Snowgrass Flat, Goat Ridge & Heart Lake via Lily Basin Trail — Monday, Aug. 3, 2015

South Cascades > Goat Rocks

Wow, where to begin? We did a three day loop through the Goat Rocks Wilderness. Counter clockwise we traveled north from the Snowgrass trail head to the PCT. Then a side trip to Old Snowy. The following day through Snowgrass Flats and on to Goat Lake. Another side trip to Hawkeye Point, after which we got snubbed on our way to Little Heart Lake and wound up in Jordan Basin. Our last day we took the Goat Ridge Trail south with a diversion to the GR Lookout. A few quick miles and we looped back through Berrypatch and a connector trail to our car. Heading into the area we heard tales of 50 campers at Goat Lake on Saturday night. We witnessed 20 hikers walking out on Monday. We worried of the masses but with the exception of Goat Lake the area didn't seem over burdened and crowded. Snowgrass Flats was an amazing area of floral meadows (flowers are largely past) with many campsites scattered through the trees. Our campsite was at a convenience store sized split boulder. Adams and St Helens filled our sunset views to the south and west. The Goat Rocks; Old Snowy, Ives, Curtis Gilbert loomed over our heads to the east. Mount Rainier, hidden behind a nearby ridge is almost an afterthought here. After dropping our packs we scampered up the PCT. A trail bifurcation noted on the maps as "hiker' and "horse" brought us to the true crest. We stopped at 7600' where a rough side trail takes you another 330' to the summit of Old Snowy. The PCT continues north from this point along a dizzyingly spectacular knife edge trial towards Elk Pass and eventually White Pass. The McCall Glacier is to your right and nothing but air, a few goats, and the Upper Lake Creek Basin are present under your boots to the left. Sun to our campsite was late in coming the next morning. We dawdled and drank coffee and watched the surrounding mountains morph through their morning sunlight ritual. Trail 96 took us downhill through Snowgrass Flats to the Lily Basin Trail. This trail contours 2.3 miles over flower strewn hillsides. Several creeks still had ample water for us to resupply. A lone American Kestrel soared the skies angling for its' breakfast. Goat lake, sunk deeply into its' cirque, had a surface of simple complexity. The glacial silt coloring makes it milky and somewhat ethereal looking with varying grades of pale blue, teal, and grey which varies dependent on your angle and the light. We stayed along the shore long enough for a bite and quick swim in its' gelid waters. The lake shore and surrounding area is riddled with social paths and campsites. Remarkably we saw little if any garbage. Continuing along the Lily Basin trail the flower show increased significantly. Bog Gentian, Monkey Flower, Black Headed Sedge, Agoseris, Bract Lousewort, Paintbrush, and on and on. LB Trail turns steeply uphill for a few hundred feet. At its' crest we dropped our packs and made for the former fire lookout site of Hawkeye Point. Hanging 1100' above Goat lake it gives amazing views from the arid east side to the lush western mountains. We spotted several goats noshing on verdant hanging meadows perched vertiginously along the cirques' walls. Remnants of the lookout remain to remind us of a bygone era. Our plan had been to camp at Little Heart Lake further along the LB Trail. Unfortunately a quarter mile past the Hawkeye turn off the already poorly benched trail turned downright nasty. Deep erosional gullies repeatedly cut through and destroyed the bed of the trail. The looseness dampened our enthusiasm and we set our sights on Jordan Basin to camp. Much to our delight, perhaps in divine mountain compensation for having to turn back, we were rewarded with a herd of 32 mountain goats. From a respectful distance we sat in the flowers and watched them graze. The adult males stood together at the top of the hill, the adolescents just below the trail, and then the nursery and tending mothers were spread out in the meadows 500' below us. Their youngs' uncontrollable enthusiasm was contagious as the newborn goats bounced about in the heather as though they were children having watched a Tigger cartoon. Jordan Basin had many quality campsites and running water. We were also entertained by several juvenile marmots and their rock playing antics. Our third day was a relatively short day hike out down the length of Goat Ridge. Attractive campsites with great views down into Jordan Valley were sprinkled along this route. Our desire to visit former lookouts drew us up a side trail to the Goat Ridge lookout site. This side trip was less traveled, the dusty nature of the trips’ trails was replaced by a mostly soft needle duff. The lookout site was littered with fire pit blobs of glass and metal remnants of various past uses. Funny that the view from this lookout wasn't particulalry good. There is a nicely cleared tent pad at this location. With all of our side trips we had a total mileage of ~24 miles and ~5000’ gain. Berries were ripe in places but never in much quantity. Water was scarce but adequate. Campsites were prolific. There were no forest service toilets. We saw lots of wildlife.