Goat Lake — Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024

Sunday afternoon must be the best time to hike Goat Lake. We arrived and started hiking at 10:20. We were able to park very close to the main parking lot. We saw one or two hikers descending the trail during our ascent. By the time we reached the lake, there were only 4 or 5 other hikers there. Since it was drizzly, we didn’t stay long. On the way down, starting at 1:30 until about 3:00, we must have seen 10 or more hiking groups with a minimum of 3 hikers each (one group had 7). It must have been busy at the lake that afternoon. There are fish in the lake; I saw one jump. Someone left fishing tackle on the beach.

Having hiked this trail before, I didn’t remember all the logs that were difficult to go over. There were at least two which you literally had to climb over. The rest you could go under or around. Those were the only difficulties on the trail.

Several hikers with dogs. I appreciated the fact that they were for the most part leashed.

There is a cairn at the uppermost part of the trail which guides you to turn left. Before that, at a place where the trail also turns, were orange pieces of tape which I mistook for the place where the cairn is. I don’t think the orange tape was there to guide, but it was nice that it was there. There is another unmarked spot where the trail turns left but if you aren’t paying attention, it looks like the trail keeps going straight (even though there are several logs blocking it – duh).

Fortunately, there were no broken car windows. I can’t fathom why someone would drive all the way to the trailhead on that pothole ridden road to break windows. There must be easier places to go to do that.