Esmeralda Basin (Esmerelda), Lake Ann — Thursday, Jul. 21, 2022

The two of us began our backpacking trip in the afternoon from Emerald Basin trail parking lot. There were maybe seven cars in the parking lot on a Thursday. The trail had lots of wildflowers, including a bit of indian paintbrush, columbine, and tiny lupine. Little waterfalls went across the trail several times but they were all very easy to cross.

Our first night was at the end of the Emerald Basin Trail. Maybe three other camp groups all dispersed very well throughout the area. The wind was a little strong, but seemed reasonable for the elevation. There mountain goat footprints all over the area, but no wildlife besides bugs and birds. 

The next morning we packed up and decided to try camping at Lake Ann, as the bugs were becoming uncomfortable. It seemed steeper and longer than what we remembered on the map but we got there with no obstacles. There was the tiniest patch of snow across the trail near the bottom of the ridge and moments before you get to the lake. No other campers in sight, and we continued to wander through beautiful wildflower meadows before picking a huge grassy opening to set up our tent. 

As soon as we had settled, and began breaking out the pan to boil some water for coffee, a mountain goat immediately came out of the bushes. It kept its back to us, staying way too close though, but keeping a shrub or two between us. We poured our coffee, drank it while using stern voices to tell the goat to move along. It circled us slowly then left. We had our lunch, thinking we had cleared the area. A second mountain goat came out, and we tried again to sternly encourage it to leave. At one point it did the "head-rub-on-brush" aggressive move and stared us down. We grabbed our bear bag, bear spray, and water and quietly left the meadow when it wondered off again (they seemed to have short attention spans).

We waited for a moment from a higher level camp sight across a stream in a more rock/dirt/tree environment, hoping maybe they just wanted the grassy field to themselves to eat, or maybe they had a den on the other side of the lake that we were too close to. We moved our tent, hung up our food, and noticed the goats were back to the other side of the lake. Unfortunately, 20 minutes later they came back around, right between where one of us was pumping water from the lake, and the other was in the tent. Within three feet of us we were getting nervous, so I crawled back into the tent at another opportune moment when it had moved on. Once again, maybe 20 minutes later, it came back again and began peering in the tent. This was our queue that we were not going to stay the night, and we quietly packed up inside the tent, and did a quick tent takedown when we could see it was out of sight. 

We left the lake basin, went back up over the rocky ridge, and camped at a large subalpine horsecamp halfway back down to where the Lake Ann Trail meets the Esmerelda Basin Trail. It was worth it to move as we felt much safer and could abide by the wildlife distance rules.

If we had seen any trip reports about unnatural behavior by the mountain goats, we may not have visited. It seems they are unfortunately comfortable with humans, which is dangerous for everyone. It is a beautiful home for them and I think they deserve all the space they can get. If I were ever to visit again, I would hike through Lake Ann for the wildflower meadows and a water break, but not pitch a tent or even break out snacks. Even urinating near a campsite or trail can bring them out closer to humans to lick the salt in it, which is so hard to find in those alpine environments. 

Even though the mountain goat encounter was a startling event on the trip, it was still some of the most beautiful wildflower meadows and accessible high elevation camping I have been to in a long time. Even the rocks are pretty, being a beautiful emerald green. Our hike out on Saturday around 10 am included passing a few backpackers, and the parking lot had spilled way down the trail head parking lot with dozens and dozens of cars. 

In summary: go mid-week, respect the wildlife with space, and enjoy the wildlflowers while they last.