction the trail is again snow free as it follows the south side of the ridge to Heart Lake. Solid snow begins approx 1 mile past Heart Lake. We had little luck discerning where the trail went through all the vertical rock so decided to climb to the ridge in hopes of a better perspective. No clues on the route but there were plenty of mountain goats watching our progress from above. After thrashing about for several hours we decided to retreat to Heart Lake for the evening. Marmots watched our decent and made sure we stayed on course. The camps at Heart Lake are very swampy and it took a while to locate dry, flat ground. Gorgeous setting for an evening of cribbage and hot chocolate. I think we'll try this circuit again in August or September. Much of the exposed trail in the Lily Basin is very soupy mud, the rest is snow covered.

Monday morning August 26th we began our journey at the Berry Patch trailhead #96a.The trail was in good shape, but dusty. The weather was sunny with a few clouds. It was a bug free trek to Snowgrass Flats. Even The low area that is 2 miles before the Flats just after the bridge that is considered damp and often swarming with bugs was dry and bug free. The Flats was in full bloom with many varieties of wild flowers. Gorgeous! In the distance there was a large cloud bank in the distance that covered Goat Ridge and trail #86 to Goat Lake. We made base camp around the Flats in one of several sites. Tuesday morning, the cloud bank had moved from the Ridge and we could see views of Mt. St Helens and Mt. Adams from our campsite. We headed out for a day hike up #96 which merges with the PCT. Lots of nice flowers and views.Wednesday was another sunny day which was totaly clear and warm. We headed up trail #86 to Goat Lake. The views of Mt. Adams were awesome. Goat Lake was very windy and there was a few patches of ice still remaining on the lake. Very nice trip! Thursday we headed to the Cispus basin, a nice day hike via the Bypass trail. Over all this is a great trip! There were a few bugs during our stay, but nothing unbearable. We headed out Friday morning back to the Berry Patch trailhead. Another great day!