I’ve only been to Packwood Lake once before and have always been curious about using it as a starting point for getting up into the Goat Rocks Wilderness. I arrived at the Packwood Lake TH about 9am and there were about a dozen cars already there. As I hiked in towards the lake, all those hikers turned out to be backpackers on their way out. Once having passed them all, I pretty much had the place to myself. I did a little bit of scouting out camping spots for possibly brining an 11 year old here in June, and then started up the trail towards Mosquito Lake. It’s a good climb and it was apparent that it had received trail maintenance lately as I saw drainage ditches and freshly sawn downed trees. A few remained down but were easily stepped over.
I knew I would hit snow at some point and that it could possibly be deep enough to turn me around. I’m not fond of hiking in spring snow that is melting out to reveal big holes, etc. But I made it up to about 300’ in elevation feet shy of my destination so I plunged ahead. The snow was intermittent but did require careful stepping not to plunge in deep. I did not see any other hikers on this trail. I did see lots of bear scat though so I kept my eyes peeled and made noise with my poles regularly. Last thing I want to see was a momma and a new baby headed my way!
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