Goat Lake, Goat Ridge & Snowgrass Flat — Thursday, Jul. 24, 2025

Bottom Line:

Go Now! A perfect combination of flowery meadows, a partially ice-covered lake, some lingering snow on Old Snowy (for contrast), the dark volcanic peaks of the Goat Rocks and beautiful weather (with even some puffy white clouds). Hiked as a loop trail - up Goat Ridge, and down Snowgrass Flats. Clockwise or counterclockwise? I have done both a number of times - definitely clockwise for the best hiking-direction views (not even close!) The meadows are in full bloom, with the mix of flowers changing more than expected over the course of the loop (e.g. some areas with dense beargrass, and others with dense Western pasqueflower, both blooming and seeded - the most of each I have seen this year). Amazing color. The views from the top of the ridge down into the meadowed valley, Snowgrass Flats on the left and Goat Ridge on the right, with Mt Adams right in the middle, and fields of beargrass in the foreground - !Stunning! The last couple miles of 14 total are a bit of a slog in the woods (especially with warm temps), but you'll have the memory of the alpine meadows to get you through it.

Stats:

• Distance: ~14 miles
• Vertical: 2860 ft
• Duration: 6-1/2 hours
• Road/Parking: Parked at the Berry Patch trailhead to begin the clockwise loop. National Forest Pass required. Toilets. Space for ~20 cars, with additional overflow parking on the road. There is a connector trail to the Snowgrass Flats trailhead with additional parking as well. The end of the loop will feature this connector. NF-21/2150 are in good shape and doable by any car - just a handful of potholes, but longer areas of washboard. The road is signed so you cannot miss the junctions to the trailhead. The access from Packwood is long and dusty, with late day sun creating some visibility issues on the descent. NOTE: There is construction just outside of Packwood on SR 123 if coming from the northeast, with delays up to 30 minutes (single lane traffic with a pilot car during working hours).
• Weather: Mostly sunny, breezy near Goat Lake, 70Fs; bugs photobombed most of my pics (!!), but they did not really bother me much (I did not have much exposed skin). Some folks were wearing head nets. I never felt compelled to put on bug juice.
• Water: Most of the trail has many water sources for filtering, the exception being the first couple of miles up Goat Ridge which are very dry. Carry some water for the ascent to Goat Lake, but there is plenty of filterable water down Snowgrass Flats back to the trailhead.
• Flowers: I have included a link on Goat Rock flower observations - you will see ALL of these, except the odd thing that is past (e.g. the early blooming avalanche lilies are definitely done). Among the highlights: Western Pasqueflower (both blooming, and done to seed), Paintbrush, Heather, Subalpine Monkeyflower, Beargrass, Partidgefoot, American Bistort, Sitka Valerian, Arnica, Lupine, Columbine, Gray's Lovage. Aster and Subalpine Fleabane. Just tons of all this stuff, and at least some of pretty much everything at the link. On the ascent, the flowers start early on Goat Ridge as the landscape becomes meadows at ~1-1/2 miles. On the final descent below Snowgrass Flats, there are fewer flowers in the forest as you have your head down in that final slog.
• Trail: The trail is long, but moderate overall. There are only a handful of steep sections, and only one with any kind of exposure. There are few rocky sections, but mostly the trail is nicely graded. Poles are useful for the descent in gravel near Goat Lake. Many blowdowns on the trail, all of which are easy enough to step or shuffle over. The beauty of the loop is the changing terrain the whole hike, and with this one, the hike up (on a ridge with valley views) is completely different than the hike down (mostly in the endless meadows of Snowgrass Flats). In the flats, there are a number of unsigned junctions that can get confusing - best to download a map from say, Gaia and use GPS. The final descent below Snowgrass Flats into the woods, and the connector back to Berry Patch, are admittedly quite the slog for a day hike. Great views of Mt Adams for miles, but only peak-a-boo views of Rainer from the Goat Ridge ascent at ~2.2 miles. The trail was quiet - a traveled up to 4-miles at a time without seeing another person (e.g. nobody from Goat Lake all the way down through Snowgrass Flats). NOTE: This is a popular trail with hunters once that season gets underway.
• Takeaway: It had been a while! I think my last hike was up Old Snowy through Snowgrass Flats. I had forgotten how stunning Goat Lake Loop is, especially right now with the bloom and lingering snow. Having hiked the loop in the fall as well, end-of-July would be my pick for optimal conditions. The miles of meadows on this loop really are something special - we have an embarrassment of riches in WA!

Apologies for the sky banding in these pics; this is an artifact of compression to make these shots fit here. Higher resolution images are available at the Instagram link below and will be included in the video as well.

I will try to post a video of this hike tomorrow.

More Information on this Trip Report

• https://www.instagram.com/wta_alpinewanderer/
• https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=47125&view=species&subview=map&order_by=observed_on&place_id=&swlat=46.48415&swlng=-121.53608&nelat=46.55625&nelng=-121.43138