Goat Creek, Goat Mountain and Deadman's Lake & Vanson Peak via Goat Mountain — Monday, Jul. 23, 2012

South Cascades > Mount St. Helens

We backpacked for 3 nights/4 days in this area. We started on a Monday and only saw 4 people the entire time. We started out at the end of FS Road 2750. The first day we hiked to Vanson Lake (about 7 miles) and camped in a nice spot right on the lake. At mile 1, the Leona Falls were spectacular. The trail continues for another mile with gentle ups and downs. At mile 2 is the junction for Vanson Lake. The trail is very lush and green with many gorgeous streams and waterfalls to easily cross. It climbs pretty steadily to the Vanson Lake cutoff. There the trail is about 3/4 mile steeply down to the lake. There are several short cuts before the main trail to the lake. There is a sign for the main trail to the lake which is a much safer grade to get to the lake. The second day, we hiked 3 miles to Deadmans Lake and camped right on the Lake again in a very nice large spot. This was a perfect spot to bathe and wash clothes as the water was warm. We still had not seen any people so we had the whole lake to ourselves. The trail is up and down the whole way in an open forest on a nice ridge with many views of Mt. Rainier. After we set up camp, we took our daypacks and hiked Goat Mountain Ridge which was the highlight of our trip. Most of the way was open with gentle ups/downs and wildflowers every where. At the top of the ridge, we could see Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood, and Mt. St. Helens. We also had a great view of the blast zone from the 1980 eruption of St. Helens. It was spectacular!! The third day, we hiked 5.5 miles to Tumwater Lake. Most of the hike was a gentle uphill through a thick dry forest with many down trees to navigate over/around. About halfway there, we broke out of the forest onto an open ledge with amazing views of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and Mt. St. Helens. Again, the wildflowers were spectacular. The lake was relatively low with only a few patches of snow. It was difficult to find a flat spot for our tent, but we made do on the edge of the lake. There were quite a few mosquitos but they didn't seem to be biting too bad. We went to sleep to the sound of owls and frogs. The fourth day, we completed our loop back to the trailhead by hiking 6 miles through lush green forests again and many more streams, waterfalls. We had to cross the river twice but it wasn't too deep or wide. After one crossing about 3 miles from the trailhead there were 3 downed trees together that were very difficult to climb over.