We parked at the Goat Mountain/Deadmans Lake parking lot, but walked across the road so that we started our loop Clockwise. We chose to go up the Green River trail 213 the beginning of our hike since the weather was a bit overcast and we wanted to save Goat Mountain and the ridge for a clear day. We camped at the Green River campsites which were about 6 miles from our starting point. The mosquitoes were out, but not too awful.
The next day we continued along the river trail and then popped over to Vanson Lake for a quick look. The lake is nice enough, but not spectacular and we didn't want to linger with the mosquitoes. We hurried up to Vanson Peak for lunch with a beautiful view of Mt Adams and Mt Rainer. Vanson Lake is your last water option before Vanson Peak and Deadmans Lake.
We camped at Deadmans and fought mosquitoes with Deet, smokey fire, and whiskey. We hurried off the next morning with mosquito nets over our head and gently climbed up to the ridge. We were rewarded with thousands of wildflowers, spectacular views of Rainer, Adams, St Helens, and even Hood in the distance. The wildflowers and views made up for slapping myself in the face from fighting off the bugs. There is no water between Deadman's and the trailhead.
We saw very few people the entire weekend except this last stretch. Arguably the most beautiful and highly recommend as a day hike up Goat Mountain. Our total mileage was about 22 with the little side trip to Vanson Lake.
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