We did a 3 day, 2 night out and back to Heart Lake (night 1), and Goat Lake (night 2), then back out via the Lily Basin Trail Head.
Google maps tried to take us a ridiculous way to the trail head, so just use forest road 48 the whole way. The washout others have described here and on alltrails was fine. Yes it felt better in my old Subie outback, but we saw a little Audi coup at the trailhead that clearly made it just fine, as well as an Impreza, so low clearance vehicles all made it.
The trail to Heart Lake had a ton of blue berries and some late season wildflowers. Its a steady uphill with a few rollers. We saw 2 groups hiking out, 1 was a duo of day hikers, and the other were hiking out from and overnight. An off duty ranger was camped up at the high point before the basin and they were awesome to chat with for a short bit. The descent down into Lily Basin was steep but with a great pay off of Heart Lake at the bottom. There were some bugs but they weren't of the biting variety. No other campers at the lake on Monday!
The hike out from Heart to Goat Lake was hard, but rewarding. It might have been hard due to the heat and the lack of coverage on the trail, but the views of Rainier, Helens, and Adams were well worth the minor sunburns, and tired legs. We also saw what we think was a wolverine bounding down into Lily Basin, but didn't get a video as we were tyring to make sure the dogs were safe. There was a small patch of snow along the big washout between Lily basin and the junction to Angry Mountain Trail Head the dogs had a great time rolling in.
Goat Lake was much more crowded with about 7-8 parties there. Everyone was super respectful or each other. One unfortunate issue was teh the amount of toilet paper and bits of trash we found on the outskirts of our campsite. Yes digging 6-8 inches is a pain but its super necessary. A privy would definitely be useful at this lake, but until then, we all need to do better at LNT. We picked up as much trash as we could.
The final hike out from Goat Lake to the Lily Basin trail head was long but beautful. Overall, great experience and great trails!
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