It was great to get back in the mountains!
I started up the trail at 6:15AM. There was one other vehicle in the parking lot. The road to the TH has some potholes, but it is not bad. There was a good-sized tree across the road, but a section has been cut out long enough for a car to pass.
The trail is flat, wide, and soft for the first two miles. There are clusters of Calypso Orchids along the trail. That's the way I like to find them, although the two in left-hand photo are over six inches tall! And there are some spring mushrooms coming up.
You cross three creeks at 1.7 miles and recross them numerous times as you switchback up the mountain. At least four times, cascades that cross the trail run down the path for up to 75' until they find a route down the mountain; so you definitely need waterproof boots.
There was snow on the trail starting at 4,000'. I took microspikes, poles, gaiters, and snowshoes. I did not use the gaiters or snowshoes, but the spikes and poles were essential. The snow was frozen at 8AM.
The trail soon disappears, so you need to know the area to continue. At 4,700', the terrain became so steep that I could not proceed. Crampons and an ice axe would be needed unless you wait 2-3 weeks for the snow to melt. I took pictures from a good vantage point and hiked out. The snow was softening by 9AM. My trip was 6.3 miles with 2,200' of elevation gain. That's more than the map on the TH kiosk specifies, but GPS measures in its own way. My last trip to Goat Mountain was 7.9 miles with 2,900' of elevation.
I saw several Coral Root plants emerging. They should be prime by the time the snow melts.
There were five skiers/snowboarders lugging their equipment up the mountain. I don't know where they planned to ski or if they were equipped to get there, but I wished them a great day. I did not meet anyone else.
It was a beautiful day on the mountain.
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