Went backpacking (one-nighter) on a Sunday/Monday with a friend.
Parking: Artist Point is open, parking lot at 8:30am on Sunday was about half full. Signage says a NW Forest Pass is required, and there is no pay station at Artist Point so bring your annual pass or buy a day pass online before. Bathrooms at Artist Point are closed, stop at picnic area before Artist Point to use the bathroom.
Trail: The Ptarmigan Ridge trail is in fairly good condition, lots of ridge hiking, rocks, some loose gravel, and 6-8 snow fields to cross. Some of the snow fields (around the streams) are starting to cave, they didn't look deep, just watch your step. Poles were helpful especially with overnight packs! Some sections the trail is hard to follow, just look for rock cairns or follow the ridge line. Plan on the trail taking a little longer than a usual 8-9 mile hike, even though the elevation is moderate, the rocky and snowy terrain makes it a little slower.
Goat Lake: Is mostly melted. The side trail to the lake is about 1-1.5 miles to the lake. It's a beautiful side trip if you have time and don't mind a little more miles/elevation. See notes below about camping spots near the lake.
Camping: There are several spots off of Ptarmigan Trail starting at about 2.5 miles, be sure to camp in an established spot and on a hard surface (not on meadow). We checked out a couple spots earlier on, but decided to keep going and check out the spots around goat lakes. The lakes are mostly thawed and a beautiful aqua color. To get to the lakes, at ~ 3.5 miles (before the trail turns right toward Camp Kiser), look to the left and you'll see the aqua/green Goat Lakes. Follow the steep trail down and then follow the rock Cairns toward the lake. Lots of great camping spots in this area. We only saw two other campers in this area and it could accommodate a lot more (but shhh.... the solitude was lovely!). We found a spot on a small ridge on the east side of the lake with views of both Shuksan and Baker. It was a extra steps to go this far, but it was dreamy! If you camp in this area bring a bear canister, there are no nearby trees to hang a bag. We did not see any bears but heard they are in the area and saw some scat that looked like bear. Our neighbors were a group of 14-16 mountain goats, but they kept a distance. There was a lovely stream by camp for water filtering, we also planned on melting snow (or walking to goat lake) for a water source. Bring sunscreen and hats/cover as it's really easy to burn up there! Also plan on packing out any human waste, blue bags were provided at trail head.
Wildflowers: Are in bloom! Didn't see any blueberries ripe yet, but saw lots of bushes.
COVID stuff: The trail (and camping) was surprisingly (and delightfully) quiet. There was more traffic on the first mile of the trail that is part of chain lakes loop. Most (90%) of folks wore masks or scarves, everyone was considerate to step off trail to make room. Parts of trail are narrow, so again it was a little slower to step off and wait for people to pass. The trail was also very clean, we saw (and picked up) just a couple pieces of micro trash.
Happy trails!
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