Heart Lake via Lily Basin Trail — Saturday, Jun. 13, 2015

South Cascades > Goat Rocks

This was a solo day hike of Lily Basin Trail 86A from the stock trail head to Heart Lake for an out/back of 15 miles that took 8hr 50 minutes with a round trip elevation gain of approximately 4000ft. The road to Lily Basin Trial can be accessed from FR 48 across from the Crest Trail Lodge in Packwood. As roads go it’s pretty straight forward. Two things to look out for. First is a washed out area that may require high clearance vehicles. I had a 4 wheel drive, so no problem. Then about ¾ of the way in there’s a “Y” in the road. Keep left. For Lily Basin Trail 86A, there are two trailheads. The Lily Basin 86A trail head and the stock trailhead. The Lily Basin 86A trailhead is unmarked. There’s a no signage that I could see indicating the trail name or number. Parking there is limited as the road is narrow. Parking pullouts extend on the road for a bit. The Stock trailhead is about a ½ mile further down the road and there is signage. Parking is available at the Stock trailhead to account for the horse trailers. Not reading the signs, I parked at the Stock trailhead. Starting out is a decent into a nice forested area. Soon you will be in the Goat Rocks wilderness. The trail is fairly level with a gradual assent. I found myself cursing on this part and covered 3 miles in just over an hour. There were few viewpoints. After that, the viewpoints are almost non-stop and climbs are a bit steeper, but still not bad. The trail soon opens up to steep wildflower meadows. If you hike this in season, the wildflowers will be everywhere. At this point you near the west face of Johnson Peak and traverse the Lily Basin Cirque at the headwaters of Glacier Creek. This area has many glacial run-offs, one of which created a large washed out area of the trail that requires careful crossing. Cross either hard pack snow or climb down a 10-15 water fall and back up the other side. I chose the more straight forward but slippery snow. Even my poles had a hard time digging into the snow. On the way back, it was much softer in places. After this you’ll cross a section of slate and traverse up to the junction of Angry Mountain Trail # 90 and the 3 mountain view of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and Mount St. Helens as well as Hawkeye Point. This junction is on Angry Mountain Ridge and the only way you can go is down or along the ridge. If continuing on Lily Basin Trail, head down and left, otherwise turn right and follow Angry Mountain Trail. I went left toward Heart Lake. This is a fairly steep meadow decent for .4 miles until you get to the junction of Heart Lake which is marked by a blowdown. Hang a right and follow the gentle decent to Heart Lake. The Lily Basin Trail traverses a cirque around Heart Lake on its way to Jordan Basin and the Goat Lake area. As long as there was a gentle breeze, Heart Lake wasn’t too buggy. It’s still early in the year. Not sure how it will be next month. Parts of the grassy area were marshy, however the area is beautiful and cool to see hikers on the trail walking round the lake. Heart Lake was my turn around point. The assent from the junction of Heart Lake to the Junction of Angry Mountain Trail #90 was the toughest of this hike. After that point, it’s pretty much down hill back to the trailhead. I didn’t realize how much I climbed on the way in until I went back. It’s as gradual coming down as it was going up but it seemed like it went forever. I needed to take the stock trail back to the trailhead but missed the junction somehow. It’s not very discernable and after looking at the map found out it’s around the entrance to Goat Rocks Wilderness Area. I ended up hiking to the main trailhead and road walked about ½ back to the car. All and all, not a back hike. I’ve always wanted to do this hike and knew nothing about it. It’s well worth it. In 5 miles you can see beautiful vistas and maybe even some mountain goats like I did. I will do this hike again but next time as an overnighter or multi-day hike to Goat Lake and head north or south on the PCT. A great entrance to the Goat Rocks.