We arrived at the Goat Creek trailhead mid-morning on Friday, July 23rd. We were the first vehicle. We did the loop clockwise (along trail 218). The first day was pretty uneventful, but it is a fairly long trip to Deadman's Lake. You do get peek-a-boo views of Mt Rainier, but don't expect to otherwise be blown away by the scenery. A fine hike in, but nothing outstanding compared to other hikes in the Cascades. The area near Tumwater Mountain has A LOT of downed trees and some areas are very hard to pass. Expect slow going for a couple of miles at least.
When we approached the junction to go to Deadman's Lake, the mosquitos were horrific. The worst I've experienced in Washington. Bring a lot of very effective mosquito spray and be prepared to live with them. The lake was otherwise scenic and there was a nice sunset, but the mosquitos were a lot. At this point, we'd seen no other people until a mountain biker approached asking about camp. Later a few more came through, but not a lot of people overall.
On our second day, we took a day hike East along the Goat Mountain (trail 217) toward Ryan Lake and the Goat Mountain trailhead. Again mosquitos in the morning were annoying but not as bad as the previous evening. After a time (a couple of miles) the mosquitos thinned out and we enjoyed our climb out of Deadman's Lake. We had some views along the way of Mt. Rainier again, but things don't really open up until you reach the true ridge and then you get a 360 view of the whole area, which is stunning. Sadly at this point, the flies started and they never stopped.
During the rest of our hike along the ridge any time we stopped we were overwhelmed with flies. So much so that it was hard to take a break to eat lunch. As we got closer to Ryan Lake we could now see Mount St. Helens and surrounding mountains. Truly beautiful and classic Cascades mountain/valley views. As we began to descend to Ryan Lake we decided we'd had enough of the flies and figured we'd seen the best of the area so we headed back to camp. We saw many more people on this second day (as it was Saturday), but overall the traffic was not bad at all. The trail was clear and easy to navigate, although expectedly dusty. Wildflowers blooming everywhere.
Happily, when we returned to camp there was a nice breeze that seemed to have kept the mosquitos at bay, but whenever it let up the flies would come. We took a dip in the lake and enjoyed the serenity for most of the night. The flies came and went here and there, but by dusk, we were mostly fly and mosquito-free for a few hours. As it got later the mosquitos returned and we went to bed.
On day three the morning mosquitos were tolerable, but perhaps we were just getting used to our new friends. We broke camp and hiked out toward Vanson Peak/Lake. We found this southern route (trail 217) much more enjoyable than the northern route coming in. There were still some areas of downed trees, but not nearly as much and we found the forest, streams, and waterfalls more pleasant than much of the northern route. I would suggest (if you don't mind out and back hikes), to just avoid the northern part of the loop down to Deadman's lake and take the southern. Then do the side day hike to Goat Mountain and return to Deadman's Lake. The next day hike back along the southern route.
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