Goat Lake — Sunday, Jul. 20, 2025

Pulled into the Berry Patch trailhead at 9AM Sunday and there was a line of cars down the road to Snowgrass TH, mostly folks who were already out overnight. Someone left early so I was still able to grab the last parking spot in the lot, then took the connector trail to the Snowgrass TH to hike the loop counter clockwise. Most were hiking clockwise which I know is the preferred route and I can see why; going down Goat Ridge was tough on the knees and slow. If I did it again, I would still start from Snowgrass though. I liked starting out easy and getting up to the good stuff above treeline sooner. Mosquitos are tolerable only if you keep moving, don't stop if you can help it. The wildflowers are indescribable, I just kept saying "insane" over and over again. I did not mark ripe berries because the blueberries were not ripe but they are starting to come in very green, some even have some color to them but wouldn't expect them to be ready until maybe start of August. I also marked 'snow free' conditions which is 99.99% true, there are still some patches immediately around the lake that are each less than a dozen steps to cross. I know snow sticks around for a long time up there so it might not melt as fast as other areas. The lake is mostly thawed with some ice holding on around the edge of the far side. Heard lots of marmots whistling but only saw two, saw one goat wayyyy in the distance of the upper mountains, and a few pikas in various talus fields. Back to the car at 3pm. Definitely park at the trailhead you end at because while the connector trail is short and flat, it's nice to not deal with after 12 miles.